Harry Potter e-book weaves digital magic for fans

Harry Potter E-book Deal Shuts Out Booksellers

The Harry Potter e-books are coming via the long-rumored "Pottermore" web portal, bypassing booksellers which have made the books about the adventures of the boy wizard a tremendous success.

J.K Rowling said Thursday in London that the first Harry Potter e-book will be available for fans online in October exclusively through "Pottermore."

"You can't hold back progress," she said in an announcement. "E-books are here to stay."

A Harry Potter e-book will be available in many languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, to reach out to as many fans around the world as possible. Pricing has not been announced.

"Pottermore" will prove to be quite a hit by itself among Harry Potter fans as it will include a role-playing game component, social networking features and the online store for the digital purchase of a Harry Potter e-book.

Pottermore Ltd. chief operating officer Tom Turcan said that J.K. Rowling wished "to make the books available to everybody, not to make them available only to people who own a particular set of devices, or tethered to a particular set of platforms."

J.K Rowling has sold 450 million copies of her Harry Potter series and as a savvy author-businesswoman, has retained electronic publishing rights to her work.

Traditional booksellers can only hope that Harry Potter e-books can also boost their own sales indirectly as they are prohibited to make sales of the digital adventures of Harry Potter.

Besides selling a Harry Potter e-book, "Pottermore" will also contain some "information I have been hoarding for years," Rowling said about the world of Harry Potter which will surely delight fans who can't seem to get enough of her books.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Thursday June 23 2011, 8:59 PM EDT. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0