See what J.K. Rowling did? Introducing Pottermore

J.K. Rowling's publishers must be weeping over her decision to finally offer the Harry Potter series in digital format and to (gasp!) self-publish them herself on a new site of her own. 

In what's an uncommon occurrence, Rowling retained all the rights to digital copies of her books. And until now, she had not struck any deals with publishers or distributors to make the series available digitally. All that will change when Pottermore officially launches this fall.

 

That's big news for e-books as the bestselling series will undoubtedly be wildly successful in its new e-format. (It's as good an excuse as any to reread all the novels, right?) But the announcement is significant in a number of other key ways, not just because of Rowling's decision to release the e-books now, but because of the way in which she has chosen to do it.

 

The books will be available exclusively through the Pottermore site, meaning that Rowling is self-e-publishing the novels. While self-publishing is, of course, nothing new, digital publishing and digital readership has helped self-publishing become more popular and, for authors, more lucrative.

 

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