laurenwaters

Okay well this isn’t directly connected to self-publishing but I had to comment on it. I have to tell you when I heard of the countdown to this legendary announcement I was so excited that Rowling would unveil a spin-off of the Harry Potter Series. I was busy envisioning how she could make the saga continue with Harry’s children, possibly Albus Jr versus another of his children who inherited Voldemort’s traits. Harry, Hermione, and Ron could all still play large roles and I would devour the book in a day!

So when I heard the big announcement was that she was choosing to sell the Harry Potter Series electronically it is an understatement to say I was utterly disappointed. I’m sure this was huge news to all the book sellers out there but to me it didn’t deserve this much attention.

Later in the day I read around and someone on a writing brought brought up how this was some distant form of self-publishing since she was only selling this ebook via Pottermore and “publishing in partnership with her existing international publishers.” It made me think what a smart move it was for her to do this, cutting out Amazon, Apple, and book sellers. I’m sure she had the money to fund this all herself and was probably keeping her partners in for good will.

Is this a start for well-known authors with a loyal fan base to take ebooks into their own hands? Is this a great reason for authors to hold onto their electronic rights? I think we may see more of this in the future 🙂