The journey of Harry Potter was supposed to end this past July as The Dark Lord was defeated on film. But when the fandom thought it was finished, author J.K . Rowling revealed she had more to give. On the tails of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, a challenge was announced offering Potterheads around the world a chance to register for the latest project in the HP universe: Pottermore .
The name tells you everything and nothing about the purpose of the web site. In summary, Pottermore is supposed to offer fans that suffer from post-Harry Potter depression what they need more Potter. The allure of the project lies in the promise of the interactivity of the web site. Potter fans will be able to re-immerse themselves in the wizarding world and experience Hogwarts in a way they never have before: with their own eyes.
However, the practical purpose of Pottermore.com is to serve as an online store for the Harry Potter eBooks.
"We knew there was a big demand for the eBooks," Rowling said in a press conference this past June published by The Washington Post, "but I wanted—if it was going to be done—I wanted it to be more than that."
To critics and skeptics, this might appear to be a savvy marketing ploy preying on the fandom. Selling the Potter eBooks independently cuts out the need for third-party booksellers, like Amazon's eBookstore or Apple's iBookstore . This would likely ensure that Rowling receive the Gryffindor Lion's share of the profit. But Rowling stated at the press conference that the focus was to encourage enthusiastic muggles to reread the books while playing through the interactive "moments" offered on the web site.
"Obviously we'd had a lot of requests for all sorts of games and online interactive games and so forth. I wanted to pull it back to reading. I wanted to pull it back to the literary experience, the story experience, and this is what emerged from those discussions."
As for the chance at early entry, "7 Days, 7 Books, 7 Chances" was the tagline of the "Magical Quill Challenge."
For one week, rabid Rowling fans were asked to utilize their knowledge of the books (or a quick Google search) to help them discover a URL that would let them register to be among the first million users allowed in to beta test the Pottermore experience before it opens to the public at the end of October.
In the spirit of dedicated journalism (aka extreme fangirlism ), I succeeded in the challenge and received my Hogwarts acceptance letter three weeks ago. If a half-giant broke down my door in The Douglas to tell me "Yer a witch, Rosalie!" my life would have been complete.
I never got a visit from Hagrid but I have nonetheless been deeply immersed in the Pottermore beta to let all of The Spectator's readers know about what the site will offer.
Rosalie may be reached at rcabison@su-spectator.com
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