3 Ways Pottermore Could Change Book Publishing

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nahgem

I suppose I was too vague. I know they've got a basic body/header font combination because, well, that's kind of obvious. What I meant was the UK novels don't have a separate individual handwriting font for each character signature, Dumbledore and Hagrid's notes to Harry, etc. They also don't have the stars around chapter headings and page numbers or any illustrations at all. My point was that since there already are English editions without all that extra formatting, it might not be something they'll need/want to try and accommodate in the ebooks, so the argument over which file formats can and can't properly replicate those effects might end up being irrelevant.

But for the people in the USA, it could be a deal as that's all they know. They don't know that the UK editions don't have the nice formatting and fonts. So I o think in order to do it right, they should do as nice a formatting job as they can and to me that means using the USA formatting with the UK text.

[BearMountainBooks]

Okay, I didn't read through everything here, so forgive if others have made the point. I've seen rumors around for a while that Amazon was going to allow ePubs to be read on their devices (or maybe only their newest, whatever that turns out to be.) With those rumors goes the theory they would sell ePub, but mostly that rumor has no legs.

Secondly, I don't think what Rowlings is doing is going to change the face of publishing. For one, she can do things that other authors can't--and she's also doing some thing that other authors already are (creating your own site and selling from it is done all the time. Granted, no one KNOWS about individual sites, which is part of the selling problem, but plenty of authors do it.)

Now the whole working with overdrive thing, may indeed turn out to be a new and interesting combo of software/lending/selling/new DRM. BUT...I'm not sure that it would be so readily accepted that it would change the world for the rest of us.

In short, she can do some things others can't. This may mean that mega-popular authors follow in her footsteps to some extent...but a lot of authors don't want to run empires. And a lot of mega-popular authors have already sold e-rights so can't turn on a dime in any case...

[DMB]

Are the US editions of HP given US spelling? Are there other alterations to the text (apart from the title change of the first book)? I ask because if the US dt editions are very different from the UK ones I imagine there will either have to be alternative websites (like Amazon, for example) or you will be given a choice of language for the download.

[Hellmark]

US editions use US spelling (color instead of colour, etc) and some words are substituted (sweater instead of jumper), but the changes are relatively few and extremely minor.

I've mentioned it before, but the Pottermore website does let you specify language between US English and UK English, so that in mind I think things will allow for versions for the two countries.

[stonetools]

The second way in which the article's author thought that Pottermore can revolutionize publishing is pricing. Her take:

Interesting experiments with pricing. Since Rowling is selling the e-books directly, she can do what she wants with pricing. Her UK publisher, Bloomsbury, and her U.S. publisher, Scholastic, are getting a cut, but these books are being published under the Pottermore Publishing imprint, not by Bloomsbury or Scholastic. So look out for bundling, limited-time sales, special editions, maybe even individual chapters for sale. Pottermore.com has a lot of freedom here to test various prices and respond quickly to what works or doesn’t. Other publishers can learn from what Pottermore.com does and may start to become more creative in their own pricing, although the big six publishers, which use the agency model for pricing, aren’t able to be nearly as nimble as an indie like Pottermore Publishing can.

What experiments do you think P-More could do with pricing? My ideas:

BUNDLING

A deal on buying seven ( or all ten) books in the Potterverse would be an obvious one. They are doing staggered release, however. That may be a mistake.
I think hard-core fans would pay good money for bundled background stuff (maps, prequels, magic systems, etc. ). Maybe video games will be offered, bundled or stand-alone.
Enhanced editions or "apps" of books could work well too. Children would delight in multimedia evocations of the various monsters-but then a lot of people prefer to be immersed in the text, and don't want multimedia enhancements.
The writer talks about sales, but Pmore really doesn't NEED sales to drive demand for their stuff, so I don't foresee lots of bargains.
Selling individual chapters? That's a no go for me. Original short stories or novellas in the Potterverse would be great .
What other things would you like to see Pmore offer?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by stonetools

A deal on buying seven ( or all ten) books in the Potterverse would be an obvious one. They are doing staggered release, however. That may be a mistake.
I think hard-core fans would pay good money for bundled background stuff (maps, prequels, magic systems, etc. ). Maybe video games will be offered, bundled or stand-alone.

Again, staggered release is for the extra site content. From JK Rowling's video announcement, all seven ebooks and audio books should be available on Pottermore at the same time in October.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Again, staggered release is for the extra site content. From JK Rowling's video announcement, all seven ebooks and audio books should be available on Pottermore at the same time in October.

Thanks for the correction.

