The All-Inclusive Pottermore List

*MrSleepyHead* · #1 July 29th, 2011, 2:25 am

Welcome to the All-Inclusive Pottermore List!

This list has been permitted by the staff and inspired by the HBP and DH all-inclusive movie lists, so we sincerely thank you all; this project would not have been possible without your guidance and support.

With the Harry Potter films completed, we have decided that J.K. Rowlingâ€™s next Harry Potter project deserves its own information reference thread. This thread will include all the information â€“ collected from fan sites, news releases, videos, the official Pottermore website, etc. â€“ that we have learned about Pottermore. We will continuously update this thread as we obtain new information, and we encourage you to owl us if we have overlooked any tidbits or made any errors. We greatly appreciate any help!

Note that here is not the place for discussion of Pottermore, and we ask that you please refrain from posting in this thread. To discuss Pottermore, please visit: Pottermore v.2 (or, for reference, the archived Pottermore). Thanks!

Also be aware that this is a spoiler hot zone. Peruse the information at your own risk.

So without further ado, we submit to you:

The All-Inclusive List of

Presented by Frogki and MrSleepyHead

General Overview. What is Pottermore?:

Websites:

Important Dates:

Who is involved?:

Early access to Pottermore is now closed.

Registration on Day 7 lasted almost exactly 2 hours (approx. 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. BST). We hope all who wanted to get early access were able to. Below is a brief breakdown of Clue 7.

Spoiler: show

Summaries of The Magical Quill challenge (Days 1-6) and Pottermore registration process are now available:

Here is a succinct summary of clues, times, locations, and difficulties associated with each dayâ€™s clue. Courtesy of (and sincerest thanks to) ardnaxela (with additions).

July 31, Day 1:

August 1, Day 2:

August 2, Day 3:

August 3, Day 4:

August 4, Day 5:

August 5, Day 6:

Pottermore registration process summary:

*MrSleepyHead* · #2 July 29th, 2011, 2:58 am

J.K. Rowlingâ€™s Secret Street View

Secret Street View Announcement:

List of participating fan sites:

Secretstreetview.com:

Secretstreetview.com is a website that employs a Google Map plug-in, which enables you to enter coordinates and be directed to specific locations.

By clicking on the [?] to the right of â€œEnter Coordinates Here,â€ you obtain this information:

SecretStreetView information J.K. Rowling has something new to announce.
This is not a new book, but it is something equally exciting. As a teaser before the official announcement, ten letters have been hidden on this website for you to find. To locate them you just need to enter ten individual coordinates in the search box and explore.
The coordinates are being revealed among ten Harry Potter fan sites throughout the 15th and 16th of June 2011. Find the correct sites and you could be one of the first to piece the word together.
Good luck to you all.

By clicking on the bottom of the page on â€œTerms and conditionsâ€ you obtain this information:

SecretStreetView, terms and conditions CONDITIONS OF USE AND PARTICIPATION
This page tells you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website www.secretstreetview.com (our site) and conditions for participation in the SecretStreetView name reveal promotion â€œTeaserâ€. Please read these terms of use carefully. By using our site and/or taking part in the Teaser, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them.

INFORMATION ABOUT US
http://www.secretstreetview.com is a site operated by Adam & Eve Group Limited ("We"). We are registered in England and Wales under company number 926757877 and have our registered office at 52-58 Shorts Gardens, London WC2H 9AN.

TEASER CONDITIONS
The Teaser will enable you to find ten different letters by following the instructions below. You will then be able to piece together the name of J.K. Rowlingâ€™s latest project.
Each letter's virtual location corresponds to a virtual set of coordinates representing the position of the letter on the virtual map accessible on the site. PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE VIRTUAL LOCATIONS ONLY AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO VISIT THE REAL LOCATION IN ORDER TO TAKE PART IN THE TEASER.
There are ten sets of coordinates which will be revealed on ten separate Harry Potter fansites. These coordinates will be released between 15:00 BST on 15 June 2011 and 16:00 BST on 16 June 2011. Our website will be available from 15:00 BST on 15 June 2011 to 12:00 BST on 23 June 2011.
To find each letter, first find the set of coordinates on the relevant Harry Potter fansite, then enter the coordinates into the search box on this website. A location will be shown on screen. Zoom into the virtual location and you will find a virtual letter.
Find all ten letters then arrange them to make the name of J.K. Rowlingâ€™s latest project.
If you are under 18 years old, please ensure you have your parent's or legal guardian's consent (and if your parent/guardian considers necessary, your parent's/guardian's supervision) before and whilst taking part.
Coordinates will be released on a number of different fan sites. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and have no control over contents of any other third party sites you may visit when searching for the coordinates. We accept no responsibility for any third party sites (whether or not coordinates are placed there) that you may visit, nor for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
There is no prize associated with the Teaser.
Participation is open to all, subject to parent/guardian consent/supervision, and your compliance with laws within the jurisdiction that you are accessing this site. No purchase is necessary.

ACCESSING OUR SITE
Access to our site is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on our site without notice (see below). We will not be liable if for any reason our site is unavailable at any time or for any period.
From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of our site, or our entire site.
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our site.

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Fan sites and their respective coordinates, locations, and letters:

Upon entering coordinates into the search bar (each pair of coordinates was provided by fan sites, the tenth of which was displayed by the Twitter account â€œ@pottermoreâ€), you are directed to a particular location. At each location, you must explore your surroundings using the â€œstreet viewâ€ application, and you see a large, magical silver letter. Accompanying these locations are also captions that put the location into context. The following information shows each fan site and the respective coordinates, locations, captions, and letters associated with them.

Fan sites and corresponding information

The Leaky Cauldron
Coordinates: 42.523356,-70.890698
Letter "E"
Location: Salem - The Salem Witches' Institute visited the Quidditch World Cup.

MuggleNet
Coordinates: 51.530377,-0.123259
Letter "T"
Location: Kingâ€™s Cross - The Hogwarts Express leaves from platform nine and three-quarters.

Harry Potter Xperts
Coordinates: -34.410362,150.900671
Letter "O"
Location: Australia - The Woollongong Warriors are a Quidditch team referenced in the book â€˜Quidditch through the Ages.â€™

Portkey
Coordinates: 43.640408,-79.388795
Letter "R"
Location: Toronto - (Skydome) Where J.K. Rowling achieved the world record for a public reading event.

UniversHarryPotter
Coordinates: 29.952313,-90.067849
Letter "P"
Location: New Orleans - The Phoenix Rising Convention in New Orleans. One of the largest Harry Potter fan conventions.

ClubedoSlogue
Coordinates: -23.547149-46.520266
Letter "E"
Location: Brazil - The location of an eagle-eyed fan site which spotted a recent trademark registration.

HPANA
Coordinates: -29.239004,24.507602
Letter "T"
Location: Africa - The Erumpent - whose horn contains a deadly fluid that can make objects explode at the slightest touch (one of which destroyed the Lovegood house) - is originally from Africa.

BlogHogwarts
Coordinates: 34.730748,137.383786
Letter "O"
Japan - Toyohashi - Toyohashi Tengu is a Quidditch team referenced in the book â€˜Quidditch through the Ages.â€™

Snitch Seeker
Coordinates: 51.781383,-2.56844
Letter "R"
Forest of Dean - The beautiful forest where Harry & Ron reunite in the Deathly Hallows.

Twitter, @pottermore
Coordinates: 53.476311,-2.22971
Letter: M
Location: Manchester Station - The train line between Manchester and London is where J.K. Rowling first conceived the idea of Harry Potter.

From the above information, the letters we see are E-T-O-R-P-E-T-O-R-M, which can be unscrambled to form the word â€œPOTTERMOREâ€ or the phrase â€œMORE POTTER.â€ Fan speculation accompanied this acronym, and not until June 17 was it elucidated.

*Note, secretstreetview.com is still an available website and will still accept the coordinates if you would like to experience the scavenger hunt personally. If you want to search the 10 websites, though, remember that these coordinates were posted on or around June 15.

*MrSleepyHead* · #3 July 29th, 2011, 2:59 am

Pottermore Official Launch

On June 15, corresponding with the creation of the @pottermore Twitter account (and the disclosure of the 10th location) and the launch of Pottermore.com, Pottermore was officially announced as J.K. Rowling’s next Harry Potter project.

Pottermore.com at launch:

Accompanying the launch of the Pottermore website was a flurry of speculation:

Trademark information:

Trademark information on the word “Pottermore” was uncovered that says that Pottermore is trademarked for, among other things, multiple-user networks, online boards, digital audio, printed books, toys, retail stores, and more, and more!

trademarkia.com/pottermorePottermore

This is a brand page for the POTTERMORE trademark, which is owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. in Burbank, CA, 91522. Write a review about a product or service associate with this POTTERMORE trademark. Or, contact the owner Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. of the POTTERMORE trademark through the Legal Correspondent listed with the U.S. for all licensing, use, and/or questions related to the POTTERMORE trademark.
On Thursday, July 23, 2009, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for POTTERMORE. This trademark is owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Burbank, CA 91522. The USPTO has given the POTTERMORE trademark serial number of 77788415. The current federal status of this trademark filing is THIRD EXTENSION - GRANTED.

Word Mark: POTTERMORE
Status/Status Date: THIRD EXTENSION - GRANTED 6/15/2011
Serial Number: 77788415
Filing Date: 7/23/2009
Registration Number: NOT AVAILABLE
Registration Date: NOT AVAILABLE
Goods and Services: Providing multiple-user access to a global computer information network; providing on-line chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among users in the field of general interest; providing on-line communications links which transfer the web site user to other local and global web pages; providing on-line facilities for real-time interaction with other computer users concerning topics of general interest
Mark Description: NOT AVAILABLE
Type Of Mark: Service Mark
Published For Opposition Date: 12/15/2009
Latest Owner: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.Burbank, CA 91522 Why is this contact information displayed?
Mark Drawing Code: Standard Character Mark
Design Search: (NO DATA)
Register Type: Principal
Disclaimer: (NOT AVAILABLE)
Correspondent: JANET A. KOBRIN4000 ...BURBANK, CA 91522-0002
Related Tags: POTTER MORE providing multipleuser access global information network providing online chat rooms electronic bulletin boards transmission messages users
Classification Information
International Class Code(s): 038
US Class Code(s): 100, 101, 104
Primary Class: Telecommunications.
Class(es) Status: Active
First Use Anywhere: NOT PROVIDED
First Use In Commerce: NOT PROVIDED

The correspondent listed for POTTERMORE is JANET A. KOBRIN of WARNE..., 4000 ..., BURBANK, CA 91522-0002 . The POTTERMORE trademark is filed in the category of Communications Services . The description provided to the USPTO for POTTERMORE is Providing multiple-user access to a global computer information network; providing on-line chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among users in the field of general interest; providing on-line communications links which transfer the web site user to other local and global web pages; providing on-line facilities for real-time interaction with other computer users concerning topics of general interest.

http://www.trademarkia.com/pottermore-77788415.html
http://tdr.uspto.gov/search.action?sn=77788415# -Trademark document retrieval

Leaked pictures ??:

*MrSleepyHead* · #4 July 29th, 2011, 3:00 am

The Owls Are Gathering

J.K. Rowling Announces Youtube page:

On June 16, two owls appeared on Pottermore.com flanking the centered “Coming soon” message.

Pottermore.com with 2 flanking owls:

Clicking on these owls directed you to a Youtube page, http://www.youtube.com/JKRowlingAnnounces (which did not look as it does now, needless to say). Youtube was used as a host for a Flash animation of owls waiting on a tree with a countdown clock reading “6 days and 15 hours until J.K. Rowling’s Announcement”. This countdown led to the date of June 23, 12:00 p.m. BST.

