JK Rowling will sell electronic versions of Harry Potter books

Before writing this topic, I looked for what I had previously written about JK Rowling on Habré, and found a topic four years ago with the indicative title Rowling: E-books about Harry Potter? Out of the question! ". Well, time passes, everything changes.

Today at a press conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, JK Rowling announced that she will release electronic versions of her Harry Potter books through her electronic store on the new Pottermore website.

Despite the fact that the rights to print a series of novels belong to the publishers Bloomsbury and Scholastic, the rights to the electronic versions belong to JK Rowling herself. Until recently, it was rumored that the rights to sell e-books would cost at least £ 100 million (about $ 160 million). Selling books through his own platform, Rowling, of course, will earn much more. Nevertheless, its publishers around the world will receive a share of sales and, due to the halo effect, will also earn on the rise of printed sales.
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Books will not be tied to a single device or platform, that is, they will be DRM-free. Rowling made a choice in favor of digital watermarks that link the buyer with a copy of the e-book. This does not prevent copyright infringement, but allows you to track any copy to a specific user. This is similar to how iTunes is DRM-free, but it embeds user information in each file you purchase.

In addition to the e-book store for the seven novels, there will also be additional material on Pottermore about the characters, places, and objects from the Potter universe. So even if you do not buy e-books, you can enjoy additional content.

“For me, this is such a great way to give Harry Potter fans something that made the books incredibly successful,” says Rowling. “I still get a phenomenal number of letters, drawings and stories from fans. This is a way for Harry Potter to live in an environment that did not exist when I started writing books. ”

The Pottermore website was developed by the TH_NK digital creative agency (in close partnership with Rowling) and sponsored by Sony. Illustrations and interactive game elements will be placed on Pottermore. When you register, you will be prompted to select a magic username, and then go to different parts of the book.

Each chapter will be interactive "moments". In the first book there will be 44 such moments. One of them will be Kosoy Lane, where you can enter Gringotts Bank and pick up 175 galleons. Then you can use them to buy items from the list in different shops.

On the way to Hogwarts, you can explore the train car, find digital trinkets there, such as magic beans and various spell cards that can be put in your personal suitcase for later use. Access to the suitcase will be available on the profile page, which will include your friends, a digital wallet, all your digital items and information about your wand.

At Hogwarts you have to meet with the Dispensing Hat. Based on a series of questions with answer choices, you will be defined in Gryffindor, Puffendoi, Kogtevran, or Slytherin.

After determining your faculty, you will be able to take part in magic duels with fellow students or successfully mix potions to win points for the faculty. This part will be a bit like a multiplayer game - users will join leagues to compete with each other.

The Pottermore beta will open on July 31 (Harry's birthday) for millions of fans who need to find the Magic Pen. They will be able to leave their comments and criticisms for finalizing the site before its full opening on October 1. At the same time, the Pottermore shop will open, where you can buy e-books and audio books in different languages. The second book, Harry Potter and the Secret Room, will appear in early 2012, and later other books will follow.

The fact that the best-selling author of the past decade has been publicly entering the digital space will probably be an important factor in the development of the e-book industry. The interactive elements of Pottermore will push other authors and creative teams to think outside the scope of the printed page when it comes to e-books.

[ via Wired]