News and Analysis

Pottermore: Harry Potter Ebooks Out!

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The long-promised eBooks (and more) are available at the site!

So of course, you can bet we’re going to watch this one – because there’s not much out there like “Pottermore”, so it’s kind of a giant lab experiment.

Thoughts:

  • I think there will be attempts to do more “Pottermores” no matter what the success of the site – the model is interesting enough and amorphous enough for people to give it a go.  If it works is a bit of a question.
  • Meanwhile GigaOm chimes in with a great article on what publishers can learn from Pottermore, and points out DRM *is not your friend*.
  • Building on that issue, one of the flamingly, neon-bright obvious things from Pottermore is that people respond to a good property, a place to gather, and response.  The entire “walled garden” model of publishing is missing the fact you have an economy/culture building on connectivity.
  • The Pottermore site may seem complex, but consider how fast sites can be put together these days – so it may be easy to create “lesser Pottermores.”
  • I could see people building web/media careers on creating “Pottermore” like sites.  Of course, if someone founded a business to easily make these central sites for indie media properties . . .
  • Pottermore represents a multimedia exploration that is only just starting.  What if a site with books tied into an MMO?  Films?  DLC?

– Steven Savage

 

The Hunger Games Takes in $155 million this weekend.

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The story is here.

First, from everything I’m hearing, this shouldn’t be surprising as the books are popular.  In fact, as we’ve seen movies can get panned and still do well if tied to a popular property.  I just saw “Transformers” this weekend (don’t worry, with Rifftrax) and it was dismal – but still made money.

However, the reviews of Hunger Games paints it as an actually good film with an exceptional lead actress, and a film that overcame narrative challenges.  It’s sounding like an adaption done right – and an adaption to learn from.

My Takeaways:

  • It’s pretty clear we’ll get a sequel.  The timeliness of some of the issues may also help.
  • I think this gives a boost to the YA/Teen adaption genre again since it sounds like an authentically good movie, thus winning over skeptics.  Of course this also means another round of development hell for the various licensed properties out there (I, myself, think Incarceron has a shot at being impressive).
  • This is also a boost for adaptions/remakes in Hollywood, which is A) out of ideas, and B) glad to adapt stuff that definitely will sell.  So, an odd side effect I see of this is less true originality.
  • The rather brutal nature of the subject matter may actually be refreshing in Hollywood and it’s weirdly sanitized violence.
  • Though it sounds like “Hunger Games” has a chance to rank up there with the Potter films in the “Holy crap, it’s a good adaption” category, I still am not sure any of the lessons of good filmmaking with percolate into film culture.  I’m a cynic.

– Steven Savage

 

 

Thomas Pugh’s Blog Tour: Welcome to Rollicking Tales!

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In some ways I feel a bit of a fraud offering up advice to would be self or small press publishers. After all I haven’t been in the game very long, it was only January that the Rollicking Tales wagon really began to roll. But then, when I come to think about all the things I have found out it has actually been a very steep learning curve. And if I can impart even one pearl of wisdom to a prospective publisher and help get more stories out there, then it will be worthwhile.

As a bit of background I am a farmer with, up until recently, no experience of the publishing world. I’ve been dabbling in writing for a few years but had never actually finished a story, let alone looked at publishing my own or other people’s work.

Then, in the autumn of 2011 I came to the conclusion that it was time I pulled my finger out. However many ideas I had for stories they were never going to see the light of day unless I sat down and actually wrote. A whole story. Right to the end.

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