Harry Potter E-Book Officially Nixed

Rumors that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling would allow the release of an E-Book edition of the seventh and final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, " were officially quieted today. Neil Blair, a lawyer from Rowling's literary agency, told Associated Press reporters Sunday that no Harry Potter E-Book editions, of the new book or of any works in the series, are scheduled for the foreseeable future.

Blair cited worries about online piracy as one motivating reason behind the decision not to publish the new Harry Potter book in a digital format. The Harry Potter series has not substantially suffered from illegal online distribution so far, although piracy incidents have been documented. The most recent book to be published in the series was illegally posted online in an E-Book format within twelve hours of its hardcover release. Rowling and her legal team are reticent to take steps that could enable or encourage further piracy of the wildly popular Harry Potter works.

Piracy was a major factor in the decision, but not the only reason that Blair gave; he also cited Rowling's personal preference for printed volumes over electronic publications. Rowling has publicly stated her partiality for writing and reading works on paper rather than on-screen. In interviews, Rowling repeatedly confirms that she wrote the entire Harry Potter series longhand, and that she prefers her readers to "experience the books on paper."

Recent advances in E-Book technology, including the much-touted Sony Portable Reader released earlier this year, continue to increase the market share of E-Books in the publishing industry. According to quarterly reports put out by the International Digital Publishing Forum, the E-Book industry is growing in the double digits yearly. However, E-Books still represent a relatively small fraction of the multimillion dollar publishing industry.

Scholastic and Bloomsbury, the publishers of the new Harry Potter book, have a variety of editions planned including hardcover versions targeted to both children and adults, along with a special gift edition, an audio book, and a reinforced edition created solely for libraries.

The hardcover edition of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be the first version of the book released to the consumer market, and is scheduled to hit bookstores on July 21. The six previous books in the Harry Potter series have sold a record-breaking total of over 325 million combined copies, and pre-orders for "Deathly Hallows" have already vaulted the as yet unavailable tome onto the bestseller list.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/04/AR2007020400654.html http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9154/52/ http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050719/1436215_F.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book