Google Books teams up with JK Rowling

Attention, Harry Potter fans: Your favorite wizard and his friends are heading for Google Books libraries. Google said Thursday (Manila time) it is teaming with Pottermore, author J.K. Rowling’s Potter-themed site, to enhance the e-book purchasing experience of Potter fans. “Pottermore and Google are teaming up to integrate Pottermore with a number of Google products and APIs. So when the series of Harry Potter ebooks launches on Pottermore.com in early October, these bestsellers will be available in the U.S. via the open Google eBooks platform. When you buy a Harry Potter ebook from Pottermore, you will be able to choose to keep it in your Google Books library in-the-cloud, as well as on other e-reading platforms," Google Books New Business Development's Larissa Fontaine said in a blog post. Presently, Fontaine said Google eBooks can be read on most devices with a modern browser, through Google Books apps for iOS and Android devices. Google eBooks can also be accessed on more than 80 ereaders, she added. It said Pottermore, which is due to launch in October (http://www.pottermore.com/), will be an exclusive place to buy Harry Potter ebooks and digital audiobooks. But with the teamup, Fontaine said one can buy ebooks from the Pottermore Shop, push them to his or her Google Books library and store them alongside other Google ebooks. “Your other Google eBooks may be purchased from any of more than 250 independent booksellers or from Google directly," she added. Under the teamup, Google Checkout will also be the preferred third party payment platform for all purchases made on Pottermore.com. “When you visit the Pottermore Shop, you’ll be able to pay for your purchases using Google Checkout, in addition to using a debit or credit card," she said. Fontaine said the Pottermore team also plans to use Google’s video-sharing site YouTube for global video broadcasts in the future. She noted they already used YouTube for Rowling’s announcement of Pottermore in June. — TJD, GMA News