Taking the Safe Route

Whenever I hear about Harry Potter, I always think about how the book was rejected by the large publishing houses. Somebody, somewhere in the large publishing houses, took the safe route and chose not to accept the first Harry Potter novel. Why this individual decided not to say "Yes" will forever remain a mystery.

But let's not point fingers. It wasn't so much an individual that resulted in a rejection, but the system within these publishing houses. Often, these firms are just not set up to take on higher-risk novels.

It is likely that a couple of forces were at work: individuals were most likely not rewarded for taking risks (financial and recognition rewards); and the publishing house was following an "exploiting" innovation strategy, which refers to strategies that focus on what is known to work, as opposed to an "exploring" innovation strategy, which concerns innovation strategies that probe those areas that are less certain.

But J.K. Rowling did find a willing partner. The guys at Bloomsbury said, "Yes." There's a definite lesson here: if you are going to introduce something very "new," you should avoid larger firms like the plague.