[Latinandgreek]

Here is a site detailing the differences between the US and UK editions, if anyone is interested. There are many more differences between the editions than I had imagined there would be.

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/about/books/differences.html

[Jessica Lares]

It won't change anything. It's only a good move because of who she is. And honestly, I can't see her selling more than 30,000 copies of each of these ebooks. And self-publishing on your own isn't a good move when people want to load your book directly onto the device from the store, aswell as use any credit they have on their account.

And personally, I'm NOT about to fork up $50-100 to get them all on my Kindle. And most people, like parents, aren't going to let their kids pay for something like that when they already have a couple of different copies of every book already. I personally have about four of each myself. When you can buy the whole set of lightly used copies for less than $25, why are you going to buy a digital set for much more? There are 450 MILLION+ copies of them sitting around right now.

No, I think this whole idea will fail and that they'll eventually get added to all the services respectfully later on to make up for it.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

It won't change anything. It's only a good move because of who she is. And honestly, I can't see her selling more than 30,000 copies of each of these ebooks.

I disagree. She'll sell millions, just like the Beatles did when they were added to iTunes. There is a huge pent-up demand.

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

And personally, I'm NOT about to fork up $50-100 to get them all on my Kindle. ... I personally have about four of each myself.

Okay, nobody is asking you to do that.

How much did you pay for the other 28 book, btw?

[anamardoll]

I agree with Jessica that pricing will be key, though. Most of the consumer base for these books will already own them in paper format, so this will essentially be "conversion costs". And customers generally have different individual expectations about conversion costs.

If the 7 series books are priced at $10 each, it'll be a $70 investment to convert. If they are $5 each, it'll be $35 to convert. And so on.

I can see a LOT of fans plunking down $35 on a whim to get electronic backup, search functionality, and so forth, even if the books aren't from their usual store source. But $70 for a side-load set that can't be synced across devices or (potentially) linked to an account for permanent download and backup (i.e., if you lose your nook, you don't lose your B&N books, but you may lose your side-loads if you didn't back them up)?

Hard to say how many will plunk down in that case, with this economy. More than 30,000, I'll bet, but how much more? We'll see, I guess.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I agree with Jessica that pricing will be key, though. Most of the consumer base for these books will already own them in paper format, so this will essentially be "conversion costs". And customers generally have different individual expectations about conversion costs.

If the 7 series books are priced at $10 each, it'll be a $70 investment to convert. If they are $5 each, it'll be $35 to convert. And so on.

I can see a LOT of fans plunking down $35 on a whim to get electronic backup, search functionality, and so forth, even if the books aren't from their usual store source. But $70 for a side-load set that can't be synced across devices or (potentially) linked to an account for permanent download and backup (i.e., if you lose your nook, you don't lose your B&N books, but you may lose your side-loads if you didn't back them up)?

Hard to say how many will plunk down in that case, with this economy. More than 30,000, I'll bet, but how much more? We'll see, I guess.

What about the new set of kids who haven't read them yet? I think she'll find new fans that will buy the ebooks if she prices them reasonably.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

What about the new set of kids who haven't read them yet? I think she'll find new fans that will buy the ebooks if she prices them reasonably.

There are kids who haven't read Harry Potter yet?

But less facetiously, where are these kids coming from? If the parents are fans, then they probably already have the books on hand and my "conversion scenario" still stands; if the parents aren't fans, one wonders which is more likely: that they'll buy eBooks for baby from B&N, Amazon, Kobo, etc. or that they'll go to the personal website of an author they don't follow to download books they haven't read.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

There are kids who haven't read Harry Potter yet?

But less facetiously, where are these kids coming from? If the parents are fans, then they probably already have the books on hand and my "conversion scenario" still stands; if the parents aren't fans, one wonders which is more likely: that they'll buy eBooks for baby from B&N, Amazon, Kobo, etc. or that they'll go to the personal website of an author they don't follow to download books they haven't read.

Well, new ones are being born everyday! She needs to come up with a Harry Potter, Womb Edition.

There is a segment of the population who felt they were too old for HP at the time, but now have kids who are becoming of age to start reading at the level of the books. Plus how many people did have the books when younger, but grew up and moved, and lost the books somewhere along the way. I know a bunch of the books I had when I was younger are packed in a box in my parents basement. Would it be easier for me to rebuy the books, or goto my parent's, find the box, unpack and locate the books I am after? For many people in the boat as me, the books may have been given away in some charity drive, or sold at a garage sale. "Well, Timmy and Jenny have moved out of the nest, they won't need their kiddy books and toys anymore."