Take this with a grain of salt (it’s being posted through Yahoo, after all), but there was a supposed leak today.
In any case, Rowling is supposed to be at the news conference tomorrow at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Only Jag stuck to the songs on Zoso!
- Deathly Hallow’s Pole
- Dazed and Confundus’d
Wow, it could be a whole new genre… Pottercore.
So, apparently it is actually some kind of web 3.0 internet enhanced read-along experience for the book with social networking, minigames, leveling and more, enhanced by additional, probably encyclopedic new content written by JK Rowling. From the press release:
In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.
Some screens:
The PotterMore.com site will also soon be the only way to buy the audio books, and for the first time, eBook versions of the series. It launches officially in October, but a large beta is supposed to start taking applications at the end of July.
Interesting approach. Neal Stephenson is trying something similar with a new book, but frankly I like the sound of this more. Sounds like a fun way for fans to reimerse themselves in HP.
This isn’t taking my breath away.
Interesting! So it is an online community, but centered around the reading/listening experience.
Given that e-book distribution is hers alone to control, this is tantamount to printing money.
So it’s Harry Potter meets Facebook? Underwhelmed, but I’m sure it will be a hit with the muggles.
A Harry Potter MMO would be an interesting idea though. There is enough material to work with.
That was the vaguest announcement I have ever heard. “We’re going to let you experience the book in a different way. With other people. On the interwebz. It’ll be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. It’s an experience. On the web. With other people. Pottermore. An experience.”
Official fan forums?
Rowling has been famously reluctant to go digital based on not wanting to give up the e-book rights, and over piracy concerns. I wonder what kind of heinous DRM these files will come with?
Dementors, no doubt.
Rowling has been famously reluctant to go digital based on not wanting to give up the e-book rights, and over piracy concerns.
My google-fu suggests this has been an abject failure. Maybe if she released the books in 1974, before people had the internet and decent OCR scanning technologies.
Fair call on publishing rights, I guess, but not having entered into an e-book publishing arrangement has probably done more harm than good and encouraged many people to pirate.
Anyhoo, with the only real draw-card of this enterprise seeming to be the new content, I can’t really envision it being a resounding success. Particularly given that any new tidbits/back stories put on the website will likely appear on a multitude of wikis and fan sites across the webz in moments anyway.
No argument there. It’s dumb to hold off digital publishing because pirates are freely trading pdf versions of your books already.
Particularly given that any new tidbits/back stories put on the website will likely appear on a multitude of wikis and fan sites across the webz in moments anyway.
Rowling has been very successful in keeping encyclopedia stuff exclusive. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v. RDR Books - Wikipedia
Intersting case. Very grey and untested copyright area, I guess. Rowling has come down hard on a physical publisher, but has not taken any action against the fan site itself.
Is she simply adverse to a someone else (RDR) making money from her works (fair enough, assuming they are doing so illegally), or does she realise the futility in trying to take similar action against the internet?
/thread
I think she’s just very protective of her own work. She’s an odd case to be sure since she despises internet piracy and copyright violations, but she totally encourages fan fiction and the community creations. It’s an odd combo since most artist/copyright owners go completely all in one way or the other. AFAIK, she’s treated the web sites that work with her and honor her wishes quite well.
I think you raise a pertinent concern. What will she do when fans inevitably start reposting the “secrets” from this Pottermore thing without going directly through it?
The way the book series ended and the marketing ubiquity from the films has left me utterly uninterested in reading any “additional material” Rowling may have written.
Maybe when my kids are of reading age, it will recapture some of the magic it once had.