J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, ebooks, and the definition of irony
Sometimes the irony in life is so funny, it’s almost sad. Here’s one for you: I’ve been reading across the internet (first read on this post) today that pirated copies of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books were briefly up on Amazon’s website in digital format for the Kindle. The books have since been taken down. Here’s the ironic part: Rowling has been firmly against her books going digital, because she’s afraid of piracy.
As it turns out, each new Harry Potter book has been pirated into digital copies within hours of being released. That means that the younger generation the books appeal to (the same generation more open to using technology to consume books – more irony) are forced to turn to pirated copies of the ebooks when the author and publisher refuse to do it themselves.
A strong argument could be made that when no official ebook version of a novel is made available, it encourages piracy. I came across this post from the Dear Author blog that says:
In some cases, I think the lack of an ebook actually encourages piracy. The JK Rowling books are not allowed to be released in digital format, but piraters had the book scanned and turned into a digital copy within hours of their release. Somehow, as seen by the picture above, a couple of these unauthorized versions were for sale on the Amazon site last night.
You can read more about Rowling and her refusal to go digital here and here.
Authors, publishers have nothing to lose, everything to gain from ebooks
It’s amazing that consumers have realized the potential for ebooks right away, yet publishers and many big name authors just don’t seem to get it. The Dear Author post above goes through a long list of benefits ebooks have, benefits that traditional publishers should have realized a long time ago. I’m not going rehash the list, but here are my own thoughts:
For one, ebooks are another revenue stream. Once the book has been formatted and released, there is little cost associated with selling the digital version of a novel. This would also take away the market for pirated copies and incidents like the one detailed at the beginning of this post wouldn’t happen.
There is one caveat, however. The official ebook version that publishers churn out need to be fairly priced and free from DRM. Priced too high, we’ll see pirated copies making their way around the internet. Too many restrictions on use via DRM, we’ll see pirated copies making their way around the internet.
Lessons from the music industry
The music industry is learning its lesson the hard way. They refused to go digital for years, pushing antiquated CDs on the public (I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD). The result? Piracy went through the roof. The RIAA even tried suing their own customers, a tactic that has been nothing but a PR nightmare and a miserable failure. Slowly, the music industry is emerging from the dark ages and realizing they can’t stop or reverse an age of technological progress, so the best thing to do is adapt.
What goes around, comes around!
Rowling’s refusal to let her books go digital for fears of piracy, led to the piracy of her books. While the irony is laughable, it is also sad. By refusing to step into the world of ebooks, she is in denial about the very people who made her famous (and quite wealthy) to begin with. The generation of readers she appeals to is the same one embracing ebooks at a rapid pace.
Hopefully someone will talk some sense into Rowling and her publisher. Until then, however, we’ll continue to see pirated digital copies of her bestselling books make their rounds on the internet. She’ll lose. Her publishers will lose. And the only people who will win will be the pirates, the very people she has been scared of from the beginning.
What do you think about this? Has J.K. Rowling made a big mistake by refusing to embrace ebooks? Why or why not? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!
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Read More: Author News, eBooks
Yep, I agree. Just like music, I know I can download pirated music but I am honest and am glad I can pick my favorite songs online. It’s given me a sense of trusting relationship instead of me thinking of the music industry as just greedy people who robs us of our money for 1 or 2 good songs on a $13 good for nothing CD.
I agree that she’s made a huge mistake. The electronic format is growing, particularly for those on the go. I have a reader that I take with me everywhere because you never know when you’re going to have some idle time. It’s small, portable and I don’t have to decide when I leave the house what I might want to read (it’s a pain to take 7-8 books with you – with an ereader, you can take 100’s). And since I re-read favorite books, I keep a large selection on my reader. I have seen some of these “pirated” versions and given a choice, I would always choose to pay for a legit version. And when you see how many “pirated” versions are on the web, you see just how badly they are losing this battle and how much money they’re throwing away by not putting a legal version out there.
I too agree, she is encouraging piracy rather than discouraging it. I would love to re-read all 7 books, but now that I’ve gotten heavy into usage of my Amazon Kindle, I’d gladly rebuy all 7 paper / hard backs that I own in Kindle format if they were for sale so I could re-read them. Imagine being able to carry all 7 books around at once in one compact and amazing device? I love her books, but I can’t justify carrying such large physical books with me ever since I went digital. Plus we’re saving trees here too, another great plus.
