Speculation as to what the Pottermore website would turn out to be has been running rampant on the Internet since the site appeared a week ago. This morning, as scheduled, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealed the answer, though details are still a bit fuzzy: It will be, she said:
… something unique: an online reading experience unlike any other. It’s called “Pottermore.” It’s the same story, with a few crucial additions. The most important one is you. Just as the experience of reading requires that the imaginations of the author and reader work together to create the story, so Pottermore will be built in part by you, the reader. The digital generation will be able to enjoy a safe, online reading experience built around the Harry Potter books.
Rowling indicated Pottermore would include information she has “been hoarding for years about the world of Harry Potter,” a fact which by itself will no doubt serve to draw in numerous fans of the books, hungry for more details about the world since the last book was published four years ago. She also said the site would make available audio books and, for the first time, e-books of the series.
Pottermore will, she said, be open to everyone in October, but a select few people will get early access in order to “help shape the experience.” How a person gets to be one of those early few, Rowling said cryptically, is to “simply follow the owl.” (The website says to “[c]ome back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early.”) See and hear for yourself:
