# Harry Potter EBOOK -- all discussions -- COMBINED thread.



## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

J. K. Rowling just announced her new website this morning a few minutes ago - http://www.pottermore.com/. Nothing much there yet, but she does have a video in which she promises, among other things, ebooks of the Harry Potter series!


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

kcrady said:


> J. K. Rowling just announced her new website this morning a few minutes ago - http://www.pottermore.com/. Nothing much there yet, but she does have a video in which she promises, among other things, ebooks of the Harry Potter series!


Just got done posting the video on my blog, then came to see if anyone had mentioned it here yet. (I would have been surprised if they hadn't.) Now I wait to see what the prices will be like for the e-books, and if low enough, they might actually tempt me into reading them finally. (I wonder if you'll be able to sample them?  )

PS: "Soon" means October, apparently.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Here's an article confirming it: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/confirmed-j-k-rowling-sell-harry-potter-e-books-exclusively-pottermore-website.html

They'll only be sold on the website and will be available for all eBook platforms..

No word on the cost.

(they'll also be selling the audiobooks)


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

Honestly, I can't believe I was the first to post about it!  I did edit the title of the thread to reflect the anticipated October release date, though I'm curious about the "early entry" Rowling mentions...  I'm such a Potter fan, will probably be buying the books regardless of price.  I want to read thru the series again but just can't bring myself to carry the books around.


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## dax123 (Jun 9, 2011)

Even at full price, they're very well worth reading. I can't wait to get the ebooks, eventhough I have all the books in English and Dutch.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Yes, I'm going to buy them all at whatever price.  Heck, with the US and the UK hardcovers on my shelves how could it be any other way!  It's interesting that she mentioned there is newly written material, though I'm not sure if it will be part of the books or just the web-site.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

kcrady said:


> Honestly, I can't believe I was the first to post about it! I did edit the title of the thread to reflect the anticipated October release date, though I'm curious about the "early entry" Rowling mentions... I'm such a Potter fan, will probably be buying the books regardless of price. I want to read thru the series again but just can't bring myself to carry the books around.


Looks like some people were already discussing it here this morning in the long thread in the NQK forum: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,71486.0.html


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

NogDog said:


> Looks like some people were already discussing it here this morning in the long thread in the NQK forum: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,71486.0.html


Ah, I KNEW I couldn't have been the first! I hope the mods will leave this thread here instead of merging it into the existing thread, so that folks that don't frequent the NQK threads will see it - even if you lock it with a reference to the other threads? After all, we're talking future ebooks here...


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## Michael Crane (Jul 22, 2010)

About time!!  

Very good news for the ebook world.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

NogDog said:


> Looks like some people were already discussing it here this morning in the long thread in the NQK forum: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,71486.0.html


Yes! There were several threads about the Pottermore site in general that got started earlier in the week on various boards -- we merged them all into the one thread linked above. So general discussion about the site should happen there -- not that there's much to discuss yet.

But book discussion can definitely happen here in the Book Corner. . . .

My concern is whether the books will truly be available for Kindle. Though articles have said so, Rowling doesn't specify either in the video or the press release. But I don't see her ignoring such a large audience. I will remain cautiously optimistic. 

edit -- just read the bookseller article and they mention a partnership with Overdrive -- which is encouraging as Amazon is partnering with them as well for library book access. . . . .Gonna be a lot going on this fall with Potter ebooks, library lending, and a possible Amazon tablet. . . . . . .


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## jason10mm (Apr 7, 2009)

Interesting that she is selling them herself. I guess it will work like the Baen bookstore or the Black Library where you buy it, download the file, and then transfer it to your e-reader. Bet she has different versions for different readers. I wonder how much control and input she has on this Pottermore stuff, looks like she is pulling a Lucas, I just hope she delegates stuff if she can't keep up the quality or spends all of her time just "refining" the 7 books.


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

I would like to buy the books through Amazon to store my notes, bookmarks and highlights, sync between my Kindles and archive.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Cardinal said:


> I would like to buy the books through Amazon to store my notes, bookmarks and highlights, sync between my Kindles and archive.


While I have no anticipation of making any notes or marks or highlights. . . I would like to be able to purchase through Amazon for the archive and syncing.