J.K. Rowling’s Announcement Image, early (5 days):

J.K. Rowling’s Announcement Image, late (<1 day):

Almost simultaneously the Pottermore Twitter was updated (at 4:00 p.m. GMT):

@pottermoreLooks like the owls are getting ready to deliver some exciting news: www.youtube.com/JKRowlingAnnounces #pottermore

The Youtube “video” was entitled, “J.K. Rowling’s Announcement", uploaded by J.K. Rowling (with 50 videos also "available") on Feb. 4, with the description, “The owls are gathering… Find out why soon.” The video was also stopped at the time 0:09/1:13, with 122 likes and 217,394 views. Under “Suggestions” were videos, which are real and viewable:

J.K. Rowling Speaking at Harvard, part 2
J.K. Rowling Deathly Hallows Q&A Interview
J.K. Rowling about Ron and Hermione
J.K. Rowling on NBC (Part 1
(With “J.K. Rowling Speaking at Harvard, part 2” repeated – at the top and the bottom)

The bottom of the page included:

JKRowlingAnnounces, ProfileProfile
Channel Views:
18

Joined:
May 31, 2011

Watch the exclusive announcement from J.K. Rowling on the Official YouTube Channel.
#3 - Most Subscribed (This Month) - United Kingdom
#1 - Most Subscribed (This Month) - Sponsors - United Kingdom
#6 - Most Subscribed (This Month)
#1 - Most Subscribed (This Month) - Sponsors
(less)

Report profile image violation

The “Channel Views” sporadically jumped, to the point that it is (now) 5,246,640.

Additionally, when you would pass your mouse over the leaves on the gnarled tree, the leaves would fall off. Similarly, if you passed your mouse over the owls, the owls would shift, disturbed; shake their heads; or do nothing. One owl’s shadow would fly in the background. Throughout the 6 days, more owls would periodically appear

Fan Sites' Involvement:

Public reactions to Pottermore, pre-announcement:

As can be seen, several fan sites were involved in the introduction of Pottermore, and a handful of them apparently were given sneak previews. This is in contrast to some of the Harry Potter film actors, who did
not have any information on what Pottermore could be. Below is a list of the reactions of fan sites and actors to Pottermore, prior to J.K. Rowling’s announcement.

The Leaky CauldronJune 15, Twitter.com, @leaky
Leaky has seen a preview of @pottermore and it is going to be amazing. Stay tuned!

June 17, the-leaky-cauldron.org
Leaky has seen a preview of Pottermore and it is, in a word, breathtaking. That is all we are permitted to say at the moment.

MuggleNetJune 15, Mugglenet.com, Posted by Andrew Simms] I saw a preview of Pottermore recently and can tell you that it is fantastic. I'd say more but I had to make an unbreakable vow concerning its secrecy.

HPANAJune 15, HPANA.com, Posted by CHEESER
This editor has seen a sneak preview of Pottermore and it is breathtaking in scope, detail and sheer beauty.
Unfortunately that's all I'm allowed to say right now, but rest assured there will be more news soon and we'll bring it to you as it happens!

Daniel Radcliffe, Los Angeles Times: Hero Complex, June 19 What’s J.K. Rowling about to announce with the mysterious “Pottermore” project? Daniel Radcliffe says he’s in the dark on the topic, and, yes, he’s quite ready to say goodbye to the boy wizard at this point anyway.
“I know nothing about that whatsoever,” Radcliffe said of the cryptic new website that is meant to stir interest in the June 23 announcement of some new endeavor. “I’m sure that Jo will be writing a lot more in the coming years. I’m sure she has a lot more in her than we’ve read and a lot more stories to tell.”
And he added, with a bit of a chuckle: “As long as they don’t involve Harry, I’m quite happy to buy them.”

[Source]

Tom Felton, Feltbeats.com’s @Rotae interviews Tom Felton at Supanova in Australia, June 20
Rotae: Okay, so, have you heard about Pottermore?
Tom: Pottermore… Is this the new thing that J.K. is announcing next week? I saw this yesterday, this thing online saying J.K.’s going to announce something, and I here I am thinking, “Booyah! Book 8 on the way!” (laughs) But obviously, yeah, no. I don’t know! Someone told me it could be an online socialising thing for Potter-people?Which sounds cool! I think there’s a massive gap in the market for that. Obviously there’s loads of websites that have done that to a certain extent, but to have one that’s like, officially got the stamp of approval from her, would be awesome, I think.

[Source]

Additionally, three book companies’ Twitter accounts posted variations on one message (similar to the 9 Harry Potter fan sites posting the same announcement message about J.K. Rowling’s Secret Street View) on June 20:

Randomhouse Just three days until the big @pottermore announcement. Are you as excited as we are??

Scholastic Just three days until the big announcement from @Pottermore...are you as excited as we are?! #harrypotter #pottermore

BNBuzz Barnes & NobleJust three days until the big #Pottermore announcement, are you as excited as we are?

Links to speculative news articles and "leaked" information, pre-announcement:

Below are news articles that summarize the majority of fan speculation at the time (for in-depth revision on that discussion, we suggest visiting CoSForums Pottermore threads), as well as "leaked" information. One day before the announcement (i.e. June 22) one newspaper (The Times) claimed to have been accidentally sent details on Pottermore, while another (The Independent) suggested that Pottermore officials had sent it a memo outlining some Pottermore information. Both of these instances of "leaked" information were disproved and falsified by the information we learned upon the announcement. However, one may still be able to glean potential nuggets of information out of them - but be wary with what you accept as fact!

NPR.org, “Quoth J.K. Rowling, ‘Pottermore’”, overview of fan speculation:

NPR.org, “Quoth J.K. Rowling, ‘Pottermore’”, June 17, by Linda HolmesPottermore.

When a new website appeared from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling called "Pottermore," sporting nothing but some owls and a link to a countdown clock on YouTube that, as of right now, has a little less than six days to go until she makes an "announcement," the speculation was rampant.
Of course, the creation of rampant speculation is the only reason to do something like this in the first place. The only reason to announce an upcoming announcement a week in advance is to bring on a round of heavy breathing from fans eager to know what that announcement, when it eventually comes, is going to be.

As Morning Edition mentioned today, the only thing Rowling's publicists will say is that the announcement is not a new book. In other words, "Pottermore" does not mean more Potter, at least not in the way fans might most optimistically think about it. It's important to get that out of the way, because if Rowling's fans convinced themselves that she was going to write another Harry Potter book and then she didn't, nothing else she could possibly announce could be anything other than a massive, soul-crushing disappointment to them.

It seems more plausible that Pottermore could be some kind of a reference site; an in-depth online Harry Potter experience. Rowling won a court case in 2008 against the publisher of a proposed Potter "lexicon," and part of her reasoning was that she intended at some point to write a definitive Potter encyclopedia. It's eminently sensible to suspect that "Pottermore" could be the online home of an interactive version of that encyclopedia if it's to be made available in that format. (She's said in the past that she'd donate any proceeds of an encyclopedia she created to charity, so it makes sense that it might become a free online tool rather than a book from which she took no money.) Fans have also speculated that the site could include online role-playing games, or that it could become a fan site that could compete with existing fan-operated sites (not a prospect everyone is excited about).
There are ups and downs, of course, in what you might call "frenzy marketing," in which you intentionally invite people to come up with fantastical ideas about what incredibly great thing you have up your sleeve.

Apple does it all the time. Sometimes, to masterful effect — remember iPad day? But sometimes, not so much — remember when they promised that November 16, 2010 would be a day that you'd "never forget"? And remember how it turned out that meant they had Beatles albums on iTunes? That one certainly excited some folks, but it also invited a backlash from people who felt like the availability in the iTunes store of albums that were already owned by anyone who really cared about them didn't justify the "it's so exciting we can't even tell you what it is but we promise you won't be disappointed" level of hype, and Apple might have been better off hitting the importance of that announcement a little less hard. If Pottermore doesn't turn out to be really good, that's the risk.

On the other hand, Rowling has the kind of fans who eat out of her hand happily and consciously, and they don't seem to mind being played with a little — it's very much part of the game. She's certainly gotten people to talk about the possibilities of what's to come (look, we're doing it right now!), so that's worth something.

Anticipation giveth and it taketh away, really, and Rowling knows that very well from the excitement surrounding the publication dates of her books. In a week, we'll know whether this experiment in fan torment has worked as well as intended.

Note: Regarding my incredibly terrible headline of which I am proud with the sickest part of my brain, after it occurred to me, I Googled it to see if, as I anticipated, it was in wide usage. It had not been used as a headline anywhere, so I stuck with it, but I credit The Colorado Springs Independent for having the same thought on Facebook.

[Source]

The Times, “Latest Harry Potter project revealed”, “leaked information”:

Leaked Memo:

The Independent reported it received a memo that detailed Pottermore’s public relations strategy, and this memo can be seen in the following 2 news articles. Once again, this memo was later falsified, but it, too, caused a hefty amount of discussion.

The Atlantic Wire, “It Looks Like 'Pottermore' Will Be An Online Game,” June 22, by Ray Gustini
J.K. Rowling's mysterious new website Pottermore really will be the front for an ambitious online gaming network. That's according to an internal memo detailing the site's PR strategy that, according to The Independent's Rob Sharp, was "sent to every national newspaper in the country earlier this week." It's unclear if there was an embargo placed on the news or if the document is genuine, but it lines up with the speculation that the Harry Potter author wants to turn her franchise into a World of Warcraft-style online game. Rowling's official press conference is still slated for tomorrow.

The full text of the memo:

Confidential
Project Momentum: A PR timeline

The following timeline has been drafted to complement and build on the launch marketing strategy from Adam & Eve.

As the number of people in the know about the project increases, so does the possibility of a leak. In the event of the news breaking early, Colman Getty will draft and issue an instant statement to tie in with the ‘coming soon’ online message.

We would like as a priority to draft and start getting agreement on the key messages. We also want to identity and brief the key spokespeople from each of the project partners so that we are prepared, should the story leak.

However, assuming that the news does hold until we are ready to announce it, our suggested timeline is as follows:

Â· End June/early July - Jo announces the launch on YouTube
CG will issue a global press release to coincide. This will cover the excitement of the news plus why the site is being launched, who the project partners are and what users can expect to find, with a particular emphasis on the Quill Quest

We will also make sure that the same info is simultaneously posted on Jo’s official site, referring users to Pottermore

Â· From July to October
Colman Getty will handle media enquiries and consider other opportunities for coverage eg the beginning of the school holidays, the back to school stage. We will also issue facts and figures as the project unfolds – eg the level of demand for the site, how many people have actually enrolled, how many wands have been physically laced and found. We need, however, to avoid issuing too much information and possibly overbuilding expectations. Best to leave most of the news spreading to the fans themselves.

Â· October
Again we feel that the overt PR input should be kept to the minimum with the fans and the site itself creating most of the headlines. We love the idea of a Daily Prophet wrap and would be happy to broker that deal with the paper of our choice, both in the UK and the US. It’s such a fantastic story that we feel it should not be paid for but placed as unpaid editorial.

Colman Getty, December 2010

Update: A representative from Rowling's PR firm tells Paid Content that the memo is genuine, but denies the leak was intentional and says some of the details have already been scrapped. “Much as we would like to say this is an elaborate stunt to create excitement, I’m afraid it was a simple error,”explains the rep. “The document is an old plan which is now out of date. The full details about the Pottermore project will be revealed at the press conference tomorrow.”

[Source]

Paidcontent.org, “Rowling Rep Confirms Leaked Pottermore.com Memo Is Real, Not A Stunt,” June 22, by Laura Owen Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling’s PR representative, Mark Hutchinson, has confirmed to us that a Pottermore.com memo leaked to UK newspapers was indeed sent out mistakenly by a staff member and was not part of a marketing stunt. The memo, which is after the jump, talks about, among other things, a scavenger hunt called “Quill Quest” where fans search for magic wands physically planted in real world locations.

Hutchinson’s firm, Mark Hutchinson Management, handles PR for J. K. Rowling and Pottermore.com in collaboration with another firm, StonehillSalt PR. Hutchinson told us in an e-mail that the memo was old and was mistakenly sent out by a staff member at StonehillSalt. He said that Colman Getty, the PR agency mentioned in the memo (below), was not responsible. Colman Getty handles J. K. Rowling’s Lumos charity.

“Much as we would like to say this is an elaborate stunt to create excitement, I’m afraid it was a simple error,” Hutchinson said. “The document is an old plan which is now out of date. The full details about the Pottermore project will be revealed at the press conference tomorrow.”

London marketing agency Adam & Eve also confirmed to us that it is handling the marketing campaign for Pottermore.com.

Here’s the memo.

Confidential
Project Momentum: A PR timeline

The following timeline has been drafted to complement and build on the launch marketing strategy from Adam & Eve.

As the number of people in the know about the project increases, so does the possibility of a leak. In the event of the news breaking early, Colman Getty will draft and issue an instant statement to tie in with the ‘coming soon’ online message.

We would like as a priority to draft and start getting agreement on the key messages. We also want to identity and brief the key spokespeople from each of the project partners so that we are prepared, should the story leak.

