Comments on: Seven friendly suggestions for J.K. Rowling and her lawyer

By: Ronen Lewis

Ronen Lewis — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 03:19:03 +0000

well… we all know how this was resolved

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 23:46:11 +0000

Oh, heck, the best scenario right now would be for legal editions of Potter to show up in many formats.

By: Brian Carnell

Brian Carnell — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:22:59 +0000

I hate Mobipocket format. MS Reader is much easier, because the DRM is easily hacked and converted to HTML/whatever (I don’t pirate books, but I don’t want to be stuck in any given format either — plus I want to be able to search the books, and proprietary formats like that suck for that purpose).

I read exclusively e-books these days, and spend a ton of money at FictionWise. I don’t understand why some publishers are unwilling to take my money to read their books.

By: Branko Collin

Branko Collin — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:57:29 +0000

Don’t mind that inconsequential rag Wired, you were mentioned on Blackmask!

By: mark tomlinson

mark tomlinson — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:11:38 +0000

Just a comment on the observation about preferences…while I myself am of the generation that prefers the experience of reading a book, I have learned to enjoy reading on a portable device as well. There are just so many times when the PDA is more convenient.

My son (14) will exclusively read e-books and will wait for a release to be available in e-book form before picking up a reading an honest-to-good book. It is all what you grew up with.

By: Idiotprogrammer » Blog Archive » Railing Against Establishment Writers

Idiotprogrammer » Blog Archive » Railing Against Establishment Writers — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:37:39 +0000

[...] David Rothman gives some friendly suggestions to the Harry Potter author Meanwhile look ahead the future in other ways. While Mrs. Rowling isn’t a techie, I do find hope in her Web site. For those who love flashy Macromedia sites full of serendipity–you never know what you’ll run into–this one is a winner. Her Web designers have done a masteful job of creating some virtual chaos of the kind so endearing to many young people. Put your cursor over the switch of a cleverly drawn radio, and music plays. Roll it over a pen, and you’ll find a series of links. An electronic dog barks amid the sounds of other creatures. Web functionalists would hate the site, but it turns out that the designers have not forgotten them. If you want just the links, ma’am, Mrs. Rowling’s crew will oblige with a text-only version. So here’s the logical question. What if the same care were applied to the creation of Potter-related electronic books? With or without multimedia, well-done Potter e-books could sell in the millions. But it won’t happen until Mrs. Rowling and her agent get more comfortable with the technology. Then the possibilities are limitless. What Mrs. Rowling and her agents will need is the imagination to look beyond the primitive e-books of today. They should also endorse technical standards–for text and graphics–that will be more durable than the ephemeral proprietary ones of today, so that future generations can enjoy sophisticated multimedia creations or even just plain text. [...]

By: Robert Nagle

Robert Nagle — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:50:08 +0000

Ditto on all your suggestions. But I am amazed at how quickly the books were distributed around the world for people to buy. I had 2 individuals email me on Sunday night with their reactions to the finish after purchasing a legal deadtree copy. On saturday they were in my local supermarket in plentiful supply. . Harry Potter is a special case, but it seems that a better argument for ebooks can be made when the distribution system has failed in some way. In this case (and perhaps only in this case), the distribution system seemed wonderfully efficient.

Finally although multimedia-enabled books sound lovely, this may raise the bar of technical requirements for self-publishing (to the point where the only firms with $10,000+ to spend on multimedia ebook productions are the same big companies we rail against).

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 20:00:23 +0000

Her decision. But, as noted, J.K. might consider the virus and literacy questions if nothing else. Shouldn't there be a legit way for kids to get e-books of Mrs. Rowling's works without risking viruses? Also, imagine the potential of e-books to entice Net-minded children to read good literature. - DR

By: Potter Fan

Potter Fan — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 18:33:10 +0000

You’re the fools. What business is it of yours how an author chooses to publish their works?