Harry Potter e-books available at J.K. Rowling's Pottermore store
(CBS News) Harry Potter fans can finally download e-books of the entire young adult series from J.K. Rowling's website Pottermore.
Rowling is keeping her Kung-Fu grip on the popular franchise. The site announced Tuesday that it was the only place to buy all seven English versions of the Harry Potter e-books.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both promoting the e-book, but you'll be redirected to Pottermore to make your purchase. While the redirect to a third-party site may seem like an incredible concession, it will make Kindle and Nook owners happy. And both companies are taking advantage of the marketing potential.
"For years our customers have loved reading Harry Potter books in print, and have made them the best-selling print book series on Amazon.com," Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle content, said in a press release. "We're excited that Harry Potter fans worldwide are now able to read J.K. Rowling's fantastic books on their Kindles and free Kindle reading apps."
Barnes & Noble took the opportunity to promote a Harry Potter page that also sells the physical books, DVDs and additional merchandise.
"We are thrilled to bring the wonderful world of Harry Potter to our NOOK customers," said Jim Hilt, vice president of eBooks for Barnes & Noble. "By offering the NOOK editions of this popular series, long-time fans and first-time readers can experience the magic of Harry Potter in a new, exciting way and read what they love, anywhere they like on NOOK."
Harry Potter should be compatible with most major e-book readers in the EPUB format. Pottermore listed over 20 compatible devices, including the iPad, Sony Readers, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Kobo eReader. Not to be left out, smartphones, like the iPhone, Motorola Droid and HTC EVO are also on the list.
So what will another trip through Hogwarts cost you? The first three e-books go for $7.99 each and the final four books retail at $9.99. The complete collection can be purchased for $57.54.
The Harry Potter series is one of the bestselling of all time, with over 450 million copies of the books sold worldwide, according to a 2011 report by the Associate Press.