However, assuming that the news does hold until we are ready to announce it, our suggested timeline is as follows:

End June/early July - Jo announces the launch on YouTube
CG will issue a global press release to coincide. This will cover the excitement of the news plus why the site is being launched, who the project partners are and what users can expect to find, with a particular emphasis on the Quill Quest
We will also make sure that the same info is simultaneously posted on Jo’s official site, referring users to Pottermore

From July to October
Colman Getty will handle media enquiries and consider other opportunities for coverage eg the beginning of the school holidays, the back to school stage. We will also issue facts and figures as the project unfolds – eg the level of demand for the site, how many people have actually enrolled, how many wands have been physically laced and found. We need, however, to avoid issuing too much information and possibly overbuilding expectations. Best to leave most of the news spreading to the fans themselves.

October
Again we feel that the overt PR input should be kept to the minimum with the fans and the site itself creating most of the headlines. We love the idea of a Daily Prophet wrap and would be happy to broker that deal with the paper of our choice, both in the UK and the US. It’s such a fantastic story that we feel it should not be paid for but placed as unpaid editorial.

Colman Getty, December 2010

[Source]

Los Angeles Times, Memo Rebuttal:

This story (following) from the Los Angeles Times includes a statement from Rebecca Salt, a spokeswoman for J.K. Rowling, that rebuffs the “leaked” information inspired by The Times’ and The Independent’s stories.

Los Angeles Times, “Pottermore details leak 1 day ahead of J.K. Rowling's official announcement," June 22, by Salvador Rodriguez Details of J.K. Rowling's new Pottermore online project were leaked to newspapers in England, and several of them reported that her official announcement Thursday will include news of a Pottermore-named online videogame.

The leaked memo, which according to the Independent was leaked to every newspaper in the country, outlines the public relations strategy of the project.

The memo at one point refers to a "Quill Quest" and also seems to indicate that Pottermore will involve wands being "physically laced and found." Some news reports have said the wands will be hidden throughout the U.S., United Kingdom and possibly other countries.

Other news sites have reported that the memo indicates Pottermore could be an online game similar to World of Warcraft, in which players control a character and interact with others in an online world.
J.K. Rowling's official announcement on the project is slated for 4 a.m. Pacific time Thursday. Since the leak, which led to questions of whether it was an actual leak or a strategic marketing ploy, not much has happened on the Pottermore website or Twitter page, but more owls have appeared on its YouTube page.

The memo appears to be dated December 2010 and lays out public relations plans through October 2011, which could indicate the online game's actual launch.

[Updated 4:24 p.m.: Rebecca Salt, a spokeswoman for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, said the memo leaked to U.K. press isn't accurate and actually from an outdated document.

"The British press have been very imaginative in their interpretation of the document, but I can categorically say the project is not a Treasure Hunt or a game," Salt said in an email sent to the Technology blog on Wednesday afternoon.
So, what is Pottermore if not a game? Salt didn't say. Looks like Potter fans will have to wait until Rowling's official unveil tomorrow to find out.

[Source]

From the “leaked” information is one notable detail. The articles discuss a scavenger hunt labeled as a “Quill Quest.” This may still hold some validity because of more recent announcements from the official Harry Potter blog. For early access to Pottermore (on July 31), Pottermore Insider advises, “Remember, to get into Hogwarts you must have magical ability...” – a link that directs you to an interview by JKR in which she mentions McGonagall’s magical quill for identifying magical children for Hogwarts. So the “Quill Quest” may still be applied to the admittance of 1 million fans to a Pottermore beta version on July 31.

*MrSleepyHead* · #5 July 29th, 2011, 3:01 am

J.K. Rowling’s Announcement and the Pottermore Press Conference

This section will include information about J.K. Rowling’s Announcement of Pottermore (which occurred on June 23, 12:00 p.m. BST), as well as details from the Pottermore Press Conference from that day (transcript and videos), The Leaky Cauldron coverage, and details revealed by the complete launch of the official Pottermore.com!

Official information leading up to June 23:

JKR to hold press conference on June 23:

On June 22, the New York Times reported that J.K. Rowling would be holding a press conference at Victoria and Albert Museum on the morning of June 23 (that Thursday, which corresponded with the online announcement of Pottermore). So not only did Harry Potter fans experience the promised announcement video on Pottermore, we also received a flood of information from the press conference J.K. Rowling held.

The New York Times, “Pottermore: What’s Next for Harry Potter?”, June 22, by Julie Bosman We know one thing about Thursday’s mysterious J.K. Rowling announcement: it is not about a new “Harry Potter” book.

Everything else seems to be a possibility, including the latest theory that when Ms. Rowling makes an unusual public appearance in London tomorrow, she will declare that her new project for the Potter characters is an online treasure hunt game.

The frenzy over what is known as the Pottermore project began last week. A new Web site, Pottermore.com, went online, showing only a magenta screen, images of two owls resting on tree branches, and the looping signature of Ms. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. Click on an owl and you are taken to a page on YouTube. “The owls are gathering,” the page said. “Find out why soon.”

The Muggle world has been whipped up with speculation ever since the site went up. Is it a social network? A retail site for electronic versions of the Harry Potter books? A Harry Potter encyclopedia, which Ms. Rowling has hinted in past interviews that she might write someday? A mere publicity stunt to promote the final film in the franchise, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” scheduled to open in the U.S. on July 15?

Ms. Rowling’s spokeswoman quickly corrected rumors that it was an eighth “Harry Potter” book, but said little else. Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the film adaptation of the books, professed his ignorance when asked about it this week. “I know nothing about that whatsoever,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
The Guardian in Britain declared on Wednesday that the new project is a “Potter-based treasure hunt called Pottermore,” citing a memo that the a rival British newspaper, The Times of London, apparently received by mistake. “It is not known if it was sent as a marketing device,” the Guardian added.

Ms. Rowling will appear at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Thursday morning. Her spokeswoman instructed reporters in an e-mail that Ms. Rowling would not permit one-on-one interviews. Filming, recording and photography will also be banned from the news conference.

[Source]

@Pottermore Twitter:

So at 12:00 p.m. BST (British Summer Time), J.K. Rowling officially announced Pottermore! As the countdown on the JKRowlingAnnounces Youtube channel completed, the page reloaded to reveal J.K. Rowling’s announcement video. If you visited Pottermore.com just moments before the countdown finished, the official website was already revamped and provided early access (albeit by only a couple of minutes) to view the video (seen below).

J.K. Rowling Announces Pottermore video:

As mentioned above, the official Pottermore website, Pottermore.com, underwent a complete makeover at the time of J.K. Rowling's announcement. An overview of the Pottermore homepage, press releases, pictures, and other information were released, all of which is in [expand] tags below! The following post will include detailed information on the Pottermore website, such as the Help, Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy.

Pottermore.com updates:

Pottermore.com homepage:

Pottermore Press Release:

Pottermore Press Release, J.K. Rowling announces PottermoreJ.K. Rowling today, Thursday 23rd June, answered mounting speculation about the nature of her new project and announced Pottermore, a unique and free-to-use website which builds an exciting online experience around the reading of her hugely successful Harry Potter books, and is partnered by Sony.

The announcement today was heralded by the revealing of the website’s name via an online search for its letters, and a ‘coming soon’ holding page which received over a million visits within 36 hours of launching.

For this groundbreaking collaborative project, J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books. Pottermore will later incorporate an online shop where people can purchase exclusively the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks, in partnership with J.K. Rowling’s publishers worldwide, and is ultimately intended to become an online reading experience, extending the relevance of Harry Potter to new generations of readers, while still appealing to existing fans. As the Pottermore Shop develops, it is intended that it should include further products designed specifically for Harry Potter fans, offering a potential outlet for Sony products and services related to Pottermore. In keeping with Harry Potter’s international appeal, the site will launch in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.

At a press conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling revealed some key features of the website. In an announcement which will thrill fans, she described how she has brought to life both the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from her books for the first time on Pottermore, by revealing the questions asked by the Sorting Hat - which places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics - and the magic behind the Wand Chooser – which finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations. She also revealed glimpses of the new information she has provided on some of the best-loved characters.

J.K. Rowling’s announcement on YouTube and sony.com today revealed that Pottermore (along with the Pottermore Shop) will be open to all users in October 2011. From today, 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry’s birthday. Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience.

J.K. Rowling commented,
“I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment – Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site.”

Pottermore has been made possible with the support and partnership of Sony.
Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sony Corporation, commented:
“Sony's association with J.K. Rowling's Pottermore brings together one of the world’s most innovative brands with the most successful book series in history, in a pioneering partnership that will help shape the future of story-telling. We are proud to be a part of it, both at this momentous announcement, and as we collaborate on its development over the coming years.”

On Sony’s partnership of Pottermore, J.K. Rowling commented:
“As I think people know, I am very protective of Harry and have always been very selective with any new initiatives, but I am totally committed to making this partnership with Sony and this wonderful new website a success. There are many companies I could have worked with on this ultimate digital expression of Harry Potter’s universe, but it is Sony’s unique philosophy of creativity in harmony with technology that made them my first choice as main partner. The spirit behind Sony’s make.believe philosophy is one that rings true with Pottermore’s own values.”

The detailed creative execution has been led by TH_NK, a leading UK digital agency, under the supervision of J.K. Rowling and the Pottermore management team, in co-operation with Sony. J.K. Rowling’s publishers, Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic in the USA, as well as her international publishers worldwide, have been active supporters in the creation of pottermore.com and the Pottermore Shop. Warner Bros, the makers of the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise, is also one of the partners who have worked to support the launch of Pottermore through a variety of marketing, promotional and other efforts, and will continue to collaborate as the project grows.

The storyline of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will go live on the site in early 2012. The Pottermore Shop opens when the site opens to all in October, selling complete ranges of the eBooks and digital audiobooks in a selection of languages, exclusively.

Designed for fans of all ages, the website has been created with child safety in mind, employing best practice and compliance with internet codes of practice in the UK, Europe and USA, and elsewhere.

For further information, electronic press kit and visuals, please contact J K Rowling’s PR team:
Mark Hutchinson [email protected] tel 07904 359 339
Rebecca Salt [email protected] tel 01620 829 800 or 07970 783 213
For Sony: Lisa Gephardt [email protected] (U.S.) tel 917-797-6036
ENDS…/

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. An Electronic Press Kit, and set of images including pictures of J.K. Rowling and visuals from the website, are available from J K Rowling PR (details above) and at the Pottermore press room at www.pottermore.com/en/press

2. J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore announcement is at www.youtube.com/jkrowlingannounces and www.sony.com from 12.00 midday BST on 23rd June.

3. From 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses to www.pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry Potter’s birthday.

4. On 31st July, an online challenge will be launched on www.pottermore.com. 1 million of those successfully completing it will be granted early access to the Beta version of the website, enabling them to help put finishing touches before it opens to all in October 2011. Details of the challenge will be revealed on 31st July.

5. About Sony Corporation

Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be the leading electronics and entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $87 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. Sony Global Web Site: www.sony.net.

6. The Pottermore management team comprises CEO Rod Henwood and COO Tom Turcan, and the project has been overseen by Neil Blair, J.K. Rowling’s agent. UK digital agency TH_NK have designed and built the website, and agency adam&eve have carried out the marketing. Biographies and company profiles are available in the Electronic Press Kit. The animation for the J.K. Rowling announcement was created by Anderson M Studios, and the film was produced by adam&eve.

7. The Harry Potter books have been the most successful book series of all time. Each of the seven

books has broken sales records, with the series to date having sold approximately 450 million copies
worldwide, distributed in over 200 territories and translated into 70 languages, as well as being
turned into blockbuster films.

8. J.K. Rowling will not be doing interviews other than the announcement Press Conference. Rod Henwood, CEO of Pottermore, and other site representatives, are available for limited interviews.

[Source]

Pottermore Press Release on Management Team:

Pottermore Team Biographies and Company Profiles
ABOUT THE POTTERMORE MANAGEMENT TEAM

Neil Blair (Hufflepuff) is J.K. Rowling’s literary agent, and has overseen the creation of Pottermore from its conception. Neil studied law at Exeter College, Oxford and the College of Law at Guildford before working at Linklaters in the City of London, and then joining Warner Bros where he was Head of Business Affairs, Europe. He joined the Christopher Little Literary Agency in 2001.

