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Tag: Pottermore

  • Pottermore eBookstore is Online

    Pottermore eBookstore is Online

    The Pottermore e-bookstore has opened earlier than anticipated, and all Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks are available as of today.

    Pottermore has been in development since last year – the interactive community segment of the site is still in a testing phase, but the bookstore is open now. As for price, the first three Harry Potter works are $7.99 a piece a e-books, and $29.99 as audiobooks. The last four books are $9.99 and $44.99 respectively. The content also comes in bundles – $57.54 for a complete e-book bundle, and $242.94 for a complete audiobook bundle.

    Pottermore content appears to be compatible with every available device, and users can link their established e-bookstore accounts to set up downloads. Pottermore has so far partnered with the following vendors:

    Sony (NYSE: SNE) Reader online account (US and Canadian based customers only)
    Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Kindle (available in most countries)
    Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) NOOK (US and Canadian based customers only)
    Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Play (This service is currently available in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States)

    Pottermore e-books do not have DRM and come “personalized” with watermarks – “The Pottermore Shop personalises eBooks with a combination of watermarking techniques that relate to the book, to the purchaser and the purchase time. This allows us to track and respond to possible copyright misuse,” according to the company. Pottermore allows users to download purchases up to eight times, and it is suggested that each book is copied to ones laptop, tablet, child’s e-reader, etc.

    Pottermore content is presently available in the U.S. and UK English, but “French, German, Spanish and Italian language eBooks will be available soon, and many further languages will follow. Digital audio books in German and Italian will also be available shortly,” according to the company. The content is available for sale internationally.

  • Pottermore: Harry Potter’s World Goes Interactive

    Although the wait is not quite over, we now have a clearer picture as to what JK Rowling’s new Pottermore site is going to look like.

    The plans for the site were announced via online scavenger hunt last week, and when visited, the site announced “Coming Soon” and linked to a countdown on YouTube. Today, JK Rowling has released the YouTube video detailing what to expect from the new site.

    “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you,” Rowling says in her YouTube announcement. “Because no author could have asked for a more wonderful, diverse and loyal readership.” And considering the buzz surrounding this new site and the upcoming film conclusion of the series, I would say she’s spot on.

    Rowling says Pottermore will be an “online reading experience like no other.”

    Part of the site will be a Harry Potter store where fans can purchase, among other things, audiobooks and for the first time ever eBooks of the series.

    “Pottermore will be be built by you, the reader…Pottermore will be the place where fans of any age can share, participate in and rediscover the stories,” Rowling says. This hints at some sort of social network layer to the experience, possibly even user-generated content.

    Possibly the most exciting part of the new site will be the new content from Rowling herself. She says that she has been “hoarding” information about the world of Harry Potter for years, and the site will be the place where it will be revealed. It doesn’t look like this information will be any new adventures for Harry Potter but rather an expansion of the world. Possibly encyclopedic in nature? Backstories? We will have to wait to find out.

    It’s been reported than Rowling has written over 18,000 words of new Harry Potter material for the site.

    Pottermore will be open to everyone in October, but a select few (1 million) users will be chosen to “help shape” the experience of the site on July 31st (Harry Potter and Rowling’s birthday). You can sign up to receive email notifications on the site.

    Part social experience, part new content and part online store? Are you guys excited about Pottermore?

  • JK Rowling’s New Harry Potter Site Pottermore Boasts Upcoming Announcement

    Harry Potter-mania has to be the the most long-lived hysteria that I’ve ever lived through. Since the publication of the first book, through the movies, and up till now, fans of the series remain thrilled with any new development in the world of Hogwarts. Take for instance the bestseller status of a tiny collection of companion material know as “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” or the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park. Yeah, the boy wizard is still pretty popular.

    Potter fans may now have something else to focus their internet attention towards, other than making Twitter trending topics out of Ron Weasley and Luna Lovegood. A mysterious site has popped up called Pottermore and the only thing on it is “coming soon” and JK Rowling’s signature.

    The site was unveiled by a Harry Potter scavenger hunt, where map coordinates were placed on various fan websites like The Leaky Cauldron. Nine were placed on these sites and the final one was tweeted out yesterday on the newly established Pottermore Twitter account.

    @pottermore
    pottermore    That tenth secretstreetview.com location you were looking for… here it is! 53.476311,-2.22971 #pottermore 21 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    The coordinates, once entered into the search box at secretstreetview.com, would reveal a photoshopped letter on some Harry Potter-themed site. The “M” in “PotterMore,” for example, was a reference to Manchester Station where JK Rowling first conceived the idea to write the beloved novels.

    If you click on one of the owls on the Pottermore website, you will be directed to a YouTube page called “JK Rowling Announces.” It doesn’t say what, only contains a countdown clock that now reads about 6 days, 10 hours until her announcement. The poster profile says that fans will be able to watch her announcement exclusively on the YouTube channel.

    So what in the mudblood could this site be? Rowling’s lawyers have said that it is not a new Harry Potter book. The Leaky Cauldron has this to say –

    Speculation on the trademark information of Pottermore has also been making its way around the internet. The info, which was registered in 2009, says that Pottermore is trademarked for, among other things, multiple-user networks, online boards, digital audio, printed books, toys, retail stores, and more, and more, and more – in short, pretty much everything. We don’t feel this gives much direction one way or the other.

    Right, that points simply to a giant fan site, possibly a Harry Potter themed social network? If Call of Duty can try it, so can Harry.

    Gizmodo says that an anonymous tip told them something about a Harry Potter branded smartphone. Now wouldn’t that be interesting?

    What do you think the new site will be? Something magical I’m sure. Are you excited about all new things Harry Potter? Don’t forget, this comes out very, very soon guys…