[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Wonderful links, Child and davem.

I can't help but wonder about the number of them. Have all these sites and sources decided that the book really will be big and are they trying to get on top of the buzz? On the other hand, part of me--and sorry if this sounds terribly cynical--wonders if all these reports are part of a huge marketing campaign by HarperCollins.

Yes http://www.thebookseller.com/control/?p=6&a=36306

HarperCollins will be advertising the book in Earls Court around the London Book Fair, and working in partnership with the Telegraph over the weekend of 21st and 22nd April. The Telegraph partnership will include full-page advertorials, ad placements throughout the whole newspaper, and a competition to "return to Middle-earth" by winning a trip to New Zealand. This will be supported by a month-long campaign on the Telegraph website, that includes a specially created Tolkien microsite, run-of-site advertising, advertorials, downloads and interviews.

Publicity will see a slew of reviews, features and interviews, including a major feature in the Sunday Times Culture magazine the weekend before launch, and interviews on news programmes giving the story behind the new book.

HarperCollins is also planning blanket targeting of the online Tolkien fan base through promotions with key fansites, search portals and social network sites, and a bespoke online PR campaign. There will be a dedicated website at www.tolkien.co.uk.

An all-day event at Waterstone's Piccadilly will launch the book, attended by the author's grandson, Adam Tolkien, and featuring a talk by Alan Lee. A leading "Lord of the Rings" actor will read extracts from the new book, and characters from "The Lord of the Rings" stage show will also be present. Lee will be giving talks and signing books at selected bookshops around publication as well.

Inevitable. Tolkien is both Harper Collins & Houghton Mifflin's 'star' apparently. They need to sell CoH big time.

Look at Bloomsbury's profits for last year - down 75% just because there was no Harry Potter book out. What happens to them when the HP saga concludes?