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May 16, 2012

The Harry Potter Series Is Going Digital on Amazon for Kindle Users

By Monica Gleberman, Contributing Writer

The Harry Potter series is finally going digital on Amazon, starting June 19. The online retailer will be adding all seven Harry Potter books in five languages to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Now known as the “Harry Potter Books,” the entire series of fantasy novels by author J.K. Rowling were only released as ebooks via Pottermore, the official Harry Potter Web Portal, meaning only members of the portal had access to digital copies of the books. However, after a long negotiation period, Amazon has now obtained the rights to release digital copies on its website.

For those who don’t know, the books follow the adventures of a wizard, Harry Potter, and his two friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, who all attend school together at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The three continually find themselves running from enemies and trying to stay out of trouble.

The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released June 1997 and before the year was over, the Harry Potter phenomenon had begun. By 2011, after all seven books were released, the series had sold over 450 million copies, making it the best selling book series in history. The rights to the books were sold to Warner Brothers, who told the story over the course of eight films, making over $7 billion worldwide.

Due the immense popularity of the books, the demand to read them on portable devices has been high. Users have been asking for the complete series to be released on another platform other than the web portal and it looks like Amazon has filled that demand.

Amazon said it purchased an exclusive license from author J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore and will be releasing the books next month. “We are absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we’ll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com (News - Alert). “Over a year, borrowing the Harry Potter books, plus a handful of additional titles, can alone be worth more than the $79 cost of Prime or a Kindle. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library also has an innovative feature that’s of great benefit for popular titles like Harry Potter – unlimited supply of each title – you never get put on a waiting list.”




Edited by Rich Steeves
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