When Brisingr (third book in the Eragon series) was released, they offered a pre-order on Kindle that people could order… I did and it was really awesome not having to wait in line the morning of the book release to look at my Kindle and tada it was already downloaded the day it came out since I pre-ordered it.
Imagine the amount of people that would do that with future books she writes, such as her recent Beadle the Bard and anything else she works on!
I 100% agree! Like many, I fell in love with the Harry Potter series… I have purchased every book, and even bought the audio-books. I have since upgraded to a Sony Reader, and even though I have already purchased the hard copy, audio copy, I would love to be able to purchase the digital copy. Many people only download pirated material because they are unavailable to purchase. Why make your consumers inconvenienced, and therefore forcing their hands at pirating. Having all available editions makes sense, because the technology to convert material to an ebook quickly and efficiently is one which is wide-spread, so why not capitalize on it themselves. I would purchase the ebooks if they were available, but since they are not, I am now searching for a pirated one, because now that i have my compact, 9 oz reader, I do not plan on lugging all my harry potter books around. Thanks but no thanks!
This is a huge mistake! I was going onto amazon to buy the whole sceires because I love them! little did I know after spending about 30 minutes looking for them I realize that she doesn’t want to go digital! The world is digital move past the old days who wants to carry around a 10 pound book when I have an I pod that that is less than a pound and an e reader that is not much more than that?
Totally agree. I read HP all the time and I have recently bought an ereader. It would be so much easier to have them in ebook format. If they were fairly priced I would buy them without a seconds thought.
AGREED. I actually found this article because I was searching Google for “JK Rowling” + ebook. The reason? I own a Kindle, and I was trying to find the Harry Potter series in the Kindle store. Now, I may indeed find a pirated version, because I like digital books. I was completely willing to purchase it through Amazon first!
I agree that they are shooting themselves in the foot. Personally,
I prefer book format to electronic format. I’m that way with
music too. I love to own the real cd’s. Then upload them
to my computer. However, I could see the benefit of being
able to own a legal electronic copy of book so that book
isn’t destroyed while trying to learn the foreign language.
I bought 2 German copies of book 1 from Amazon, for my friend
and I. Eventually, I want to own the complete set, but won’t
even consider torrents, and other illegal means. I did email
the publisher. I expect a resounding ‘No can do’ concerning
my own request for a legal pdf file (complete with payment).
If its No, then I will have to send her the hard copy. No issues.
Definitely shooting themselves in the foot. Out of curiosity I went searching on bit torrent for Harry Potter books. I found an absolutely beautiful set of PDF files with all the graphics, fonts, page headers, table of contents, cover and everything. These are identical to the hard cover books down to the dust jacket.
I would love to reread the HP books on my Kindle but the only way to do that is “illegally”. I already own the books and audio CD sets and frankly I will have no qualms about reading the electronic versions on my Kindle or other device.
But if they were released in eBook on Kindle I would buy them again anyway. I did for the LOTR books. I bought them the morning they came out even though I also own the books and audio CDs for them.
People will buy these books if they are available. If they aren’t available we are forced to resort to other means to make it convenient.
Of course refusing to go digital is a mistake for any mid to high level author. I enjoy reading, but after moving in to a smaller home I have had to either go to the library ( to much time and effort) or buy e-books. It is therefore the case that I sometimes forgo reading a book that is not offered in e-book form. Authors are losing money in more ways buy refusing the inevitable.
It’s a huge mistake to turn her back on the ebook format. After all, what was Hermione Granger’s handbag (Deathly Hallows) all about if not a way of carting 100s of her favourite books around in a tiny handbag? I’d have thought JK Rowling of all people would love the ‘magic’ of ebook readers.
Definitely a big mistake, others have commented on the Music Industry as an example which I agree with. I use my current ebook reader all the time and it has business and personal books so I can read what I want where ever I am. I can’t image hauling all these books around with me. I love the Harry Potter books, but I don’t reread them as much as I would if they were on my ereader.
If JK reasoning was about relationship one has with an old book, the tactile feel, the paper, the smells/memories as the book ages I might understand better, but I’d still disagree with the decision. The number of ebook readers currently being released may push JK or the publisher to change their minds if not I’m sure the piracy will continue or accelerate. What are the chances that all these new ebook reader ownere have never read the Harry Potter series. They will be searching for it online and not finding an official one they will find the scanned versions.
