Thursday, June 23, 2011

Pottermore - All Things for the Harry Potter fan

Today famous author J.K. Rowling introduced the newest saga for the Harry Potter fan. Pottermore. The announcement was made via youtube and had been eagerly awaited for months by Potter fans. Details about the site come after months of guessing and social media hype.

The site goes live on July 31 when 1 million registered users will be chosen through an online competition to help flesh out the Pottermore world. Visitors can register now to enter that competition.

Rowling said she created the website to give back to Harry Potter's "muggle" followers. At Pottermore, users will be able to share comments, ideas and drawings about all things Harry Potter and even buy Harry Potter e-books. There is also a puzzle map called "Secret Street View," where users can enter secret map coordinates that spell out p-o-t-t-e-r-m-o-r-e.

The site lets fans delve into Harry Potter's beloved Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They can shop for wands in Diagon Alley, travel to Hogwarts from the imaginary Platform 9 3/4 at London's King's Cross train station and be sorted into Hogwarts school houses by the perceptive Sorting Hat.

The deal brings longtime e-book refusnik Rowling into the digital fold, but comes as a bitter potion to established booksellers, who will be shut out of the latest chapter of a vastly profitable saga.

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

Rowling reiterated that she will not write any more Harry Potter books and that she is done writing in the immensely popular series. There could be an encyclopedia compiled though. The seven Harry Potter novels have made Rowling one of the world's richest women, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $1 billion.

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