The Internet and Potterama

[Nirjhar Jain]

Hi,
    I have been wondering if Harry Potter would have been the
phenomenon  it is today if there were no Internet?

    Would Harry Potter have become so insanely popular if it were not
for  all the HP discussion groups and fan sites on the internet.    

Many people would point out that there was no internet during the 
times of Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle and that did
 not prevent Sherlock Holmes, Elizabeth Bennet, Hercule Poirot from 
becoming huge cultural icons.

    Still, they were not huge as HP and their popularity did not
spread  like wild fire in such a relatively short span of time as
Potterama.

    I think Internet had a big impact on the spreading of the Harry
Potter  phenomenon.

    Do you think Harry Potter would be as huge as it is today if it
were  not for the internet?

    Also, as a result of this do you think Jo Rowling's writing of
Harry  Potter was influenced by this? Do you think Book 7 would be
different  if Harry Potter had not been this popular?

    Notice how long the books started to get when Harry Potter really
 caught on in a big way after Book 3?

    I do not think that Book 4 would have been allowed to be that long
and  dark if it were not for the fact that Harry Potter had become
popular.

  I think the success gave Jo Rowling and her publishers the
confidence  to make Harry Potter more edgy and dark.

    I think Goblet of Fire would have been a different book if Harry 
Potter had not become popular.   
 
My whole point is that the Interent had a big part to play in making 
Harry Potter a phenomenon which led to Jo Rowling having the 
confidence to tell the story she wanted to tell.

JMHO. :)

Nirjhar