Real Estate Recruiting and the Power of Belief

Do You Believe in Magic?

As you turned the pages, you imagined you were actually in the great dining hall at Hogwarts, watching the magical Sorting Hat place first-year students Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger into Gryffindor. The adventures played out and the personality of the characters pulled the reader in, often causing them to stay up way too late to read "just one more chapter."

Many fans read the entire anthology of Harry Potter aloud to small children, even changing voices for the different characters from the high-pitched voice of house elf Dobby to the low bass of Hagrid and the elderly, solemn bravado of Dumbledore. Even now, we hiss the name "Snape" and chills might hit our spines when we think of Nagini, the snake belonging to the villain "who must not be named."

It all started when author J.K. Rowling believed in a young boy born with wizardly powers. Rowling imagined a majestic castle that held the Hogwarts school for wizards. She created the characters and creatures in her head then allowed her story to unfold on the pages. Only because J.K. Rowling believed first did millions of children and parents get to believe in the magic of Harry Potter, too. This boy named Harry Potter would make believers out of anyone who read, heard or watched his story.

The Harry Potter series was fictional fantasy, as far away from facts and history and real people as one could get. Telling the story in beautiful detail and making the readers believe they were part of this adventure was critical in Rowling building a loyal fan base for her work. Rowling's Harry Potter stories attracted legions of fans around the world, many of them young children who waited outside bookstores with each new release for the opportunity to read a full-length book...without pictures. Think back to when you were a kid — how many 700+ page books would you have read?