Potterbigf*****gdeal

[ffutures]

Pottermore turns out to be a web site. And apparently that's it.

Whoopee... I'm so thrilled about this.

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

But she's "written 18,000 additional words which help build on characters, places and objects for the site"[1]! That's much more than any other author has done for a website. Isn't it? And it's an online game, something no one has ever done before. Oh, and a social networking site, through which she can allegedly get the email and real addresses of her fans to do direct marketing or something. That's...

... pretty boring, actually. Now if she'd actually done something like writing a new series -- y'know, books -- then she might qualify as being an interesting author. As it is, she seems to be a "one hit wonder" desperately trying to capitalise on that one hit. No, a website won't save it...

(Big online interactive games based on a series of books -- anyone remember PernMUSH? That was at least interesting because it made up its own stories, not just a "treasure hunt".)

[1] The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/8593935/JK-Rowlings-Pottermore-is-a-landmark-for-digital-publishing.html).

[w00hoo.livejournal.com]

Does she really need to do anything more though? Isn't she already in the 'so wealthy even the impossibly stupid couldn't lose it all' category?

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she and generations of her family could happily live very wealthy lives off the interest alone.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

If all she wants is to get rich (and have her children stay rich off her estate, like the Tolkien brats) then no, she doesn't need to do anything else. And TBH if she did that I wouldn't blame her, if I did something that made me feeelthy rich then I probably wouldn't bother much about working again.

But if she wants to be regarded as more than a "one-hit" author (and it seems that she does, by puffing up this website) then she needs to write a lot more than 18kwords. Something like another series, or several standalone novels.

As an example, look at David Eddings. The Belgariad was good, not great literature, but enough people (including me) found it entertaining and worth recommending. Much like the HP series, in fact (although not quite as popular). But he then followed that with the Malloreon which was basically the same story again (in another five books). And then the same story (both paths) again from the viewpoint of a different character, and then another from the viewpoint of yet another character. By which time his credibility as an author had basically vanished. (Oh, then he wrote another couple of trilogies which were basically the same with the serial numbers names changed. And then, finally, he allegedly wrote something different, but I think I've only met one person who has read them because everyone else had given up.)

If she wants to be remembered only as the creator of HP, fine. If she wants to be considered a serious author then write something more. But pretending that writing 18kwords is anything noteworthy, or that a website with a game based on the books is anything exciting, just looks silly. Come back when you've written another million or so words...

[inamac.livejournal.com]

It is by no means unusual for a professional author(s) to expand on their universe online - I think that Shadow Unit (http://shadowunit.org/) is probably the most imaginative recent version of the genre.

Though this looks more like a personal version of a fanfic site.

I was sort of hoping that the rumours that it was going to be the Potter Massive Online Roleplayine Experience were true so I could ignore it (which I will anyway).