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Pottermore a "gamechanger" for authors
24.06.11 | Bookseller Staff
J K Rowling’s new Pottermore website has been described as a gamechanger in how bestselling authors deal with their readers, as the press extensively covered the news of the Harry Potter author's new venture.
The Guardian newspaper carried details of what the site would entail and the fact that it would be the only place selling the Harry Potter novels as digital downloads. Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown made the claim the move was a gamechanger for the industry. He said: "This does feel like a significant moment. If I was a brand author I would be asking my publisher how to get to the online communities that JK Rowling is getting to. It might be a wakeup call to think of a new way of getting to readers."
The Telegraph’s Olivia Solon said Pottermore represents "a significant landmark for digital publishing" and praised Rowling for the social network element of the site and "not just hauling out her manuscript and plonking it onto a website with a bit of frilly window-dressing from a digital agency."
She said: "Instead, she has laboured for a year in close collaboration with creative developers TH_NK to curate an experience that really takes advantages of the unique properties of the web."
However, she added: "Pottermore is still very much a second screen experience which runs separate to the e-book files as opposed to being integrated into an interactive tablet experience."
The Daily Mail estimated Rowling is likely to "rake in millions" because Pottermore is the only medium selling the Harry Potter e-books.
Rowling told BBC News 18,000 words of new material about characters, places and objects was being released online, rather than in a new book, because she did not have "a new story".
She told the organisation: "It's background, and lots of details that didn't make it into the book. Some of it is new stuff in response to things fans have asked me over the years."
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A gamechanger or an incremental step? Worth noting, I think, that JKR's publisher retains an interest, with the revenues "already accounted for". The real break will be when brand authors go truly solo. This is a step in that direction.
I wonder when her contract with Bloomsbury expires.....
Setting up a website and selling your own product direct is a gamechanger? Purrr-lease. If you're as famous as Rowling and have her fanbase it will work, if not good luck. Verbal onanism from the media.
Yeah, if you've got the millions to bankroll a venture like this then good luck to her. I'm surprised no one's really gone solo in the past, although there was that murky time when Stephen King was posting chapters online in exchange for people mailing him $20 notes (or something). Next? Lee Child starts Reachermore, Jacqueline Wilson does Beakermore and James Patterson does Crossmore.
The rather obvious answer to the question “how to get to the online communities that JK Rowling is getting to” is “become the biggest selling author in the known universe and see all your books made into equally successful films”.
All due respect to J K for bringing so many people back to reading. But its hardly something new. Her previous website, whilst attractive was lacking substance. All she's doing is what most writers have been doing for the past five-to-ten years. What people should be asking is that its been a few years since she finished the Potter books. Why hasn't she created any new IP?
My thoughts exactly.
Rowling has always worked closely and successfully with the online community - she used to release titbits through her old website in the form of puzzles, which was a marvellously successful strategy for keeping her readers engaged between books, and she respected and worked with the massive Potter fansites eg Mugglenet, allowing them extra content in carefully-weighed out snippets and inviting them to the launch of the final book. This is just another step up from that reader engagement, really. I suspect selling her own ebooks has to do with DRM, she's been highly draconian on pirated copies, as well, obviously, as the extra cash she'll get by not paying any cuts to the likes of Amazon.
I think JK's position in the entertainment industry is unique for an author. The interest in her titles being available on a new medium will be extremely high. Millions of die-hard Star Wars fans and Beatles fans waited a very long time for digital versions of their existing collections to be made available. I put her in the same category.
I'm not sure this is a model for all authors to plan their careers around. I think her fans will be very happy though.
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