Pottermore is . . .

Well, on July 23rd, JK Rowling made her big announcement regarding the release of Pottermore. Check it out below -

I'll admit, the sap that I am, I teared up a little. I'm not sure why. It could have very well been PMS.

What Pottermore apparently is is the official Harry Potter website; a compendium of information that puts the likes of the HP Lexicon to shame (probably one of the major reasons Rowling fought so hard to keep the encyclopedia from being released, among other copyright issues). It'll be an interactive site that allows users to be sorted into houses, assigned wands and relive the story through a new digital medium. It'll contain extra information that, until now, Rowling has only ever kept in her head and the HP books will be available for the first time in a digital format.

That last part is leaving people in a tizzy because, on a technical level, Rowling is self-publishing the HP books digitally. And she kind of is and it's making all of those self-published people go insane because it's a "new" movement in the publishing world. Nevermind Rowling is an anomoly and her publishing houses are still getting cuts of the sales. She's not doing it alone but she is doing it under her name, from my understanding.

Anyway, the release was kind of anti-climatic for me. I was expecting something a little more than just a website. Still, that didn't stop me from trying (for an hour) to get my email address into their database (I finally did at the end of the hour and after multiple attempts). I'm interested in seeing just what Pottermore is all about and I'm looking forward to the extra information that's been kept secret until now.

A bonus is the early access that 1 million lucky users will be granted prior to the October release. I'm just not sure how they're going about choosing those users. I've read that it was the first million to sign up, I've read it'll be a million at random and I've read that you have to register on the 31st and a million of those registrants will get chosen. I'm not really sure but I'll be keeping an eye on my email on July 31st, watching for an owl.

Based on some of the images that have already been released, the site looks promising. Check out the Press Room to see more. What do you think of Pottermore?