Rod Henwood (Ravenclaw) is the Chief Executive Officer of Pottermore. Rod is an experienced media and entertainment CEO, with a strong track record of successful digital innovation. In his early career, he was successively MD of Central TV and of Fox Kids. From 2003-2005, he was CEO of Perform Group, the world’s leading sports content webcaster. From 2005-2008, he sat on the main board of Channel 4, where he devised and launched 4oD, the world’s first commercial video-on-demand service. Immediately before being engaged by Pottermore in 2010, he was CEO of Project Kangaroo, the BBC/ITV/C4 view-on-demand joint venture that was blocked by the Competition Commission. He is also a non-executive director of BinWeevils, a children’s social world site.

Tom Turcan (Ravenclaw) is the Chief Operating Officer of Pottermore. Tom specialises in creating and growing digital businesses. His recent roles include General Manager, Digital at Guardian News and Media, where he was responsible for the digital P&L, and for the platform re-development for the industry-leading website, guardian.co.uk. He has advised the boards of several media companies and 3rd sector organisations on their digital strategies, including IPC Media and Haymarket Media Group. Previously, he held senior managerial positions at News International, Capital Radio and Logica, and he is a graduate of the London Business School and of St. Andrews University.

POTTERMORE – COMPANY PROFILES

TH_NK is the strategic and creative development partner that has led the execution of the Pottermore concept, under the direction of founder Tarek Nseir (Hufflepuff). TH_NK is a leading digital strategy and innovation agency. Their other clients include industry-leading brands such as Blackberry, Sony, BBC, Warner Bros and Bupa.

adam&eve has been responsible for all branding and marketing, including the launch strategies and the production of the announcement film for YouTube, and has supported the creative development by TH_NK of core site features – all under the direction of founding partner Jon Forsyth (Gryffindor). adam&eve is a leading creative communications agency best known for their John Lewis ads. In 2010 the agency was awarded Agency of The Year by both Campaign and Marketing Magazine.

For further information and interviews, please contact J K Rowling’s PR team:
Mark Hutchinson [email protected] tel 07904 359339
Rebecca Salt [email protected] tel 01620 829 800

[Source]

Pottermore Screenshots:

Promotional Pottermore pictures of J.K. Rowling:

Simultaneously, information from J.K. Rowling’s press conference was being released over the Internet.

SPOILERS: J.K. Rowling Press Conference, including new information about Vernon/Petunia:

SPOILERS: Press Conference Transcript:

J.K. Rowling Pottermore Press Conference, from The Leaky CauldronJKR during press conference:
"Pottermore has been a really great way to give back to the Harry Potter readership, who made the books such a big success. I am still receiving countless, a huge amount of mail - I thought it would really drop off by now. Stories, drawings, suggestions I write prequels, sequels, every week.

"This site is just a fantastic way for all that fan creativity to continue. It’s been an amazing experience for me to be able to be creative in this medium that iddn’t exist back in 1990 when I had the idea for the books. And it will be a wonderful way to introduce the digital generation to the books.
"It’s just been a phenomenally exciting project. We’v been working on it for a couple of years and I think it’s miraculous that so few clever fans twigged to what we were up to. A few did and they were really nice about not giving us away early. It’s just been a very exciting project to work on with a great team."

On Sorting:
"The Sorting was some of the best fun I’ve had on this project. I was writing the potter books for sixteen years and during that time I had just had this real sense of where people belonged, in what house they belonged. It was something I was unconsciously doing a lot of the time when I met people.
"So, developing these vast pool of questions that are randomly selected for a user - so you wont get the same questions as your friend necessarily - I thought it was quite important that people didn’t get to second guess what meant Gryffindor, for example. But the exciting thing for me is that if you’re not sorted into Gryffindor, if you’re sorted into one of the other three houses you will effectively get an extra quarter chapter because you will go off to your on common room. If you are sorted into Gyrffindor you just follow Harry. But if you’re sorted into Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin, you go to your own common room, you meet your own prefect, who will tell you about famous people who were in your house and what the true nature of your house is.

"In the main narrative you only ever see the other houses through the eyes of the three, my three heroes. What I’m basically saying is that it’s not a terrible thing to be in Slytherin. And in fact I have always seen Gryffindor and Slytherin as the two closest houses. I think that Harry himself could have goneeither way very easily. I don’t think it’s very guessable. Yo must be answering honestly. YOu just get one shot at this, it’s like a Mensa test, there’s no going back, you’ve got to do it properly the first time.
"We’ve tested this out. I tested it on my family and everyone was where I thought they would be, and when the team did it, you [to Tarek Nseir of TH_NK] said most people were in Ravenclaw. The only two people who were in Slytherin were dressed all in black. So it works."

Q: How did the idea come about, and how much new material is there?
"I would say that I have had more than half of the new material already written - and I’ve also generated some new content, particularly the introduction to the houses. That was a fun opportunity to go back, rethink how it might have been if Harry followed a different course. So I’ve generated quite a lot.
"[The idea] came out of a discussion between us, between Neil [Blair] and myself. We knew there was a big demand for the eBooks but I wanted - if it was going to be done I wanted it to be more than that. Obviously we’d had a lot of requests for all sorts of games and online interactive games and so forth. I wanted to pull it back to reading. I wanted to pull it back to the literary experience, the story experience, and this is what emerged from those discussions. So we started working on this seriously a couple of years ago."

Q: Will there ever be a printed encyclopedia?
"Will there ever be a book, I don’t know at the moment. The world has kind of outstripped me in the sense that back in 1998 I generated a lot more material than would ever be put in the books. It was simply ridiculous that anyone - to me at the time, I thought, who would ever want to know the significance of these types of wand woods? This was all in my head. So the only way I could imagine I could get that material out there was in the form of a printed book.
"Now, you can go and look and see what the significance of the wand wood once what you’ve got your wand. You have to read it all, but it’s such a rich experience to do it this way.
"Will there ever be an encyclopedia? Possibly. I would say two things about the encyclopedia: firstly, I’ve always said and I stand by it, whenever I do do a printed encyclopedia I would like all the proceeds to go to charity. Back in 1998 I never dreamt I personally I would be in the position that I could set up a large charitable foundation and personally do things for charity, and I’ve done other charity books already.
"The other thing is, this is free. You don’t have to buy anything to access what you’ve seen today. You don’t have to pay to get the extra material, you don’t hve to buy a single thing to go onto Pottermore and have the whole experience you’ve just seen. That was really important to me. This was about the give-back. The technology now existed to do something outside the books and the films for existing fans."

Q: You have been quoted about how difficult it was to say goodbye to Harry Potter. This is a way of causing you to be able to keep your boyfriend a little longer?
"It’s exactly like an ex-boyfriend. It is true to say that finishing writing Harry, I’ve only ever cried in that way and as much ever in my life when my mother died. I’ve never cried for a man as I cried for Harry Potter, ever. So, we’re not casually dating, as you can see, and have been for two years now and I’ve been keeping that quiet.
"It is surprising how easily I slip in and out of that world. I’ll be completely honest when I came to write out notes or when I generated new material which I have done in places, I just thought this is extraordinary how easily I slip in and out of it, that’s been wonderful. But I do have closure with Harry, and I think it’s important to say that I have no plans to write another novel. This has been an amazing way of staying in touch with that part of my life, but I am pretty sure I am done on the novel front. But it was fun while it lasted."

Q: [regarding Jo’s mail and whether this will reignite her post bag]
"I love the mail. Not all of the mail. I like 99% of the mail.
"The books, it’s impossible to overstate what Harry Potter was to me. It completely changed my life. Creatively, I’ve loved it. It will never happen again to me anyway. It will happen again to someone else, there’ll be another series of books that’s as big. I adore my readers. I love my readers. Any writer would like to think that they will continue to be read.
"I thought a question that would come earlier but that I am going to answer spontaneously now, is that print/ebook debate: It is my view you can’t hold back progress. EBooks are here, they are here to stay. Personally I love printed paper, but very very recently, later thatn a lot of people because I’m not very technologically adept, in fact it was this year for the first time that I downloaded eBooks. And it’s miraculous, for travel and for children particularly, to carry around a thousand books in your pocket on a small device is an extraordinary thing, so I feel great about taking harry potter into this new medium. But I still love a printed paper book; I think you can enjoy both."

Q: Did you come up with the name Pottermore?
"I did. I’m quite proud of that. We had a lot of discussions about that but that was me."

Q: Can you talk about your decision to go directly to the consumers? I imagine Apple and Amazon are not happy.
"Well I can’t speak for anyone else. The decision was quite straightforward for me. Firstly It means that - I mean Harry Potter is obviously an international phenomenon and it means that we can now see that people everywhere are having the same experience at pretty much the same time. A large part of the fandom will be able to receive experience at exactly the same time, which was extremely appealing to me.
"I’m phenomenally lucky in that I have the resources to do it myself and therefore I got to do it, I think, right. I think this is a fantastic and unique experience that I can afford in every sense. To take my time and find the right people - TH_NK have been extraordinary - to make this come alive. There was really no other way to do that, for the fans or for, than to just do it myself. Not everyone could do it, I appreciate that, but I think it was right for Harry Potter. It was right for Harry Potter because, Potter fandom was one of the first, I think ti’s fair to say, there was a massive online community and that was such fun for me as an author to be able to have direct contact with my fans, and I already had a direct presence online, I had my own web site already. So it didn’t feel like a massive onwards step. It was an extension of the already existing.

Q: Can you talk more about what new content is on the site and what some of your favorite parts were?
"I’ve mentioned - I think my favorite things are the Sorting, which I loved writing, I think if you get into the other three houses apart from Gryffindor, you do end up with an extra bit of that chapter in Philosopher’s Stone. That was great to write. And then the wands, I go into ridiculous detail about the wandwoods, and what the cores mean, and why it might have chosen you and every detail on wands and some of that I already had in long form and some of it I wrote anew.
"The background on Professor McGonagall, I’ve had for years and years and years, and I think I always thought it would have somehow found its way into the story and it just never happened. Harry and Professor McGonagall just never had an interaction or a conversation where that would plausibly come out, so I was left with this life story of this character I liked so much and nowhere to put it. Now I’ve got somewhere to put it. That was so satisfying."

Q: How much is there?
"Oh god, I don’t know. Lots. There’s lots. 18,000 words at launch but I’m adding to it. I’m still digging up boxes and I will write more as well as we hit subsequent books. In fact I’ve already given material on the other six books. We’ve been working on this for about two years so this has been int the works quite a long time."

Q: Can I ask about Quidditch?
"I don’t think I’ve given all the stuff on Quidditch yet. Men always ask me about Quidditch because the number of, and I love geeky people so I do not say this in a pejorative way, but the number of geeky men who have come up to me to argue with me about Quidditch - I’d be a lot richer if I had a quid for every one. They just think it’s illogical. But it’s not illogical and I had a speech by Dumbledore in the first book that never made it in explaining why Quidditch is not illogical, so at some point I will put that on the site. Thank you for reminding me."

[Source]

Press Conference Videos:

The Washington Post press conference video showing video of comments documented in the transcript (above):

Youtube press conference video showing walkthrough of 4 Privet Drive (a more zoomed out version of the following video):

SPOILERS: Youtube press conference video showing journalist being Sorted and the exploration of 4 Privet Drive (new information on Petunia/Vernon):

SPOILERS: Youtube press conference video showing press conference discussion plus some new Petunia/Vernon information:

From the latter 2 videos fans gained some exciting nuggets of new information and of information about the site:

SPOILERS: Information on Vernon and Petunia:

This information was derived from two the latter 2 videos, painstakingly gathered by COSForums members. So a HUGE "Thank you" to pointe_me and NMaudlin for transcribing this!

New from J.K. Rowling, Petunia and VernonArea: THE CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS
Title: You've Unlocked "Vernon and Petunia Dursley" by J.K. Rowling
Subtext: "Read a brand new contribution from J.K. Rowling about Mr. and Mrs. Dursley with exclusive revelations about the Muggle couple. Keep checking the signs as more and more will be added to this and other entries as the story progresses"
[Read J.K. Rowling's insights button]

Characters ( A list pops up in the left hand window):
Dudley Dursley
Harry Potter
Mrs. Figg
Vernon & Petunia Dursley

Contents:
*New from J.K. Rowling*
Harry’s aunt and uncle met at work. Petunia Evans, forever embittered by the fact that her parents seemed to value her witch sister more than they valued her, left Cokeworth forever to pursue a typing course in London. This led to an office job, where she met the extremely unmagical opinionated and materialistic Vernon Dursley. Large and neckless, this junior executive seemed a model of manliness to the young Petunia. He not only returned her romantic interest, but was deliciously normal. He had a perfectly correct car, and wanted to do completely ordinary things, and by the time he had taken her on a series of dull dates, during which he talked mainly about himself and his predictable ideas on the world, Petunia was dreaming of the moment when he would place a ring on her finger.

