All seven Harry Potter books will launch as e-books in October at a new web site hosted by author J.K. Rowling. The availability of the hugely popular novels as digital content promises to introduce a new generation to e-reading technology and inspire younger readers to continue as e-book consumers as they grow older.
The new Pottermore web site Rowling is launching in partnership with Sony and the series' publishers "will be a reading experience unlike any other," the author said Thursday. For example, Pottermore is being designed to serve as an online space where Rowling and Potter fans will be able to interact.
"I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation," Rowling said.
An Interactive Portal
She indicated that Pottermore will be a portal in which Potter fans will be able to share content and interact. It will also "be built by you, the reader," Rowling said in a promotional video.
"Everyone will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment," Rowling explained. "Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site."
The interactive story line at Pottermore initially will be limited to the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. However, story lines for all seven novels will be added over time.
Among other things, the online Potter experience will feature new illustrations as well as interactive "moments" through which the site's visitors will be able to navigate. Visitors working their way through the chapters in each book also will be able to read and share Rowling's comments on the characters, places and other story elements that "I've been hoarding for years," she said.
Number One in Search
Amazon.com said last January that e-books for its Kindle machines and e-reading software had begun outselling paperback book sales even though many popular titles available in print form have yet to be offered in a digital format. "Free Kindle books are excluded and, if included, would make the numbers even higher," Amazon said.
With so many e-books being bought, the next obvious question is what people are reading on their electronic gadgets, noted Hitwise Research Director Robin Goad in a blog last January. "Looking at the most popular search terms containing the word 'e-book' over the last 12 weeks, I've managed to compile our very own top-10 e-books list," in which Harry Potter was number one.
All seven Potter e-books will be sold exclusively at the Pottermore site. However, the digital versions won't be encumbered with digital rights management technology, so it will be possible for readers to peruse the digital releases on the Kindle, nook and Sony e-readers as well as on PCs, media tablets, smartphones and other digital devices.
Though Pottermore isn't slated to open to all users until October, the first million people who register beginning July 31 -- Harry Potter's birthday -- will receive an opportunity to explore the new site during its beta test phase. The final cinematic adaptation of Rowlings' series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, premieres in theaters on July 15.
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