This whole thing totally puzzles me. I am a huge potter fan. I have pre-ordered every book since 3, and have read them multiple times. Recently my wife began reading the series with my physical books and I wanted to read them with her so I went straight to the Kindle store to re-purchase the books in the digital format so we could read them together. I was shocked that they weren’t there. Today I got an early Christmas present, the v2 Kindle, so my wife took ownership of my v1 Kindle and immediately asked “Can I get the Harry Potter on this and read them that way?” I told her how they weren’t available and she was dissapointed. I decided to take a peek around the more nefarious alleys of the internet and finding the books took me all of about 5 minutes. A free application converted the PDFs to Kindle files. Do I feel bad about it? Maybe a little. But the reality is this (and this confirms this writer’s article) I purchased the books all in hardcover, and completely intended to re-purchase them for Kindle. Today, my wife would have ALSO purchased them for her Kindle. The reality is that piracy didn’t cost them two sales, not offering them for sale cost them two sales. I am willing to bet a couple bucks that I am not the only one that would have bought them but didn’t only because they aren’t available to be purchased. I agree, the ironic part is that the people with Kindles have proven they are willing to purchase books digitally, why exclude them when they are also the ones technically savvy enough to find it in an alternative way if you force them to….
I just purchased a Sony Reader with the thought in mind of buying all the Harry Potter books. Excited, I sat at my pc and began the search for my first ebook. After searching several ebook stores, I find myself here reading this page with disappointment. I sit here now with the thought that I should return the reader. I couldn’t find the number 1 series of books on my list, what else am I not going to find? This is a fantastic way of taking a lot of books when a person travels. I’m about to go on the road for 3 months, I’m certainly not lugging a bunch of books on the road with me… Harry Potter or not! Get with it Rowling…
Rowling not going ebook is not only a monumental mistake, it also smells of massive arrogance. This reminds me of the Beatles not being on iTunes because somebody thinks its ‘too good’ for the most popular avenue of digital distribution.
More importantly, Rowling and her publisher have shown they are very poor at simple math. Would they rather sell me 0 bundles at 80 bucks on paper ?, or 1 bundle download at 40 bucks ?. I read again because of the awesomeness of ereaders ( I adore my Sony PRS ) and would not read at all if paper was my only option. Ereaders have brought me back to recreational reading, and her refusal to go digital means I cannot and will not be one of her customers.
JK’s stupidity on this issue can almost be forgiven, she is the author with fears of intellectual property abuse, but the publisher not setting her straight is not forgivable, and their failure to act realistically is costing them both.
I personally own 2 ebook readers, 1 sony prs-300 and a jetbook lite. My wife has a sony prs-300 as well, and we BOTH have the Potter books on all 3 of our readers, I am quite disappointed that JK refuses to adapt and adopt the future.
I do not have any regrets for using a pirated copy of the books since I have ALL of them in hardback US edition, all of them in paperback US AND UK edition, as well as the audiobooks. I have spent a ton of money on JK and and would legally purchase the ebooks if she would wake up and smell the coffee or tea as the case may be.
I still buy my books in hardback for first release and paper back for second release and now digital for convenience. I have a library wall at home, and a library in my pocket.
Get with the times, I think authors/publishers will make a larger profit from digital editions.
I agree completely! My 12 year old son asked for a Kindle for Christmas. The first books he asked for were the Harry Potter books and then the Twilight series. Guess what? The Twilight series is in ebook format and Harry Potter is not. He will be reading the Twilight series.
Publishers and authors need to get a clue, right NOW!!!! Ebooks are the wave of the future — Sony, Barnes and Nobe and Amazon are all selling ebook readers and more vendors are doing the same. It is infuritating that authors like J.K. refuse to see the potential and recognize that reading is the end goal — if we can get our kids to read who cares what format it is in? She is worried about piracy? Well, I can go to the library and check her books or our borrow the audio tapes, but am I going to borrow someone’s ebook reader or netbook? Really???
Someone needs to point this out to her. I, for one, who have never read her books, will not read them if or until they come out in ebook format!!
I opened up the Sony Reader I received for Christmas yesterday fully expecting to put a few books I’ve always wanted to read but never got around to, aswell as few faithful old favourites. Top of my ‘old favourites’ list: my 3 favourite HP books, I searched around a bit but, as I had a lot of trouble with the ebook store I foolishly chose to use, I thought nothing of it that they didn’t have the HP series.
Then when I couldn’t find it anywhere I found this article and have just got more and more angry as reading the comments because they’re all saying exactly what I’m feeling. I love the HP series, my favourite ever, and have a lot of love and respect for J K Rowling and the world she cleverly created, but I have lost a little bit of it here today. I have all the books and have read them more times than I can count on both hands and I, like everyone else here, was fully prepared to pay full price for the ebooks to get them on my reader so I can read them where I want, when I want without having to take huge books on the bus or on holiday with me.