I guess we'll see what happens.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

So according to that article the Harry Potter ebooks are going to be available to all platforms through overdrive.  I wonder if that means they will also have the library lending capabilities up and running on the Kindle by then?

October is going to be a great month if I get both Library capabilities and Harry Potter ebooks all at once


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Yes, great news. But is the price tag going to break through the latest price  'standard' of "new" material on e-books?

The books have already sold hundreds of millions of copies in paper format

So seeing as how the whole franchise has 'legs' will they just throw the seven books into the catalog of e-books at 9.99 each? Which is a reasonable enough price for an established writer's catalog.

Or will they pretend that they are brand new and seeing as how she is an established author of note-- make them 16.99 ?
(I say this because I had thought of getting Ken Follett's Fall of Giants and that's currently 16.99- which is the main reason I haven't bought it)

Now the average standard for a new book by a hot author is hovering at about 12.99 to 14.99

Will Potter -mania cause this new addition to the e-world make the price 19.99? It will be interesting to see how many copies get sold in the first week.


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## Sean Thomas Fisher (Mar 25, 2011)

I haven't had this great of news since my panic room was completed. And on the video, JK's castle is amazing inside! She must watch _Design on a Dime_...


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> My concern is whether the books will truly be available for Kindle. Though articles have said so, Rowling doesn't specify either in the video or the press release. But I don't see her ignoring such a large audience. I will remain cautiously optimistic.
> 
> edit -- just read the bookseller article and they mention a partnership with Overdrive -- which is encouraging as Amazon is partnering with them as well for library book access. . . . .Gonna be a lot going on this fall with Potter ebooks, library lending, and a possible Amazon tablet. . . . . . .


One of the articles I read had a statement from somebody or other that Rowling has been in talks with Amazon, Apple, B&N and others about their formats, so I'm fairly certain the books will be available in all formats. At least based on that statement from somebody official.

Just found it - it's an AP article:

_Rowling, one of the world's most powerful authors, is bypassing established online retailers like Amazon, although the creators of Pottermore say the books will be compatible with popular e-readers including Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Reader and Apple's iPad.
_


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Actually there is the possibility that we could see the mania happen all over again regardless of price. With so many teens on iPhones now- as well as the fact that there is a whole generation that hasn't yet read the books at all....  $$$

Let's remember that today's youth (from what I've read) uses the local library as a source of movies. This might kick start a new wave of interest in the books now that they will be available in the newest, hottest format of the day- e-books.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

FrankZubek said:


> Actually there is the possibility that we could see the mania happen all over again regardless of price. With so many teens on iPhones now- as well as the fact that there is a whole generation that hasn't yet read the books at all.... $$$
> 
> Let's remember that today's youth (from what I've read) uses the local library as a source of movies. This might kick start a new wave of interest in the books now that they will be available in the newest, hottest format of the day- e-books.


You may very well be right. It's true that the new generation hasn't done much reading because they didn't experience the Harry Potter books in real time. If it's handled right the books might bring about another mini-wave of young readers, although I doubt it would match the original tsunami.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I would like to be able to purchase through Amazon for the archive and syncing.


I'm a little disappointed about this too. I really like that Amazon manages my books for me!


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

I probably won't get them myself, since I'm cheap and I already bought the hard copies, which I plan on keeping.   I have to say, I love the fact that she's selling them herself.  It makes me wonder what her e-rights agreement was with her publishing company.  If I know Rowling, and she owns all the rights, I bet her favorite charity will be getting some funds.

It was my understanding that as long as the book is ON your kindle, you can do notes and highlights, can't you?  I email my friends copies of my ebook .mobi files and none of them have had any weird issues.  Can anyone correct me on this?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

kCopeseeley said:


> It was my understanding that as long as the book is ON your kindle, you can do notes and highlights, can't you? I email my friends copies of my ebook .mobi files and none of them have had any weird issues. Can anyone correct me on this?


Sure. But unless it's a book that was purchased from Amazon, it won't have those notes and marks automatically backed up in their cloud.

Of course, you can do it yourself on your computer.


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## Straker (Oct 1, 2010)

FrankZubek said:


> So seeing as how the whole franchise has 'legs' will they just throw the seven books into the catalog of e-books at 9.99 each? Which is a reasonable enough price for an established writer's catalog.
> 
> Or will they pretend that they are brand new and seeing as how she is an established author of note-- make them 16.99 ?


