by Alison Dasho
Alright, she announced it!
I am a big nerd and happy fan of the series (see my imaginary revised ending to book 7). I'll be scrambling to get an early registration come July 31st, and I'll be back in October to explore and read and enjoy the awesomeness of Pottermore.
But, my nerdiness aside, I'm really, really, really interested in how her ebooks will fare.
Up until now, Harry Potter hasn't been available in ebook format. At all, anywhere. And Pottermore will make them available -- exclusively. (I'm not sure about DRM, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd guess the files will be DRMed.) UPDATE! The ebooks will be DRM-free?! Oh, that is awesome!
Want to place bets as to how long it takes her to sell a million? (Let's speculate in the comments; whoever is closest, I'll send you a prize!)
This is interesting to me because, although fans of all ages enjoy the Harry Potter books (ahem ahem [Hi, Mom!]), I don't know what the demand for digital copies will be. I already have hard copies, so unless the ebooks offer annotations (omg I just geeked myself out with excitement over reading a JK-annotated HP book), I don't know that I'll buy them. I realize I'm a sample size of only one, though, so my thinking may be flawed.
And thinking of new HP readers, like children who were too young for the series as it published but are just now getting curious ... will they come to discover Harry Potter as an ebook? Are children reading ebooks? Do they have ereaders?
I'm confident that Pottermore will be fun and interesting, and I'll be watching not only as a fan, but as a publishing participant.
(Okay, but mostly as a fan.)
It will take her five days to sell one million, because the overworked servers will melt before Noon on the second day and will have to be replaced.
And, yeah, I'll be following the owl, too . . .
Posted by: Sarah W | June 23, 2011 at 09:15 AM
37 minutes.
I just like the number :)
Posted by: Sarah | June 23, 2011 at 09:22 AM
First day if the servers will stay up, and I'm betting they will be pretty beefed up based on past interest.
Heck, who cares about ereaders, most kids have cell phones and reading apps.
I have all the books in hard cover, have listened to the CD's, and can't wait to get them in e-format, and if she does a release of the audio in a file or two format (instead of 20 some discs for the last couple of books) I'll get those too because discs get scratched and I hate missing anything.
Posted by: Patty Andersen | June 23, 2011 at 06:46 PM
I think so many people will be trying just to get into the site that some of the would-be buyers will be forced to wait a bit. I'm going for three days and six hours.
I'm not bothering to follow the owl because I'm stunned at that sort of thing, but I'll be there at the beginning of October!
Posted by: Adele | June 23, 2011 at 07:30 PM
Unfortunately, it appears that Pottermore is not going to be something that libraries will be able to purchase and make available to their patrons, at least not in the usual manner that we have been accustomed to providing access to ebooks. Libraries have been huge promoters of Rowling's work so shame on her if the decision to close out libraries was a deliberate one.
Posted by: Dale Spindel | June 23, 2011 at 08:53 PM