Harry Potter novels to be sold as digital downloads

Harry Potter author JK Rowling launched her new Pottermore website on Thursday and announced that the book series, beloved by fans all over the world, would be sold in e-book form starting in October. At the launching event, the writer insisted that there would be no further novels in the series.

The interactive website Pottermore, JK Rowling's newest venture, will let users navigate through the world of Harry Potter; it will offer games, as well as a social network and a shop. Fans will be able to explore the world of the teenage wizard by shopping for wands or trying out the Sorting Hat. For now, only the plot of the first novel is covered, but others will be added in time. The website is scheduled to go live on 31 July, but only the first million registered users will get access, in order to help put the finishing touches on the project. Pottermore will become accessible to everyone in October.

The Pottermore website will also host previously unseen material, but Rowling insisted that there would not be an eight Harry Potter book, and said that she had "closure" with the character. She added that most of the new material was actually penned when writing the novels themselves and consists of background on the characters, as well as other details that she decided not to include in the books. However, there is also material she wrote in response to questions from readers.    

Unlike for the printed novels, which are published by Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK and Scholastic Press in the US, the publisher of the e-books will be Rowling's own Pottermore Publishing. The digital versions of the novel will be available on the Pottermore website from October. They will come in several different languages and will be readable on all the major devices. Rowling said that, in the future, she might also decide to put together a Harry Potter encyclopaedia.

The Harry Potter series, which includes eight novels, has sold some 450 million copies so far and it is likely to continue its success story with the release of the e-books. The novels have been adapted into a hugely popular film series, which managed to break a few box office records. The last movie in the Harry Potter franchise "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II", adapted from the last book in the series, will hit cinemas next month.

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