Magic wand and e-reader in hand, Harry Potter returned to the spotlight on the publishing industry stage this week. Pottermore, the official digital home of the seven-novel series from J.K. Rowling launched this week. In the days ahead, when talk turns to evil-doing, it’s likely to involve old “you-know-what” – that’s right, DRM.
“You know that [the Pottermore launch] is big news for fans—but it’s also proving to be very interesting news for the publishing community,” Andrew Albanese, PW’s Features Editor, tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “Pottermore is publishing its e-books in DRM-free editions – or, so they say; they are apparently watermarked. By and large, customers can download the Pottermore e-books and read them on virtually any device they choose—including the Kindle.”
In her review of the latest Publishers Weekly reviews, Rose Fox notes the arrival of Paul Goldstein’s Harlem Requiem, in which an intellectual property specialist helps an elderly Cuban musician seek rights to music he and friends wrote in the 1940s and ’50s. A law professor, Goldstein, “excels at making the dry subject matter of his professional expertise both accessible and fascinating,” she reports.
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Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.