Pirates of the Potter-ian

Found on Wired on Wednesday, 20 July 2005
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Author J.K. Rowling has been branded a "Luddite fool" for inadvertently encouraging fans to pirate the latest Harry Potter book only hours after its official release.

The sixth installment in the popular series was published worldwide Friday and is expected to further enhance what has become a multibillion-dollar publishing phenomenon.

But within hours, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been scanned and put online by an underground collection of fans capitalizing on Rowling's decision not to release an official e-book version.

Although Potter has become a multimedia cash cow, with 52 million books sold and products ranging from figurines to a $2.35 billion movie series, Rowling has so far decided against publishing the stories in e-book format, a medium growing by up to 40 percent annually, according to the New York-based Open eBook Forum, a trade body.

The runaway success of the Potter series has seen British author Rowling amass a personal fortune estimated by Forbes at $1 billion. Her latest installment shifted 2 million copies in the United Kingdom alone on its first day, breaking a record. But Rowling's camp has declined to publish Potter in electronic format, citing security concerns.

"For the next book, we're going to be prepared," said the Half-Blood Prince scanner. "The people who'll be helping me will be at their computers waiting for me to get home with it and I'll be calling in sick to work for a day or two so I can scan it without interruptions."

It's one of the most important rules of selling: if you don't cover the demand, people will find ways to do it. It was, of course, clear that there was no way to stop fans from creating digital copies. It took just 11 hours this time; next time, it will be less. Aside from that, I'm still wondering about that hype. I must be the only person on this planet who hasn't read a single HP book.