I'm betting the price will be closer to $16.99 unless, as someone suggested, she plans on donating the profits to charity. In that case, she might go for a lower price point to encourage a larger volume of sales.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-three-ways-pottermore.com-could-change-book-publishing/

"Pottermore CEO Rod Henwood told The Bookseller, "We want to make sure anyone who buys it can read it on any device. We are talking to the Kindles, the Apples, the Googles, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) to make sure they are compatible. We set the pricing, we maintain the policy of making them available to as many readers as possible."

(I don't much buy the the writer's speculation that Amazon's moving towards ePub - there's no reason Pottermore couldn't sell Kindle-formatted books as well as ePubs - other sellers do - but I could be wrong.)


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## nateut (Jan 21, 2010)

As long as I can read these books on both my Kindle and my iPad (through the Kindle app), I'll be happy and likely repurchase the entire series for convenience (I have the hardbacks as well). I don't want to have to use multiple book apps on my iPad (Kindle + iBooks) to manage/read my library.


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## r0b0d0c (Feb 16, 2009)

FrankZubek said:


> Yes, great news. But is the price tag going to break through the latest price 'standard' of "new" material on e-books?
> 
> The books have already sold hundreds of millions of copies in paper format
> 
> ...


Hopefully this incredibly wealthy author doesn't get too greedy with pricing on the e-book versions! (although that may be the whole reason for not selling e-books through Amazon, B&N and Apple to begin with!) She'll make a large fortune in e-book sales, no matter what price she charges, but if she price-gouges, that just gives encouragement and justification to further piracy of her works (up until now, piracy was done out of necessity).

I'll buy the set if the price isn't ridiculous, especially if the additional writings/background stories are significant.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

I wouldn't ever call piracy necessary. If an authorized e-book isn't available, read the paper version.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

wake me when the books are actually for sale for my kindle.


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## Disappointed (Jul 28, 2010)

I won't buy unless sold in a way that duplicates the Amazon Kindle cloud system. I recently botched the SD card on my Droid 2 and lost all the Kindle eBooks on it. No worries, a new SD card and re-download, and I'm back to good. THAT is worth the money.


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## samthomas (Jun 24, 2011)

I'm so so pleased about this, i have actually already got ebook versions of them which i obtained online, but really really hoped they would be officially released as they are, whatever the cost, well worth purchasing. I imagine they'll be around the £6-£7 mark, with maybe a group discount if you buy all 7 together..


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## Christine Kersey (Feb 13, 2011)

I'm excited for these to be released officially as ebooks. I have yet to read the Harry Potter books but would take the time to do it if I didn't have to carry around the heavy DTB's.


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## George Everyman (Feb 11, 2011)

Somebody help me understand this. Are people going to have to buy at pottermore.com, download to their computers, and then transfer the books to their e-readers?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110624/ap_on_hi_te/us_books_e_potter


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

I think that's how it will work. The books will be available in all formats, but you'll have to add them to your Kindle yourself, just as with Gutenberg free books or books you get from Smashwords. I use Calibre to transfer books, which is a free program and pretty easy  to use.


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## Simon Halliday (Jun 23, 2011)

The most telling parts of the sory at *Harry Potter e-books plan worries bookstore owners* http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110624/ap_on_hi_te/us_books_e_potter are...

*"Tom Turcan, chief operating officer of Pottermore, said Rowling wanted "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."

"The Potter books took children's books in general to another level and we've never gone back," said Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books. "And I think the news today could be the tipping point for 8-to-12-year-old market."*

Turcan is disingenuous ... authors' content has never been tied to a 'particular set of platforms' - availability is simply a function of the effort a publisher wants to put in (to create content in all the different standards ePub, mobi, azw etc). What he is really saying "it is now so easy and cheap to publish across various digital formats that we would be crazy to partner with a third party and have to share the profits."

And that is fair, and obvious, and basically what 90% of independent ePublishers have understood for the last few years. The downside, and there has to be a downside, is that we live in an 80/20 world - this means that a segment of the Potter fandom will not (for whatever reasons) buy from Pottermore, and will flail around wondering why they can't get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or the Apple store. So ... my guess is that within a year, after the hoopla has died down, Pottermore product will distribute out to other eRetailers, be they Amazon, or smaller bookstore eSellers.