People who pirate just because they won’t spend money on ebooks and whole albums are just disrespectful to the person who created the material but those who pirate because they really can’t get the material elsewhere are just the product of attitudes such as Rowling’s. This should be a lesson to her: just like everyone else who has commented and doubtless more, I’m off to get a torrent for the ebooks I would have paid for if they were only available to me.
Ordinarily, would I feel guilty about stealing an author’s work? Yes, very much so. Do I feel guilty about this particular act of piracy? Not one little bit and I’m dealing with one of my favourite author and works here. Frankly, it’s her own fault and I’m quite disappointed in her and her attitude towards how she sells her work.
Wow, I was looking to buy an ereader (probably the nook) and I wanted to get the Harry Potter series on them. I have read the last three books, but I never read any of the earlier ones. I planned on those being my first books on the ereader, but I am probably going to pirate them if this decision isn’t changed by the time I get one early next year. This article is 100% accurate in terms of irony. Every person that has commented saying that they pirated the books stated that they tried to buy them first. Technology is an unstoppable force; you can resist all you want, but you will eventually give in or get plowed over in the process. She is losing tons of money by holding out and it is pure ignorance to think otherwise.
I agree. I recently got the Barnes and Noble nook, and the first thing I searched for was the HP series. I own every book in the US hardback version. I did not feel bad downloading the PDF for my nook. Would I have bought them if they were available for purchase? Absolutely. If they become available for purchase, will I buy them (even if I have read them all 20 times)? Absolutely.
This is the first time I’ve deemed it necessary to make a social comment…. here goes…
Ditto, ditto, ditto!!!!
I own the books, the audio CDs and the films – each and every one paid for with my hard earned wages.
I now own a Kindle, and like many others commenting here, the HP book set was my FIRST choice to purchase/download. I tried the Amazon site and was dismayed to find out that not only were they not available, but that the author has no intention of releasing them in this format!! Bother x 7!!! (The Twilight series was my 2nd choice – Bingo!)
I can understand that physical books may encourage younger readers to get into reading, but in this day and age, the e-readers are the way ahead. Take a lesson from the music industry – ever heard of iTunes? Find out what their profit margins are.
I can’t realistically carry around the last 4 books in my handbag, but my Kindle & iPod go everywhere with me.
I will be waiting “patiently” for the e-books. But for now, I’ll have to resort to listening to the Audio CDs on my iPod.
But please, please, please don’t make us wait too long!!!!
I have been looking everywhere for a “legal” ebook copy of JK Rowling’s HP books. I would gladly pay for them although we have already purchased at least 3 copies of every paper volume and have the DVD set.
eBook readers are a hot seller and people are looking for their favourite books. They also don’t just appeal to the younger set but also to us middle age folks who would gladly pay for our reading material!
100% agree. I actually wrote a letter last year to her publisher informing them that I would be happy to pay for legal copies. I’ve been reading digital for years now (so it makes me laugh whenever they say apple will revolutionize reading…only dinosaurs fail to realize that books have been digital for a decade now). However, with no legal copy available…what’s a guy to do?
The train isn’t coming. It’s here. Get on board or get run over. None of us really care which you choose. It will not effect the trains momentum or direction.
[...] irony, of course, is that authors/publishers trying to prevent piracy through such tactics only encourage [...]
[...] of course, brings us to the second point: you can’t DRM a print book. Harry Potter is probably the most infamous case of this, but in essence, even going so far as not making a book [...]
I would have to agree. I am one of those people who purchased the physical copies of the books and have purchased two copies of the audiobooks. One set from itunes and the physical audiobooks. I would have gladly spent more money to purchase the ebooks, but they are not available. Do I think it is wrong that people are resorting to pirated downloads? No, not if they can’t be obtained legally. This is a mess that the author and publisher have created themselves.
Everyone seems to be on the same page, except Rowling and the publishers. I got a Nook so I wouldn’t have to choose which books to lug around in my purse taking up space, or on my vacation/trips. The first thing I looked for was the ebooks for Harry Potter. I own every book Rowling has ever published, and would have gladly paid for an ebook version. Instead I torrented them. If she comes up with an ebook version at some point, I’ll probably pay for them, out of good old guilt, but until then, I have no qualms about having illegal copies.