When, in due course, Vernon Dursley proposed marriage, in his mother’s sitting room, Petunia accepted at once. The fly in the ointment was the fear of what her new fiancÃ© would make ___________ her final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Â¬Â¬Â¬____________ despise even people who wore brown shoes with black suits. _____________ young woman who spent most of her time wearing long robes ___________ Petunia could hardly bear to think.

She confessed the truth during a tear-stained date, in Ve_______ overlooking the chip shop where Vernon had just bought ____________. Vernon, as Petunia expected, was deeply shocked; he said solemnly that he would never hold it against her that she threw herself upon him in such violent gratitude ___________ sausage.

The first meeting between Lily, her boyfriend James Potter ___________ went badly, and the relationship nose-dived from there. J _________________ and made the mistake of showing it. Vernon tried to patr_______ with what car he drove. James described his racing broom. Vernon sup__________ had to live on unemployment. James explained at ____________ his parents had saved there, in solid gold. Vernon could not __________ made fun of or not, grew angry. The evening ended w____________ storming out of the restaurant, while Lily burst into tears _________ himself) promised to make things up with Vernon at the e_________.
This never happened. Petunia did not want Lily as a bridesmaid _________ of being overshadowed; Lily was hurt. Vernon refused to ____________ reception, but described him, within James’ earshot, as “some magician.” Once married, Petunia grew ever more like Vernon ________________ square house at number four, Privet Drive. She was secur_______________ strangely, from teapots that suddenly piped tune _______________ conversations about things she did not understand with n________________ Transfiguration.’ She and Vernon chose not to attend Lily__________________ very last piece of correspondence she received from Lily _____________ announcement of Harry’s birth, and after one contemptuous _____________ the bin.

Even though Petunia was raised alongside a witch __________________ magic. She and Vernon share a confused idea that they will ____________ the magic out of Harry, and in an attempt to throw off the ___________ Hogwarts on Harry’s eleventh birthday, she and Vernon fa__________ superstition that witches cannot cross water. As she had __________________ streams and run across stepping stones in their childhood ____________________ surprised when Hagrid had no difficulty making his way o___ the rock.

SPOILERS: Information on Sorting:

Finally, J.K. Rowling's official website, jkrowling.com, was updated with a short segment on her website's involvement in Pottermore.

J.K. Rowling Official Site:

But why not throw in some of the most notable press articles? After all, they were the ones present at the press conference, so their information has expanded that which we could glean otherwise (as seen by the sneaked videos!).

Press articles:

Though the number of articles noting and discussing the Pottermore announcement reaches in the hundreds, there were a couple of articles soon after the announcement that made fans' heads turn. They are below:

Wired.co.uk, JK Rowling's 'Pottermore' details revealed: Harry Potter e-books and more:

Wired.co.uk, JK Rowling's 'Pottermore' details revealed: Harry Potter e-books and more, 23 June 2011, by Olivia SolonHarry Potter fans, hold on to your broomsticks, after a week of frenzied speculation, JK Rowling has revealed that she will release the long-awaited e-books of her mind-bogglingly popular fantasy series through her own ecommerce store and interactive online experience, Pottermore.

Crucially, Rowling will sell the e-books through a proprietary platform, she revealed at a press conference this morning in the Victoria & Albert museum in London. Because of a shrewd arrangement with her publishers Bloomsbury and Scholastic (or possibly just a short-sighted one on the publishers' side), Rowling retains the digital rights to the seven Harry Potter novels. Bloomsbury and Scholastic still have control of print publishing rights.

Until recently, reports have been speculating that the rights to sell the e-books would be worth as much as Â£100m. By retaining the rights and selling them through her own platform, Rowling stands to make much more. She is not, however, completely turning her back on hands that fed her -- her publishers around the world will get a cut of e-book sales and will no doubt benefit from the "halo effect" of an uplift in print sales.

In a further bold move, Rowling has opted to keep the e-books DRM-free, meaning that they are not locked into one device or platform. She is instead opting for digital watermarking that links the identify of the purchaser to the copy of the e-book. This doesn't prevent copyright theft but does ensure that any copies will be traceable to a particular user. This is similar to how iTunes is DRM-free, but embeds user account information within each file purchased.

In addition to being an e-book store for the seven fantasy novels, Pottermore is also an online immersive experience for which Rowling has written extensive new material (more than 18,000 new words so far) about characters, places and objects in the series. So even if you don't buy the e-books you can still enjoy the additional content with a printed book or on its own.

"For me this is such a great way to give something back to Harry Potter fans who made the books such in incredible success," Rowling said. "I still receive a phenomenal number of letters, drawings and stories from fans. This is way for Harry Potter to live on in a medium that didn't exist when I started writing the books."

By publishing on her own website, Rowling adds: "We can guarantee that people everywhere are getting the same experience at the same time. That was extremely appealing to me. I am lucky to have the resources to do it myself and I think this is a fantastic and unique experience that I could afford to take my time over to make this come alive. There was really no way to do it for the fans or me than just do it myself. Not every author could do this, but it's right for Harry Potter. It is so much fun to have direct content with my fans. It was an extension of the existing jkrowling.com."

So, what of the new digital world itself?

Developed by digital creative agency TH_NK (in close partnership with Rowling) and sponsored by Sony, Pottermore sets out to entertain and inform readers as they follow the books' story lines. It is hoped that Pottermore inspires a new generation of readers to engage with the Harry Potter books. The platform features a host of newly commissioned illustrations and interactive gaming elements. When you register, you get to choose a magic username and then travel through different parts of the book, joining Hogwarts in the virtual world just as Harry does in the books.

In each chapter there are interactive "moments". In the first book there are 44 of these moments. One such example includes Diagon Alley where you can enter Gringots (the wizard bank) and pick up 175 galleons -- the in-game currency. You can then use this to buy items on your shopping list from shops such as Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment.

On the journey to Hogwarts you can explore a virtual train carriage, finding digital trinkets such as magic beans and a different spell cards that you can add to your personalised trunk for use later. The trunk can be accessed on your profile page which shows all of your friends, digital wallet, all of your digital items, details about the wand you have and the house you are in.

The Sorting Hat -- which allocates users to a Hogwarts house -- is a lot of fun. You go through a series of multiple choice questions to assess your character. Based on your unique responses you get allocated a house -- Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. I volunteered to be sorted into a house in the press conference and got sorted into Gryffindor.

Having been sorted into a house, you can challenge fellow students to wizard duels or by successfully mixing potions in order to win points for you house. This part seems to play a little like a multiplayer game -- with leagues of point winners competing against each other.

You can also see what your friends are doing on Pottermore -- you can see where they are in the storyline and go and meet them should you so wish.

Rowling took a hands-on approach to Pottermore and came up with questions for the aforementioned Sorting Hat and for the Wand Chooser -- which selects the appropriate wand for each user for one of thousands of possible combinations. All of these extra details appear to be the Harry Potter encyclopaedia that Rowling has alluded to in the past. TH_NK has previously worked with Sony to create Little Big Map -- a huge Google Maps mash-up which allows fans of the game Little Big Planet to connect with each other.

Pottermore will be first opened in beta on 31 July (Harry's birthday) to a million fans who will be required to find a Magical Quill in an online treasure hunt. They will be able to feedback their comments and criticisms of the site in order to shape the final look and feel of the website before it opens to everyone on 1 October. This will also be when the Pottermore shop will open, allowing people to purchase the e-books and digital audiobooks in a selection of languages. The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will go live in early 2012. Other books will follow later.

It will be interesting to see what role Sony will play, going forward in the strategic partnership -- especially how it might work with Sony's consumer electronic devices such as e-book readers and tablets. One possible shortcoming of the project is the fact that the interactive experience is developed separately from the e-books -- but this is likely because the project was launched more than a year and a half ago, before the arrival of the first iPad. However, because it isn't tethered to a device, it means that it can be enjoyed by readers of the meatspace books as well as the e-books -- meaning that the potential audience is much bigger. It will be interesting to see how the Pottermore team come up with a more seamless interactive e-book experience as opposed to the dual platform approach.

The fact that the biggest selling author of the last decade is so publicly committing to the digital space in an industry that has been somewhat dragging its feet is likely to be a significant driver of the e-book and e-book reader industry. The interactive element of Pottermore genuinely paves the way for other authors and creative teams to think beyond the realms of the printed page when it comes to devising e-books. Despite the fact that the books were written years ago, it doesn't feel like a tagged-on experience -- Rowling and the team at TH_NK have taken great pains to ensure that the environment is visually-stimulating, authentic, playful and utterly complementary to the stories.

Developed by digital creative agency TH_NK (in close partnership with Rowling) and sponsored by Sony, Pottermore sets out to entertain and inform readers as they follow the books' story lines. It is hoped that Pottermore inspires a new generation of readers to engage with the Harry Potter books. The platform features a host of newly commissioned illustrations and interactive gaming elements. When you register, you get to choose a magic username and then travel through different parts of the book, joining Hogwarts in the virtual world just as Harry does in the books.

In each chapter there are interactive "moments". In the first book there are 44 of these moments. One such example includes Diagon Alley where you can enter Gringots (the wizard bank) and pick up 175 galleons -- the in-game currency. You can then use this to buy items on your shopping list from shops such as Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment.

On the journey to Hogwarts you can explore a virtual train carriage, finding digital trinkets such as magic beans and a different spell cards that you can add to your personalised trunk for use later. The trunk can be accessed on your profile page which shows all of your friends, digital wallet, all of your digital items, details about the wand you have and the house you are in.

The Sorting Hat -- which allocates users to a Hogwarts house -- is a lot of fun. You go through a series of multiple choice questions to assess your character. Based on your unique responses you get allocated a house -- Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. I volunteered to be sorted into a house in the press conference and got sorted into Gryffindor.

Having been sorted into a house, you can challenge fellow students to wizard duels or by successfully mixing potions in order to win points for you house. This part seems to play a little like a multiplayer game -- with leagues of point winners competing against each other.

You can also see what your friends are doing on Pottermore -- you can see where they are in the storyline and go and meet them should you so wish.

Rowling took a hands-on approach to Pottermore and came up with questions for the aforementioned Sorting Hat and for the Wand Chooser -- which selects the appropriate wand for each user for one of thousands of possible combinations. All of these extra details appear to be the Harry Potter encyclopaedia that Rowling has alluded to in the past. TH_NK has previously worked with Sony to create Little Big Map -- a huge Google Maps mash-up which allows fans of the game Little Big Planet to connect with each other.

Pottermore will be first opened in beta on 31 July (Harry's birthday) to a million fans who will be required to find a Magical Quill in an online treasure hunt. They will be able to feedback their comments and criticisms of the site in order to shape the final look and feel of the website before it opens to everyone on 1 October. This will also be when the Pottermore shop will open, allowing people to purchase the e-books and digital audiobooks in a selection of languages. The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will go live in early 2012. Other books will follow later.

It will be interesting to see what role Sony will play, going forward in the strategic partnership -- especially how it might work with Sony's consumer electronic devices such as e-book readers and tablets. One possible shortcoming of the project is the fact that the interactive experience is developed separately from the e-books -- but this is likely because the project was launched more than a year and a half ago, before the arrival of the first iPad. However, because it isn't tethered to a device, it means that it can be enjoyed by readers of the meatspace books as well as the e-books -- meaning that the potential audience is much bigger. It will be interesting to see how the Pottermore team come up with a more seamless interactive e-book experience as opposed to the dual platform approach.

The fact that the biggest selling author of the last decade is so publicly committing to the digital space in an industry that has been somewhat dragging its feet is likely to be a significant driver of the e-book and e-book reader industry. The interactive element of Pottermore genuinely paves the way for other authors and creative teams to think beyond the realms of the printed page when it comes to devising e-books. Despite the fact that the books were written years ago, it doesn't feel like a tagged-on experience -- Rowling and the team at TH_NK have taken great pains to ensure that the environment is visually-stimulating, authentic, playful and utterly complementary to the stories.

