JK Rowling Does 180 On Ebooks; Forgoes DRM

A few days after JK Rowling’s new Pottermore website came to life and the announcement of the Harry Potter series being released in ebook format, got me thinking about the big shift that has taken place in Rowling’s thinking over the years.

She has gone from dismissing ebooks because of worries about piracy (even though the absence of ebooks actually increased piracy of her books), to releasing DRM-free versions of her ebooks. Not only that, but she is essentially self-publishing the Harry Potter series on her website (her publishers do share some of the revenue, however).

I applaud Rowling for taking the non-DRM route. This means that no matter what kind of eReader you have, you’ll be able to enjoy the popular series.

Instead of DRM, the ebooks will have a digital watermark that uses a buyers information. Then, if the ebook shows up on a file-sharing site, one just has to look at the watermark to find the offender. This seems much more logical and reader-friendly to me than restricting ebooks to a single device.

Rowling has redeemed herself in my figurative book.

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