Pottermore and JK Rowling and the whole Harry Potter crew will be open for full business on the Internet in April 2012. And what a business it is! The web site will be up and Harry Potter eBooks will be for sale. Just wave your wand.

(Photo: Chester Everglott / Pottermore FB)
An image from the Pottermore Facebook site (facebook.com/thepottermore).

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Pottermore finally vanquishes technical obstacles to open access

JK Rowling's internet version of the Harry Potter universe becomes available to everybody in early April

by Alison Flood

Pottermore's launch in June 2011: some of the young readers who can now access the site meet JK Rowling. Photograph: Akira Suemori/AP

Frustrated Harry Potter fans have finally received the news they have been waiting for: JK Rowling's much-delayed Pottermore website is set to open to all comers in early April, with ebooks due out around the same time.

Pottermore, an interactive version of the Harry Potter universe where users can duel their fellow wizards, cast spells and progress through the storyline of the Potter books, opened to one million beta users last July. Full launch was initially scheduled for October, but the immense popularity of the website among users – 550m page views were made in just two months – meant it was delayed until 2012.

Officials have now announced that pottermore.com will open to everyone in early April. A spokesperson for Rowling confirmed to the Guardian that the long-awaited Harry Potter ebooks, which will be sold from the site, would launch "at around the same time", but provided no more details. The Potter ebooks and digital audiobooks will be distributed to more than 18,000 school and public libraries worldwide by Overdrive, it was announced last month.

(more)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/mar/09/pottermore-harry-potter-jk-rowling