[Source]

guardian.co.uk, Pottermore website launched by JK Rowling as 'give-back' to fans:

guardian.co.uk, Pottermore website launched by JK Rowling as 'give-back' to fans, 23 June 2011, by Alison Flood
Pottermore website launched by JK Rowling as 'give-back' to fans

Harry Potter author unveils free, collaborative website for which she has written extensive background material

JK Rowling shocked and thrilled her fans in equal measure today, with the revelation that her new venture Pottermore was set to feature a wealth of new and previously unpublished material about the world of Harry Potter.

Although the author made clear that she had "no plans to write another novel", the fresh Potter material – to be unveiled later this year - already stretches to 18,000 words about the novels' characters, places and objects, with more to come. From Professor McGonagall's love for a Muggle as a young woman, to how the Dursleys met (Petunia was working in an office); from new information about Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses, to details about wand wood, Rowling's writing will be just one part of the richly interactive, free Pottermore.com website, which is intended to bring the Harry Potter storylines to interactive life for readers.

"I had more than half of the new material already written or in note form. I literally dug some out of boxes," said the author at a press conference this morning to announce the launch of the website, which she and the Pottermore management team have been working on for two years with UK digital agency TH_NK. "I generated more material than ever appeared in the books. I thought 'who would ever want to know the significance of all the difference wand woods?' ... Now you can go and see. It's such a rich experience to do it this way."

The material will be used on the new, free Pottermore website, a collaborative project for fans set in the Harry Potter universe. "I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new generation," Rowling revealed. "I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment. Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site." The website will open first to a million users who register first on 31 July – Harry's birthday. These users will help shape the site, with its full launch to all users to take place in October.

Pottermore will also sell the long-awaited ebook versions of the Harry Potter books directly to users from October, as well as digital audiobooks. "It is my view that you can't hold back progress. Ebooks are here to stay. Personally I love print and paper. [but] very very recently for the first time I downloaded an ebook and it is miraculous, for travel and for children. So I feel great about taking Harry potter into this new medium," Rowling said. "We knew there was a big demand for ebooks but if it was going to be done we wanted it to be more than that ... I wanted to pull it back to reading, to the literary experience, the story experience, and this is what emerged."

Although Rowling's publisher Bloomsbury will receive a share of revenues from the ebooks, the digital editions, which will be compatible with all devices, will only be sold from the Pottermore website, thus disintermediating other booksellers such as Amazon. "It means we can guarantee people everywhere are getting the same experience," said Rowling, of her decision to go it alone. "[I am] lucky to have the resources to do it myself and am therefore able to do it right. It's a fantastic and unique experience which I could afford in every sense. There was really no other way to do it."

Starting with the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Pottermore will allow its users to navigate their way through the story, with all-new illustrations and interactive "moments". Users start out by choosing a magical username, and as they move through the chapters of the book they will be sorted into houses – Rowling herself has written a "vast pool" of questions to direct users to their correct home – choose wands, shop on Diagon Alley and experience life at Hogwarts, just like Harry. Points can be won for houses by casting spells and mixing potions, users will be able to comment and add their own drawings and content – and Rowling herself will be dropping in "as a normal punter" now and then.

"If you are not sorted into Gryffindor, if you go into one of the other three houses, you will effectively get an extra quarter of a chapter. You will go off into your own common room, meet your own prefect, and find out what the true nature of the house is. In the main novel you only see the houses through the eyes of the heroes. So it's not a terrible thing to be in Slytherin," said the author, who admitted it was "a little frightening" how easily she slipped back into writing about Potter. "It's exactly like an ex-boyfriend ... I've never cried for a man as I cried for Harry Potter. Now we're casually dating and we have been for two years."

The author, who has sold 450m copies of the Harry Potter books worldwide, said that she still receives a "huge" amount of fan mail – "drawings, stories, ideas, suggestions I write prequels and sequels", so she felt the site was "a really great way to give back to the Harry Potter readership, who have obviously made the books such a huge success".

"This site is a fantastic way for fan creativity to continue. It's amazing for me to be creative in this medium, which didn't exist back in 1990," she added.

For the moment, Pottermore will be restricted to the world of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but all seven books will be added in due course, complete with new material from Rowling – including, she promised, a more detailed explanation of Quidditch. "The number of geeky men who come up to me to argue about Quidditch – well, I'd be a lot richer if I got a quid for every one," she said. "They just think it's illogical. It's not. I had a speech by Dumbledore in the first book explaining why it's not illogical, but it never made it in. It will do at some point."

[Source]

*MrSleepyHead* · #6 July 30th, 2011, 1:27 am

**Comprehensive (we hope!) information on July 31 is now available

(Note: This is the same information found in Post 1, but I have also placed it here for additional reference.)

Since the official announcement of Pottermore on June 23, speculation and information has poured in surrounding the date July 31. From Pottermore.com we know that returning to the website on July 31 will provide information on "how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early," in addition to open registration. Below are all the details we could round up involving Pottermore and the 31st of July.

***All we know at this time is that an online treasure hunt involving a Magical Quill will be announced July 31 on Pottermore.com. There has been no indication of what time on July 31, so it could be 12:00 a.m. BST, 12:00 p.m. BST, or more refined (Time Zone Converter). No countdown exists for this challenge, but periodically check Pottermore.com, Pottermore's Twitter, your e-mail inbox, and Harry Potter fan sites!

**Note: At times we have added speculation based on our own perceptions and observations from around the fandom. Take these with grains of salt, as they simply attempt to explain some of the clues.

What we know about July 31:

In J.K. Rowling's announcement video, Rowling says, "Pottermore is open to everyone from October, but a lucky few can enter early and help shape the experience. Simply.... Follow the owl."
We are given a date of this early entry by the Pottermore.com website, under "What is Pottermore?":

"Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books.

Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early."
Also on Pottermore.com, under "Submit your e-mail":

"Pottermore is open to all in October. Leave us your email address now and we’ll notify you when registration has opened."

From the Pottermore Press Release:

Pottermore Press ReleaseFrom today, 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry’s birthday. Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience.
[...]
NOTES TO EDITORS:
3. From 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses to www.pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry Potter’s birthday.

4. On 31st July, an online challenge will be launched on www.pottermore.com. 1 million of those successfully completing it will be granted early access to the Beta version of the website, enabling them to help put finishing touches before it opens to all in October 2011. Details of the challenge will be revealed on 31st July.

From this, we learn that July 31 will provide an online challenge as well as registration for Pottermore. So be sure to be checking your e-mail inboxes because they should "notify you when registration has opened" (which will be on July 31).

We also learn that early entry will be defined by an online challenge, so it will not be random selection. Registration is linked to this process in that you will have to complete the online challenge in order to register (and the first 1 million to register will be granted early access). Finally, those 1 million with early access will "help put final touches to the experience" (more on that later).

Under Pottermore.com Help:

Pottermore.com, Help & Support, Email SubmissionWhat will happen next?

Everyone who submits their email address will be sent a notification when registration for Pottermore is open to all. In addition, to learn how you might qualify for early entry come back to Pottermore.com on 31st July.

What if the email doesn't arrive?

Keep checking your inbox in the period following 31st July, and don’t forget to check the ‘junk mail’ folder in case the email accidentally goes there. Remember, even if you haven’t yet received an email, it is worth checking Pottermore.com to see if registration has opened for all.

Does leaving my email address give me a chance of early entry to Pottermore?

To find out more how you might qualify for early entry come back on 31st July.

Thus, even if you do not receive an e-mail (or the e-mail does not explain how to get early access), make sure to visit Pottermore.com to learn how to get early access!

Under Pottermore.com, Terms & Conditions:

Pottermore.com, Terms & Conditions, 2. About Pottermore2.2 From 31st July, Pottermore will be available in Beta to a selected group of users in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish (Castilian). However, everyone can register to find out if they are magical, for entry to the site in October 2011. At launch, the site allows visitors to experience and explore the first Harry Potter story, with subsequent stories unveiled over time.

Here we learn about the languages in which the Beta version will be available. Additionally, we learn that "if you are magical" is important. This discovery of if you are magical may come into play with the online challenge for registration (see below for more details)!

From the Guardian news article (Remember, this is a news article and not official. However, since the press learned more than anyone else about Pottermore on June 23, we take these news articles to be reliable):

Guardian.co.uk, Pottermore website launched by JK Rowling as 'give-back' to fans, 23 June 2011, by Alison FloodThe website will open first to a million users who register first on 31 July – Harry's birthday. These users will help shape the site, with its full launch to all users to take place in October.

"Help shape the site" may simply be a rendition of "put finishing touches on the site," so we are still unclear the capacity that the 1 million Beta-users will have.

But the goldmine of July 31 details is here, with the Wired news article:

Wired.co.uk, JK Rowling's 'Pottermore' details revealed: Harry Potter e-books and more, 23 June 2011, by Olivia Solon, Page 2Pottermore will be first opened in beta on 31 July (Harry's birthday) to a million fans who will be required to find a Magical Quill in an online treasure hunt. They will be able to feedback their comments and criticisms of the site in order to shape the final look and feel of the website before it opens to everyone on 1 October.

Information at last! This, while not official, is the most information we have regarding the specifics of the "online challenge" issued on July 31. Before Pottermore was released, JKR announced her Secret Street View, which was a scavenger hunt among Harry Potter fan sites for 10 coordinates that would give the letters to spell "POTTERMORE" (See Post 2 for detailed information). So we also know that the online challenge for early registration will be an online treasure hunt. I emphasize "online" because of rumors stemming from a "leaked" memo that was made public on June 22 (see below):

The "leaked" memo:

As seen in Post 4, preceding the official announcement of Pottermore by 1 day was a "leaked" memo that was sent to newspapers "apparently by mistake." Three articles mentioned a leaked memo, drafted in December 2009 by Colman Getty. So what is the validity of this memo, and what bearing does it have on July 31?

Links to speculative news articles and "leaked" information, pre-announcement:

Below are news articles that summarize the majority of fan speculation at the time (for in-depth revision on that discussion, we suggest visiting CoSForums Pottermore threads), as well as "leaked" information. One day before the announcement (i.e. June 22) one newspaper (The Times) claimed to have been accidentally sent details on Pottermore, while another (The Independent) suggested that Pottermore officials had sent it a memo outlining some Pottermore information. Both of these instances of "leaked" information were disproved and falsified by the information we learned upon the announcement. However, one may still be able to glean potential nuggets of information out of them - but be wary with what you accept as fact!

The Times, “Latest Harry Potter project revealed”, “leaked information”:

Leaked Memo:

The Independent reported it received a memo that detailed Pottermore’s public relations strategy, and this memo can be seen in the following 2 news articles. Once again, this memo was later falsified, but it, too, caused a hefty amount of discussion.

The Atlantic Wire, “It Looks Like 'Pottermore' Will Be An Online Game,” June 22, by Ray Gustini
J.K. Rowling's mysterious new website Pottermore really will be the front for an ambitious online gaming network. That's according to an internal memo detailing the site's PR strategy that, according to The Independent's Rob Sharp, was "sent to every national newspaper in the country earlier this week." It's unclear if there was an embargo placed on the news or if the document is genuine, but it lines up with the speculation that the Harry Potter author wants to turn her franchise into a World of Warcraft-style online game. Rowling's official press conference is still slated for tomorrow.

The full text of the memo:

Confidential
Project Momentum: A PR timeline

The following timeline has been drafted to complement and build on the launch marketing strategy from Adam & Eve.

As the number of people in the know about the project increases, so does the possibility of a leak. In the event of the news breaking early, Colman Getty will draft and issue an instant statement to tie in with the ‘coming soon’ online message.

We would like as a priority to draft and start getting agreement on the key messages. We also want to identity and brief the key spokespeople from each of the project partners so that we are prepared, should the story leak.

However, assuming that the news does hold until we are ready to announce it, our suggested timeline is as follows:

Â· End June/early July - Jo announces the launch on YouTube
CG will issue a global press release to coincide. This will cover the excitement of the news plus why the site is being launched, who the project partners are and what users can expect to find, with a particular emphasis on the Quill Quest

We will also make sure that the same info is simultaneously posted on Jo’s official site, referring users to Pottermore

Â· From July to October
Colman Getty will handle media enquiries and consider other opportunities for coverage eg the beginning of the school holidays, the back to school stage. We will also issue facts and figures as the project unfolds – eg the level of demand for the site, how many people have actually enrolled, how many wands have been physically laced and found. We need, however, to avoid issuing too much information and possibly overbuilding expectations. Best to leave most of the news spreading to the fans themselves.