The Susan Katz comment is great news for us, and also Amazon. Pottermore is going to drive sales of Kindles into the pre and early teen market. Thus the market for eBooks will grow and grow.


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## Gerald (Dec 11, 2010)

SimonNY said:


> The Susan Katz comment is great news for us, and also Amazon. Pottermore is going to drive sales of Kindles into the pre and early teen market. Thus the market for eBooks will grow and grow.


If the content is not available from Amazon directly, we can assume that people will have to download the file to a computer and then transfer via wire. What I'm wondering is how long it's going to be before the 'official' Potter ebooks appear on torrent sites - I'll give it about 5 minutes.

For me, the USP of the Kindle (and others like it) is the ability to download directly to the device. In my case, this has led me to buy far more books than I ever did when I had the Sony Reader. If the Potter ebooks were available via Amazon, I might buy them (just because they're there). But I'm not going to bother doing the two-step process for them. I know, I'm lazy.

Could there ever be a way that Amazon does a bit of technical wizzardry (see what I did there?  ) which would allow a publisher access to the Kindle's Whispernet (for a fee, of course)?


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## ashel (May 29, 2011)

modwitch said:


> We're talking about a generation that can connect together 87 different devices and synch them while brushing their teeth. I don't think getting a file to their device is going to be a barrier. I do think this will be a big boost to ereaders for younger kids, and I'm excited about that, because anything that helps kids read more is an awesome thing. I read an NYT article a while back, quoting a survey that says 50% of kids under ten don't own a single book (a higher percentage own cell phones than own a single book). In my mind, that's the biggest threat of all, that books cease to be a form of entertainment for the next generations.
> 
> Harry Potter brought a generation of kids back to books. If it can bring the next wave of kids to ereaders, I will be in the cheering crowds.


++++++1


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Gerald said:


> If the content is not available from Amazon directly, we can assume that people will have to download the file to a computer and then transfer via wire. What I'm wondering is how long it's going to be before the 'official' Potter ebooks appear on torrent sites - I'll give it about 5 minutes.
> 
> For me, the USP of the Kindle (and others like it) is the ability to download directly to the device. In my case, this has led me to buy far more books than I ever did when I had the Sony Reader. If the Potter ebooks were available via Amazon, I might buy them (just because they're there). But I'm not going to bother doing the two-step process for them. I know, I'm lazy.
> 
> Could there ever be a way that Amazon does a bit of technical wizzardry (see what I did there?  ) which would allow a publisher access to the Kindle's Whispernet (for a fee, of course)?


Seems etailers like Amazon and B&N may not be out of the picture according to this.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/47733-pottermore-interesting-but-not-a-game-changer.html


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## Mark Young (Dec 13, 2010)

> But many people who work in publishing think that as interesting as Pottermore is, the endeavor says less about the future of book publishing than about the singular status of a very wealthy author who has the inclination and means to build her own brand.


Publishers Weekly gets input from "people who work in publishing" on JK Rowling's announcement. This is why the publishing industry is in such a pickle. Either they can't see the changes going on in their own industry, or they choose to ignore it as if 'out of sight, out of mind' will make everything return to business as usual.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

If the five-fold increase of traffic yesterday on my blog is any indication, Ms. Rowling should be able to make a few million more dollars/pounds from e-book sales.


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## horse_girl (Apr 9, 2010)

Funny to see talk about getting ereader devices into hands of younger kids. I just bought a Nook touch a couple weeks ago for my 7 year old. (She's reading 5-6th grade level books). No more whining about chapter books being "too long"   Score one for mom!


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Gerald said:


> If the content is not available from Amazon directly, we can assume that people will have to download the file to a computer and then transfer via wire. What I'm wondering is how long it's going to be before the 'official' Potter ebooks appear on torrent sites - I'll give it about 5 minutes.
> 
> For me, the USP of the Kindle (and others like it) is the ability to download directly to the device. In my case, this has led me to buy far more books than I ever did when I had the Sony Reader. If the Potter ebooks were available via Amazon, I might buy them (just because they're there). But I'm not going to bother doing the two-step process for them. I know, I'm lazy.
> 
> Could there ever be a way that Amazon does a bit of technical wizzardry (see what I did there?  ) which would allow a publisher access to the Kindle's Whispernet (for a fee, of course)?


