Monday, August 1, 2011

J.K. Rowling Goes Rogue!



Quote from MBPA Newsletter:
"J.K. Rowling went rogue, bringing out the eBook versions of her bazillion-selling Harry Potter series as an independent publisher (and wiping out the indy pub stigma in one fell swoop -- Thanks, J.K.!)."

SAY WHAT?!!

This is what you get:


An interesting spin and ebook interactive format. YEAH BABY!

FINALLY the Harry Potter series will be in e-books!

You can get it in e-books and audio books with multiple languages being offered at Pottermore.com, it has it all social networking with a twist of computer gaming and an online store.

"You can't hold back progress," Rowling said. "E-books are here and they are here to stay."

No new Harry Potter series though. However, she is releasing an 18,000 word snippet of new material highlighting characters and settings.

Yep, she is selling the ebooks in the new slick format direct from her own site, not on Amazon but Rowlings says the books will be compatible with e-readers such as Kindle, Sony's Reader -tada and the iPad.

7 comments:

Author Dawn Brazil said...

Wow. I'm going to have to invest in an ereader or Kindle. I had all the books but I can't find them all now. The side-effect of having two kids who also read.

Kelly Hashway said...

Very interesting. Things are definitely changing and it's really interesting to see someone like Rowling, who changed children's literature to begin with, doing something else to help change the industry.

LM Preston said...

Hey, she is one person that can afford to take that risk. I'm all about thinking outside the box as a business person and she's done that in more ways than one.

Larissa said...

Joe Konrath talked about this too on his blog, and I have to say, J.K. Rowling is definitely a business woman and I can't help but to respect that. Girlfriend is constantly coming up with new ways to make more money and to please her fans all at the same time. And since a lot of high schoolers and middle schoolers will ask for a kindle (or any other ereader) for Christmas to get the e-book version of Harry Potter, I expect some rising sales in teen ebooks which is perfect since I'll be publishing my y.a. books by then. :) See? Win win situation for everybody.

J.K. Rowling not only validated self publishing, but is putting more money into my pocket and other ya authors alike. Happy day!

Rusty Biesele said...

My CreateSpace sales consultant has told me that selling through the brick and mortar retail channel has led to the ruin of many an indie author. It takes your money to do it and gives you almost nothing back. The said I would have better luck taking a trunk full of books to a boutique and selling them on consignment. Their recommended way is to sell it through your own website or Amazon. Sounds like JK listened to that advice.

Anonymous said...

Dawn, e-readers are great, but you don't have to wait until you can invest in one to read e-books. You can download a free Kindle reader for your Mac or PC. So cool!

brandileigh2003 said...

Did you get on Pottermore? It seems I will have to wait until October. :)
Thanks for sharing...
Is the snippett only on Pottermore?