This morning, J.K. Rowling announced some details about her new Pottermore website.
You can watch the announcement below, in which Rowling states that Pottermore will provide a digital reading experience for fans of all ages. It will also be the “exclusive place to purchase digital audiobooks and, for the first time, e-books of the Harry Potter series.” (Rowling also said that she will share additional information about the Potter world that she’s been “hoarding for years.” Yes, please!)
The site will officially launch in October, but right now there’s a message on the homepage that says readers can come back on July 31* for a chance to enter Pottermore early.
Self-publishing expert J.A. Konrath has already written a blog post about Rowling’s decision to release her books through her own e-bookstore. He writes: “Naturally, I think she’s brilliant for making this self-pubbing move. She’ll be the first superstar to do so, and others will no doubt follow suit.”
It’s unclear how high Rowling’s profit margin will be, or even if this can technically be called self-publishing—Scholastic is a “key partner in the Pottermore project.”
Still, readers have waited a long time to read the Harry Potter series on their e-reading devices, and I’m excited to see the extra features on the site. There are some cool screen shots in the Pottermore press room, like this one:
Are you excited about Pottermore?
*Harry Potter’s birthday, naturally.
Yay! I’ve bought myself an ebook recently so it would be a great pleasure to read the Harry Potter series on it as I still haven’t read it, I only watched the movies using Mpeg4 player.
Digital audiobooks – great idea and this type of books will help many
Thanks for an article