Not necessarily. I believe there are sites where you can buy and have the books sent wirelessly to your Kindle via its e-mail address - you'd have to pay that small fee but it can be done. (I can't cite any, because I haven't used any, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that other folks have.)

Now, are there folks who don't read the manual and don't realize their Kindle HAS an e-mail address? Sure - but if they see that option when they try to buy they'll no doubt try to figure it out.

Oh, and the books won't have traditional DRM, they'll be "watermarked" somehow - I'm sure folks will figure out how to bypass that soon enough - but it's not like the books aren't on the torrent sites already, just not with the enhancements these may have.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

It's also possible (don't know if it's _probable_, though) that Rowling and her publisher will partner with Amazon in some way such that, while you have to buy the books through her site, the transaction for Kindle versions will actually be processed through Amazon, which will then download it to your Kindle and thus be part of your archive on Amazon. Again, I have absolutely no idea if anything like that is planned, but I can see no technological reason why it couldn't be done if both parties wanted to do it.


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

R. Reed said:


> I wouldn't ever call piracy necessary. If an authorized e-book isn't available, read the paper version.


Sorry, off topic, but so true!

I agree with everyone that said it's exciting to see if another wave of readers will hit the ebook market after this. Rowling got BOTH of my brothers to read, God bless her, and I hope that she does even more with this digital age of kids who own more cell phones than they do books.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

jnfr said:


> I think that's how it will work. The books will be available in all formats, but you'll have to add them to your Kindle yourself, just as with Gutenberg free books or books you get from Smashwords. I use Calibre to transfer books, which is a free program and pretty easy to use.


You don't need Calibre, though. For books you download, just put them in a folder on your computer and then copy them to your reader. A lot of people like to use Calibre as it assists with organizing and has some other features, but you don't need it to get a book from a site that requires downloading and sideloading.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I don't have Amazon deliver any of my books wirelessly.  I downloaded every single book to my hard-drive from Amazon, imported into Calibre (to fix metadata on almost every single one of them), and then transferred them to my Kindle so they sort exactly as I want.

The watermark they discuss for Rowling's books are supposed to be similar to what iTunes uses for their downloads: every single file literally has your name on it if you click on "Get info" about a track.  It is registered in your name so if you make a copy - it will still have your name attached to it.  Are there ways around it?  There's a way around everything.  (By contrast music you download from Amazon does not have DRM or a watermark.)


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## Snorkledorf (Oct 18, 2009)

Two thoughts:

1) Rowling sparked an awesome wave of peer-enforced literacy among kids in the last decade, and it never made sense to me that she'd hold off on ebook versions...unless she's actually a strategic genius and deliberately waited for ebook readers to evolve to the point where she could ignite a second wave with the next generation of kids!!!!   ...oookay maybe not very likely, but it's still better than seeing her as an apparent luddite who's only recently seen the light. 

2) They've talked about DRM, but not about region-locking, or the two duelin' English versions. Will I be able to buy the Bloomsbury edition with non-silly spellings, or be forced to put up with the Amurricanized Scholastic version? And will I be able to buy the one I want from here in Japan? If she owns the ebook rights herself the books should (hopefully) be free from geographic limitations. Time will tell though.

Whatever the case, I'm totally looking forward to reading them again!


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## r0b0d0c (Feb 16, 2009)

SimonNY said:


> Turcan is disingenuous ... authors' content has never been tied to a 'particular set of platforms' - availability is simply a function of the effort a publisher wants to put in (to create content in all the different standards ePub, mobi, azw etc). What he is really saying "it is now so easy and cheap to publish across various digital formats that we would be crazy to partner with a third party and have to share the profits."


Well said! This whole nonsense about JKR doing this to give a "uniform reading experience" is BS, and everyone knows it - it's all about the benjamins. Her right to do so, but she should spare us from this pretense of some "noble" purpose in doing so.


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## Casse (Oct 16, 2009)

How in the world I missed this news I'll never know but really it turned an incredibly crappy day upside down and I'm freaking excited!!!

My DS has a reading disability and because of this series years ago he wanted to and finally learned to read because of this series. If that's not magic I don't know what is. A little over a week to go and my DS turns 18 - that special day I am surprising him with a trip to the Wizarding World of Happy Potter 

When talk turns to $ - the series is truly priceless in our home!!!


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