J.K. Rowling Writing a Book for Adults
Posted 02.23.12 by Mandy
Usually, a publishing company buying the rights to an untitled book with an unnamed publication date isn't big news; however, when the author to the said book is Harry Potter scribe J.K. Rowling, an unusual amount of excitement is to be expected.
The New York Times reported that Little, Brown and Company will be publishing Rowling's first book in five years, and her first novel after the Potter series, which was published by Scholastic. In a statement, Rowling made it pretty clear her upcoming novel will not be a reiteration of her first series, but instead it will cover "new territory."
Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life.
We're excited to read whatever Rowling writes, no matter how different it is from Harry Potter. Some of us would even be willing to pay money to read a shopping list composed by her. Rowling's website is currently under a redesign and will be relaunched later this spring, and more details about her new novel will likely coincide with the relaunch. Hopefully, the publication of the new book will not be delayed indefinitely, the way the the launch of the Pottermore website has.
When the announcement about Pottermore, an interactive website for Harry Potter fans, was made last summer, fans were excited. When it was revealed that Rowling has written over 18,000 words of content for the site, fans were ecstatic. However, the site was expected to be open by fall, and then was moved back to early 2012, leading to a lot of disheartened fans. According to a recent article in The Guardian, an inquiry about when Pottermore would be open to the general public resulted in a very disappointing response.
We have decided to further extend the beta period so we can improve Pottermore before giving more people access. This means the site will not be opening to new users in the immediate future.
Originally, Pottemore seemed like a great way for Rowling to reveal all the information about Harry and Hogwarts that hadn't found a place in the books. After the long wait, with no end in sight, it's not feeling like such a great option.