Still no ebook option for Harry Potter fans

Angus Kidman
Friday, 02 February 2007 08:10

Your IT - Entertainment

The final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, goes on sale on July 21, but enthusiasts who hope to read the novel in digital format shouldn't rush to their nearest virtual bookstores.

The eagerly anticipated seventh book in JK Rowling's monumentally successful series about the boy wizard will be published worldwide on July 21. Global publishers Bloomsbury and US publishers Scholastic plan numerous editions of the book, include hardback editions aimed at children and adults, a special gift edition, a reinforced library version and an audio book.

However, despite that extensive range of choices, there are no plans for an ebook edition of the new title. Indeed, although they have dominated best-seller lists ever since the first book was released in 1997, none of the Harry Potter titles have ever been released in digital format.

The lack of an ebook edition is reflective of Rowling's own attitude towards technology. The Potter manuscripts have been written by hand rather than on a PC, and although the novels are effectively set in the modern world, there is no mention of computer technology.

In other IT areas, however, Rowling has been quite astute. When the title of the book was announced in December, Rowling's agents had already registered numerous variant web site addresses in a bid to stop cybersquatting.

The lack of an official edition has seen widespread piracy of unauthorised digital versions of the books. Way book in 2001, piracy monitoring service Envisional identified more than 700 distinct digital editions of the Harry Potter books, even though only four had then been published and none had been officially released as ebooks.