Â· October
Again we feel that the overt PR input should be kept to the minimum with the fans and the site itself creating most of the headlines. We love the idea of a Daily Prophet wrap and would be happy to broker that deal with the paper of our choice, both in the UK and the US. It’s such a fantastic story that we feel it should not be paid for but placed as unpaid editorial.

Colman Getty, December 2010

Update: A representative from Rowling's PR firm tells Paid Content that the memo is genuine, but denies the leak was intentional and says some of the details have already been scrapped. “Much as we would like to say this is an elaborate stunt to create excitement, I’m afraid it was a simple error,”explains the rep. “The document is an old plan which is now out of date. The full details about the Pottermore project will be revealed at the press conference tomorrow.”

[Source]

Paidcontent.org, “Rowling Rep Confirms Leaked Pottermore.com Memo Is Real, Not A Stunt,” June 22, by Laura Owen Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling’s PR representative, Mark Hutchinson, has confirmed to us that a Pottermore.com memo leaked to UK newspapers was indeed sent out mistakenly by a staff member and was not part of a marketing stunt. The memo, which is after the jump, talks about, among other things, a scavenger hunt called “Quill Quest” where fans search for magic wands physically planted in real world locations.

Hutchinson’s firm, Mark Hutchinson Management, handles PR for J. K. Rowling and Pottermore.com in collaboration with another firm, StonehillSalt PR. Hutchinson told us in an e-mail that the memo was old and was mistakenly sent out by a staff member at StonehillSalt. He said that Colman Getty, the PR agency mentioned in the memo (below), was not responsible. Colman Getty handles J. K. Rowling’s Lumos charity.

“Much as we would like to say this is an elaborate stunt to create excitement, I’m afraid it was a simple error,” Hutchinson said. “The document is an old plan which is now out of date. The full details about the Pottermore project will be revealed at the press conference tomorrow.”

London marketing agency Adam & Eve also confirmed to us that it is handling the marketing campaign for Pottermore.com.

Here’s the memo.

Confidential
Project Momentum: A PR timeline

The following timeline has been drafted to complement and build on the launch marketing strategy from Adam & Eve.

As the number of people in the know about the project increases, so does the possibility of a leak. In the event of the news breaking early, Colman Getty will draft and issue an instant statement to tie in with the ‘coming soon’ online message.

We would like as a priority to draft and start getting agreement on the key messages. We also want to identity and brief the key spokespeople from each of the project partners so that we are prepared, should the story leak.

However, assuming that the news does hold until we are ready to announce it, our suggested timeline is as follows:

End June/early July - Jo announces the launch on YouTube
CG will issue a global press release to coincide. This will cover the excitement of the news plus why the site is being launched, who the project partners are and what users can expect to find, with a particular emphasis on the Quill Quest
We will also make sure that the same info is simultaneously posted on Jo’s official site, referring users to Pottermore

From July to October
Colman Getty will handle media enquiries and consider other opportunities for coverage eg the beginning of the school holidays, the back to school stage. We will also issue facts and figures as the project unfolds – eg the level of demand for the site, how many people have actually enrolled, how many wands have been physically laced and found. We need, however, to avoid issuing too much information and possibly overbuilding expectations. Best to leave most of the news spreading to the fans themselves.

October
Again we feel that the overt PR input should be kept to the minimum with the fans and the site itself creating most of the headlines. We love the idea of a Daily Prophet wrap and would be happy to broker that deal with the paper of our choice, both in the UK and the US. It’s such a fantastic story that we feel it should not be paid for but placed as unpaid editorial.

Colman Getty, December 2010

[Source]

Los Angeles Times, Memo Rebuttal:

This story (following) from the Los Angeles Times includes a statement from Rebecca Salt, a spokeswoman for J.K. Rowling, that rebuffs the “leaked” information inspired by The Times’ and The Independent’s stories.

Los Angeles Times, “Pottermore details leak 1 day ahead of J.K. Rowling's official announcement," June 22, by Salvador Rodriguez Details of J.K. Rowling's new Pottermore online project were leaked to newspapers in England, and several of them reported that her official announcement Thursday will include news of a Pottermore-named online videogame.

The leaked memo, which according to the Independent was leaked to every newspaper in the country, outlines the public relations strategy of the project.

The memo at one point refers to a "Quill Quest" and also seems to indicate that Pottermore will involve wands being "physically laced and found." Some news reports have said the wands will be hidden throughout the U.S., United Kingdom and possibly other countries.

Other news sites have reported that the memo indicates Pottermore could be an online game similar to World of Warcraft, in which players control a character and interact with others in an online world.
J.K. Rowling's official announcement on the project is slated for 4 a.m. Pacific time Thursday. Since the leak, which led to questions of whether it was an actual leak or a strategic marketing ploy, not much has happened on the Pottermore website or Twitter page, but more owls have appeared on its YouTube page.

The memo appears to be dated December 2010 and lays out public relations plans through October 2011, which could indicate the online game's actual launch.

[Updated 4:24 p.m.: Rebecca Salt, a spokeswoman for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, said the memo leaked to U.K. press isn't accurate and actually from an outdated document.

"The British press have been very imaginative in their interpretation of the document, but I can categorically say the project is not a Treasure Hunt or a game," Salt said in an email sent to the Technology blog on Wednesday afternoon.
So, what is Pottermore if not a game? Salt didn't say. Looks like Potter fans will have to wait until Rowling's official unveil tomorrow to find out.

[Source]

From the “leaked” information is one notable detail. The articles discuss a scavenger hunt labeled as a “Quill Quest.” This may still hold some validity because of more recent announcements from the official Harry Potter blog. For early access to Pottermore (on July 31), Pottermore Insider advises, “Remember, to get into Hogwarts you must have magical ability...” – a link that directs you to an interview by JKR in which she mentions McGonagall’s magical quill for identifying magical children for Hogwarts. So the “Quill Quest” may still be applied to the admittance of 1 million fans to a Pottermore beta version on July 31.

Firstly, we know that J.K. Rowling and her Pottermore team have been working on Pottermore for over 2 years, which would place December 2009 within the realm of believability. A representative from J.K. Rowling's PR firm supposedly announced, "Much as we would like to say this is an elaborate stunt to create excitement, I’m afraid it was a simple error,”explains the rep. “The document is an old plan which is now out of date. The full details about the Pottermore project will be revealed at the press conference tomorrow.”
However, this was rebutted by Rebeccah Salt, a spokeswoman for Rowling, who e-mailed the Los Angeles Times Technology blog, "The British press have been very imaginative in their interpretation of the document, but I can categorically say the project is not a Treasure Hunt or a game."

While we now know that Pottermore is not a treasure hunt or a game, what about this early entry on July 31? The "leaked" memo stated the following:

Pottermore memo, December 2009, Colman GettyCG will issue a global press release to coincide. This will cover the excitement of the news plus why the site is being launched, who the project partners are and what users can expect to find, with a particular emphasis on the Quill Quest
[...]
We will also issue facts and figures as the project unfolds – eg the level of demand for the site, how many people have actually enrolled, how many wands have been physically laced and found.

Speculation was that "there are an unstated number of magic wands secreted in Britain and America, and possibly other countries."

NOTE: We are not suggesting that the July 31 early access is, in fact, a real-world treasure hunt to find wands. It seems unfair and irrational for Pottermore to select 1 million early entrants in this way, especially given J.K. Rowling's testimony that Pottermore is for the digital age. We are merely presenting "facts" that some users may enjoy in their preparations for July 31. Particularly, the "Quill Quest" is interesting, given the hints at a "Magical Quill" being involved in the July 31 early entrance [for more, see below].

But the "Quill Quest" referenced in the memo does seem to correlate with the "Magical Quill online treasure hunt" from the Wired article.

**We will also announce that one reason for our seemingly exhaustive and overly-specific All-Inclusive List is to prepare you for this online treasure hunt. We hope you can use this list to recognize fan sites, people, places, trivia, etc. that may be helpful in this online treasure hunt. It may be worthwhile, but the treasure hunt may be entirely separate. But the "Magical Quill" does seem interesting, especially given official information we learned (See below).

Pottermore Insider.

Pottermore released its own blog, called "Pottermore Insider" at http://insider.pottermore.com on July 14. On July 19 they answered some fan-submitted questions. Within that Q&A we learn a little about the July 31 process (http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/0...we-answer.html):

Pottermore Insider; You ask, we answer; 14 JulyI’ve submitted my email to the Pottermore website – does this mean I’m registered with Pottermore.com?
Not yet. If you’ve submitted your email address to the site, we'll use it to let you know when site registration is open to everyone. In other words, once you’ve received an email from us, you'll be able to visit Pottermore.com and complete the registration process.

**Remember, to get into Hogwarts you must have magical ability...**

What's going to happen on 31 July?
We don't want to ruin the surprise but something will be happening on Pottermore.com on 31 July. Come back to the site, or keep an eye on the Pottermore Insider (http://insider.pottermore.com) and our Pottermore Twitter feed for details.

Remember from the information from Pottermore.com that registration seems to be linked with this online challenge that will be issued on July 31 (and the first 1 million registrants will be granted Beta access). We also learn that we should watch Pottermore.com, the Pottermore Insider, and the Pottermore Twitter for details on this online challenge. So keep your eyes peeled!

The real significance of this answer is the hidden link. The ** around Remember, to get into Hogwarts you must have magical ability... show that this is a hidden link, invisible unless you highlight it on the webpage. Following this link takes you here, http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=10198, to a Scholastic interview with J.K. Rowling from February 3, 2000. You can search for hidden meanings, but we know there is one blatant message:

How can two Muggles have a kid with magical powers? Also how does the Ministry of Magic find out these kids have powers?
It's the same as two black-haired people producing a redheaded child. Sometimes these things just happen, and no one really knows why! The Ministry of Magic doesn't find out which children are magic. In Hogwarts there's a magical quill which detects the birth of a magical child, and writes his or her name down in a large parchment book. Every year Professor McGonagall checks the book, and sends owls to the people who are turning 11.

Does the "magical quill" sound familiar? For many, this is evidence that the Wired article is correct, that the online challenge will be a treasure hunt for the Magical Quill that will (likely) document you as "magical" ("Remember, to get into Hogwarts you must have magical ability...").

Thus, it seems that to register you have to deem yourself magical by finding the Magical Quill that will record you in McGonagall's "large parchment book" as worthy of attending Hogwarts. If you are one of the first 1 million to do this, then you get early admittance to Hogwarts via the Beta version!

LeakyCon 2011

We should also note that LeakyCon 2011 received a special exhibition of Pottermore during the convention. Through transcription from Hypable, we learned this about early access (http://www.hypable.com/harry-potter/...k-at-leakycon/):

Hypable.com, Live coverage of Pottermore talk at LeakyCon, 15 JulyShowing registration process. "Congratulations! You are magical" once the registration process is complete. Your name is in a list with Harry, Ron, etc
Friday July 15, 2011 3:42
3:43
[...]
Talking now about the registration process on July 31st.
Friday July 15, 2011 4:12
4:12

For everyone who's registered at LeakyCon, you will be given a special chance to be in the beta.
Friday July 15, 2011 4:12
4:13

You've got a chance to be in early - it's a chance. You still have to do what everyone else does but you'll know about it earlier.
Friday July 15, 2011 4:13
4:14

Therefore, everybody who registered at LeakyCon will likely be given early notification about the online challenge to get into the Beta version of Pottermore.

It would not be surprising if part of this "special chance to be in the beta" is related to getting an insight into how the registration process works because registration and the online challenge seem to be linked.

But do not despair if you did not go to LeakyCon. There were only just over 3,000 registrants, and not all will may try for early access.... Who are we kidding? Of course they will! At the least, it is only 3,000 out of 1 million, and you may be faster than they!

For those who do not know, LeakyCon is a Harry Potter convention sponsored by the Harry Potter fan site, the-leaky-cauldron.org (it first debuted in 2009). This year (LeakyCon 2011) it was held in Orlando, Florida from July 13-17. Its activities spanned opening festivities, formal and informal programming, wizard rock, podcasts, meetups, vendor rooms, galleries, and other Harry Potter-related events.

NOTE: Melissa Anelli (the landlady of The Leaky Cauldron) is known to be involved in working with J.K. Rowling on Pottermore:

Twitter.com, @melissanelliAll right, I can say this now. I have been working with @pottermore since Oct 2009. And it has been absolutely brilliant.

