Bologna: Jurevics talks Pottermore expansion

Pottermore’s expansion into new languages will proceed apace, but only when the commerce is balanced by the culture of the new markets, according to the Harry Potter fan site boss.

Susan Jurevics, c.e.o. of Pottermore.com, told the Bologna Children’s Book Fair yesterday (24th) that J K Rowling’s online world was indeed exploring developing sites outside of the seven languages – two of which are American and British English – on the content side, pottermore.com and the 13 languages of its transactional site, shop.pottermore.com.

She said: “We have print publishing partners in 77 languages throughout the world and of course there are what you might call priority markets [for Pottermore expansion] such as China and Russia. When we look at those markets, we are looking at the interplay between [Rowling’s] wonderful content and how we would be able to deliver the interplay between the community and the commercial side.”

Jurevics was speaking at the Bologna Digital Minds café in conversation with the Literary Platform’s Sophie Rochester. She hailed the recent announcement of Bloomsbury’s Harry Potter series rejacket with additional Rowling content from Pottermore. “What it is really about is that we are working together to embrace new audiences.”

The former Sony executive said Pottermore was indeed testing new, but would not be drawn on specifics. She did emphasise that content was king, however. She said: “Technology is just a way to deliver a story. Yes, there is an array of tech and storytelling options we are looking at. But ultimately there has to be that emotional tie. We aren’t looking to blind or dazzle users with technology, but to use sight, sounds and motion to tell great stories.”