Is Harry Potter not in Ebook form?

[mores]

When you go into the darknet to find HP in digital form, make sure you don't get fanfiction by accident.

Not that that happened to me ... I could just "immagine" that it would be quite confusing and embarassing when you discuss the story with friends.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by mores

When you go into the darknet to find HP in digital form, make sure you don't get fanfiction by accident.

Not that that happened to me ... I could just "imagine" that it would be quite confusing and embarassing when you discuss the story with friends.

A couple of novel-length fanfics were bouncing around before book 7 came out, claiming to be the 7th book. The authors had nothing to do with it; their names had been scrubbed off, and someone else had declared, "this is what happens in year 7!" and started sending it around titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It's not generally hard to tell the difference. Novel-length fanfic tends to be (sigh) better written and more internally consistent than Rowling's later books. (At least, the stuff that anyone would bother putting into a PDF and sharing is.) And a lot of it is either heavy romance or slash... and we're pretty sure that, whatever Rowling might write in the future, it doesn't involve Harry & Draco making out in the Astronomy Tower.

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

A couple of novel-length fanfics were bouncing around before book 7 came out, claiming to be the 7th book. The authors had nothing to do with it; their names had been scrubbed off, and someone else had declared, "this is what happens in year 7!" and started sending it around titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It's not generally hard to tell the difference. Novel-length fanfic tends to be (sigh) better written and more internally consistent than Rowling's later books. (At least, the stuff that anyone would bother putting into a PDF and sharing is.) And a lot of it is either heavy romance or slash... and we're pretty sure that, whatever Rowling might write in the future, it doesn't involve Harry & Draco making out in the Astronomy Tower.

Although, i might be tempted to read that version...

[mores]

I was actually watching the IRC channel on the night HP5 came out. A bunch of people from around the world got their copies at 0:00 midnight and started scanning, proofing etc, and it was "broadcast" live. Quite fun, and very unnerving, since they split up the work and chapter one, 11 and 32 were released simultaneously ... so you had to wait in agony for chapter 2 to come out and NOT read ahead.
That experience taught me a lot about the "philosophy" of eBook piracy and I was amazed to see what some people do to help fellow eBook readers.

Anyhow, I "found" Harry Potter and the serpent tongue (or something) by "barb", thinking it was the original, and Harry lost his geekiness, worked out, got some serious muscle and cool, made out with Hermione. Well immagine me and my friend (who got the real book) talking about how we like the book, and how long we were confused as to why the german translation was so radically different from the english original.

Haha

I went on to read all of barb's versions, which were quite a lot more fun to read than Rowling's increasingly depressing ramblings.

[Harry001]

Originally Posted by mores

When you go into the darknet to find HP in digital form, make sure you don't get fanfiction by accident.

Not that that happened to me ... I could just "immagine" that it would be quite confusing and embarassing when you discuss the story with friends.

there is some good hp fan fiction out there - and not in the dark corners.
i remember some years ago, when my kids were younger, i got some good fan fiction of hp, some of them over 600 pages - and my kids loved them.

that website had them grouped for age groups. they where rated like movies so you did not end up with hp porn

i just did one google - for harry potter fan fiction -over 4 mil. entries

keep reading
harry

[AprilHare]

Rowling has cited ... the desire for readers to experience the books on paper.

The experience of paper books. Oh yes: everyone *loves* the feeling you get from papercuts. And torn pages. And the alluring smell of book glues and gathered dust (great for the lungs).
Everyone loves the sheer weight of lots of books too.
- Honestly, I think she's afraid she'd lose a dollar. Typical cynical technophobic author.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

It might not be illegal. One of the fascinating bits of commentary in the recent Sony v Tenenbaum ruling was the judge saying: (Bolding added.) So we've got a ruling where a judge said, if there's no digital version available, it might be okay to make & distribute one. Rowling's said she never intends to allow ebooks--she's declined to exploit that market, and that doesn't give her the right to prevent it.

From the Gone With the Wind/The Wind Done Gone case, Marcus' concurring opinion:

This is great. I will be traveling soon, and I have a lot of work to do which involves big, heavy dictionaries. It is much too impractical to carry them along with me.


That said, I'm surprised that no one seems to be marketing e-book readers specifically to children (as far as I've been able to see). I think that e-book readers certainly DO have the potential to be "cool gadgets" for kids - I sure would have loved to have one as a kid. My 8 year old niece has been begging various family members for a reader after I bought mine. I really think that she might like a smaller reader, say the Sony pocket edition, but I am concerned about a lack of age appropriate reading material available for purchase.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

That said, I'm surprised that no one seems to be marketing e-book readers specifically to children (as far as I've been able to see). I think that e-book readers certainly DO have the potential to be "cool gadgets" for kids - I sure would have loved to have one as a kid. My 8 year old niece has been begging various family members for a reader after I bought mine. I really think that she might like a smaller reader, say the Sony pocket edition, but I am concerned about a lack of age appropriate reading material available for purchase.

Too fragile. Devices that can't survive being dropped off a table are not good candidates for sales to children. Some kids will be careful enough, but marketing them specifically for kids would require both warranties for screen breaks and more user-friendly software instructions.

The only computer-ish devices marketed at kids under the age of about 15 are very durable, small videogames. I believe there are some simple PDA-like devices--also very durable, with very simple & limited functions.

However, there's plenty of age-appropriate reading material. Fictionwise has solid children's and young adult's section, and there are plenty of good public domain books. Any 8-year-old who *likes reading* will be easy to find content for. (Kids who don't already love to read should not be given ebook readers, unless the reason they don't like reading is "the letters are too small on the page.")

[Marseille]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

I suspect the 'paper experience' is something Rowling feels. I can see it, for an author, but don't think it means very much to most readers. I think it's a dumb decision, but everybody's got a right to make dumb decisions. I hope.

The right to make them, and the right to get the raspberry for making them

I can determine my own experience in regards to medium. I hope her favorite author decides to deliver their next book exclusively on stone tablets.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by David Marseilles

The right to make them, and the right to get the raspberry for making them

I can determine my own experience in regards to medium. I hope her favorite author decides to deliver their next book exclusively on stone tablets.

I'm sure there have been a few, but I doubt that many adolescent fans of HP have emailed Rowling and demanded legal electronic copies for their convenience. Perhaps in a few years though?

[Marseille]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

I'm sure there have been a few, but I doubt that many adolescent fans of HP have emailed Rowling and demanded legal electronic copies for their convenience. Perhaps in a few years though?

I don't know of any author who's had adoring fans demand an ebook variant from them. That's why I suggested it'd be better if she had someone dictating an experience to her that doesn't fit her needs. It's no less annoying just because your needs are in the minority.

I notice she does have audio books of the series on Amazon. I hope listeners carry some paper with them so they don't miss the necessary experience.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by AprilHare

The experience of paper books. Oh yes: everyone *loves* the feeling you get from papercuts. And torn pages. And the alluring smell of book glues and gathered dust (great for the lungs).
Everyone loves the sheer weight of lots of books too.
- Honestly, I think she's afraid she'd lose a dollar. Typical cynical technophobic author.

Somewhat late thinking of this, but she said that *she* desires "for readers to experience the books on paper". She said nothing about readers desiring the experience. As an alternative to the other explanations mentioned here (although a not very plausible one, I think), perhaps she dislikes readers?