Thus, that is an explanation for why LeakyCon registrants received this special opportunity. However, it also means that The Leaky Cauldron may be very involved in the July 31 online challenge, so make sure you familiarize yourself with navigating that website (the-leaky-cauldron.org)!

We will try to avoid too much speculation, but here are a couple of popular theories. Firstly, if early access were as simple as finding 10 coordinates, plugging them in, and getting early registration there would not be much point: fan sites or fans would spread it as quickly as Fiendfyre. Therefore, the treasure hunt may be extended and personalized. You may have to locate the Magical Quill (and/or other quills, wands, and other magical memorabilia), but then "prove" to it that you are magical (e.g. through trivia or some other method. Though it should be noted that trivia may dissuade the new, "digital generation" from getting early access, so this may be unlikely).

This website (harrypotterforwriters.blogspot.com claims that the 3 leaves that fell off the tree in the original Youtube Flash animation of JKRowlingAnnounces were actually 3 quills, and that there may be a wand hidden in the fan site banner of "Follow the Owls." Yes, this is the time to nitpick and over-think (just not to the point that you over-complicate the process!)!

Suggestions for July 31:

*MrSleepyHead* · #7 July 30th, 2011, 1:34 am

All we know from and about Pottermore, post-June 23

[Pending]

Frogki · #8 July 31st, 2011, 4:10 am

Alright, so this hasn't really been cleared by MrSleepyHead, but I think that for the sake of time, I must do a live update!
As we all know, Pottermore opens tomorrow. At the moment, people are freaking out all over Potter fan sites, and Pottermore is currently sending me a support message.

The Magical Quill Quest (based on the magical quill that writes down the name of each magical child in a large book that Mcgonnagall uses to send out Hogwarts acceptance letters) will, as usual with Jo, be a riddle, and from what I'm getting, there will be varying levels of difficulty.
The challenge will run from tomorrow until August 6.
Each day, a new riddle will be posted. Tomorrow's riddle will, as far as I know, be based on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers (Philosophers) Stone.
If you solve the riddle, you will place the answer next to the url. So say the riddle is "How many Harry Potter novels are there? Now multiply that number by 10".
You would type in http://quill.pottermore.com/70
Please note that solving the riddle doesn't guarantee you an access place. Only the first million fans who solve the riddle will be able to access Pottermore early. However, a new riddle will be posted every day. A certain amount of people will be able to solve the riddle each day from what I'm hearing...

To add a personal note, isn't it exciting to be in the "riddle mode" again?!
Enjoy trying to solve the riddle, and good luck to each and every one of you!

Frogki · #9 August 2nd, 2011, 8:43 pm

Alright, so as everyone knows, Pottermore has been posting the clues at times that aren't exactly convenient for fans on the western hemisphere... Well, tomorrow, American fans (along with other people who live on the Western Hemisphere) will have a much nicer time to work with...
Clue #4 will be released sometime between 2 PM and 6 PM BST, which translates to a time slot of 9 AM to 1 PM EST...

The servers seem to be holding up much better the past 2 days, so I think it's safe to assume that you'll be able to access Pottermore much easier from now until Saturday when the final clue is posted.
Finally, the magical quill seems to have changed its tactic - previously you've had to chase it around a bit. Today was a bit of a charms lesson, in that if you found it, you had to levitate it...
So for tomorrow, remember, swish and flick! And good luck

*MrSleepyHead* · #10 August 5th, 2011, 4:23 am

The Magical Quill Challenge and Pottermore Registration Process

The Magical Quill online challenge was introduced July 31. At midnight BST, the Harry Potter fandom was in full force awaiting the release of the challenge. Pottermore.com was more or less inaccessible, alternating between a self-refreshing screen that asked for your patience and another screen that noted Pottermore.com was completely unavailable. Potter fans waited at midnight BST to no avail. Not until 2:30 a.m. BST was Pottermore.com dependably accessible and updated with the following information about the Magical Quill (https://www.pottermore.com/en/help#magical-quill):

Pottermore.com, Help & Support, Magical Quill:

The Magical Quill and site access The Magical Quill and site access

What is The Magical Quill?

The Magical Quill is located in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It detects the birth of a magical child and writes his or her name down in a large book. Every year, Professor McGonagall checks the book and sends owls to the children who are turning eleven, to inform them that they have a place at Hogwarts. The lucky few who locate The Magical Quill during The Magical Quill challenge (which will run from 31 July to 6 August 2011) will have the chance to register for Pottermore early and gain access to the site before it opens to all in October 2011.

How will it work?

Each day for seven days, from 31 July to 6 August, we will be placing a clue on the Pottermore homepage to help you find The Magical Quill. There will be a new clue every day, and each clue will relate to a different book in the Harry Potter series. On Day 1 the clue will relate to HARRY POTTER and the Philosopher’s Stone, on Day 2 the clue will relate to HARRY POTTER and the Chamber of Secrets, and so forth. The clues will also vary in difficulty. On Days 1-3 the clues will be harder, and on Days 4-7 the clues will be easier.
To find The Magical Quill, you need to solve the clue and add the answer to the end of the web address http://quill.pottermore.com This will lead you to a website where The Magical Quill will be located while early access places are available.
Example:
Clue: How many books are there in the Harry Potter series? Multiply this number by 10.
Answer: 70
Next, add this number to the end of the website address. In this case it would be http://quill.pottermore.com/70
Then hit ‘Return’ to go to the website where The Magical Quill is located.

What happens when I find The Magical Quill?

Once you have found The Magical Quill, you will be redirected to Pottermore.com. If the registration process is still open for that day, you will be able to submit your details to register to access Pottermore early. It is important to note that finding The Magical Quill does not guarantee you access to registration, as registration will only remain open while the early access places allocated for the relevant day, between 31 July and 6 August, are available.

What happens if I do not find The Magical Quill?

There will be plenty of opportunities to find The Magical Quill as we will be revealing a new clue each day from 31 July to 6 August. For those who miss out on early access to Pottermore, please note the site will be open to all from October and you will be able to register after The Magical Quill challenge has closed. Keep checking Pottermore to find out when registration is open to all.

How do I register for Pottermore?

When you arrive at the registration page, you will be asked to provide some details about yourself including your first name and last name, email address, date of birth and country of residence. If you are under 13, we ask you to provide us with your first name only, your date of birth, the country you live in and your parent or guardian’s email address.
You will also be asked to choose a username from five randomly selected options and to select a password. Make a note of your username and password and keep them in a safe place. An email will then be sent to the email address you provided. This email will contain a link that you need to click in order to validate your registration and create your Pottermore account. Please note you (or your parent or guardian) must validate your account within 48 hours or your registration will be invalid and you will need to start again. (If you do start again, you won’t be able to gain early access but you will able to register to join Pottermore in October when the site will be open to all.)
If the email doesn’t appear in your inbox, check your junk mail folder in case it has been placed there by mistake.

Can I enter Pottermore as soon as I have registered?

No. After you have registered (by submitting your details and validating your registration via the email sent to you), we will send you a Welcome email letting you know that you can gain access Pottermore. Due to the number of people seeking to register, you may have to wait several weeks before receiving this email.

How long do I have to wait before I can enter Pottermore?

The Magical Quill early entry period runs from 31 July 2011 to 30 September 2011. During this time, you will receive a Welcome email notifying you that your account has been enabled for access to Pottermore. If you did not register during The Magical Quill period, you will be able to register after the Magical Quill promotion has closed for entry in October 2011, when the site will be open to all. Keep checking Pottermore to find out when registration is open to all.

What happens if I am not selected for early entry?

Pottermore will be open to all from the beginning of October 2011 - so you won’t have long to wait before you can enter. We will inform you on Pottermore when you will be able to register for entry in October, when Pottermore is open to all, so keep checking our home page.

What happens if I log in before I am able to enter Pottermore?

You need to have registered in order to log in. Once you have registered and validated your registration, you will be able to log in via the Sign In link on the Pottermore homepage. However, you will only be able to view and update your registration details if you log in before the date you are given for early entry in your Welcome email.

What happens when The Magical Quill promotion is over?

When all the early entry places have been filled, The Magical Quill links will be withdrawn. You will be able to register via the Pottermore homepage, after The Magical Quill promotion has closed, but you will only be able to enter Pottermore when it opens to all in October. Keep checking Pottermore to find out when registration is open to all.

Pottermore.com, Terms & Conditions, Magical Quill:

Terms & Conditions, The Magical Quill promotion ("Promotion")The Magical Quill promotion ("Promotion")

Welcome to Pottermore (“Pottermore”), the digital home of the Harry Potter books! Pottermore is owned by Pottermore Limited (referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” as appropriate, a company established in England and Wales). Pottermore is currently available through the website at http://www.pottermore.com. We may also make Pottermore or other versions of it available through a number of digital channels or devices.

Through this Promotion, participants can register and have the opportunity to gain early access to Pottermore and the features available on Pottermore before such access is made available to the general public.

By participating in the Promotion, you agree to follow these Rules in addition to our Terms & Conditions (“Terms”).

Please be aware that the early version of Pottermore we make available until Pottermore is open to all from October 2011 to successful participants is provided on an ‘as is’ basis. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee or promise the availability of Pottermore or that the early version is free from faults, errors or bugs.
Participants

1Participation in the Promotion is open to residents of all ages worldwide and no purchase is necessary.
How to participate

2 Participation in the Promotion is only available online via Pottermore.

3 You can participate in the Promotion by finding, and clicking on, one of our advertising banners displaying the image of a magical quill (“The Magical Quill”) and creating an account on Pottermore using the online registration forms on the pages to which you are directed after clicking on The Magical Quill.

4 To find The Magical Quill, you will need to solve the clue, which will appear daily on Pottermore during the Promotion Period: as defined in paragraph 9 below. Once you have solved the clue, you will be directed to a selected Harry Potter fan website and/or the website of one of our commercial partners on which The Magical Quill will appear for a limited period each day. Daily availability of The Magical Quill will depend on the limited number of registrations for early access that we allocate on each day of the Promotion Period. Once the daily allocation of registrations has been filled, The Magical Quill will be removed and registration for that day will close.

5 Finding The Magical Quill is not a guarantee of early access to Pottermore. To gain early access to Pottermore, you must successfully complete the registration form on Pottermore to which you will be directed after finding The Magical Quill and by subsequently validating your registration in the manner described in paragraph 6 below. Early access means that registrants will be able to log in to their Pottermore account and use the interactive features available on Pottermore.

6 You (or your parent or guardian if you are under 13) must validate your account within 48 hours of receipt of the validation email we will send you after you complete the registration form in order to secure your place for early access. To validate your account, you must click on the link in the validation email. If you do not validate your account within this 48 hour window: (i) we reserve the right to allocate the place to an alternative registrant and instead provide them with early access; and (ii) you will need to register again. If you register again, you will not gain early access to Pottermore but you will be able to join Pottermore when the site opens to all members of the general public in October 2011.

7 For further details about the personal information we collect from you and how we use that information when creating an account or generally, please see our Privacy Policy.
Availability and notification of allocation

8 By participating in this Promotion, we do not guarantee you early access to Pottermore. We will allocate places for early access to registrants on a ‘first come, first served’ basis provided that there will be a limit on the allocation of places by language. We do this so that we can better test the early version of Pottermore across the full range of languages that we cater for on Pottermore.

9 The starting date of the Promotion is 31 July 2011 and, subject to paragraph 13, the promotion will end when we have allocated all the available places for early access on 6 August 2011 (“Promotion Period”). When all such places have been fully allocated, we will place a prominent notice on Pottermore and we will remove The Magical Quill from the final Harry Potter fan website or commercial partner website as soon as we can.

10 There are a total number of 1,000,000 available places for early access, which will be apportioned over the course of the Promotion Period. We will notify successful registrants when their early access will commence by sending an email to their email address (or, if they are under the age of 13, to their parent or guardian’s email address) between 31 July 2011 and 30 September 2011. For further information on how we communicate with your child please see our Child Safety policy.

11 Registrants allocated to places for early access may be given access at different times and dates.

12 If you are unable to register during the Promotion Period please keep checking the Pottermore homepage to find out when registration is open to all members of the public.

13 We reserve the right to increase the total number of places available for early access and/or to extend the Promotion Period at any time.
Conditions of participation

14 You may only register once with Pottermore via The Magical Quill. Entries via agents or third parties or the use of multiple identities and email addresses are not permitted.

15 Use of automated entries or programs is prohibited and all such entries will be disqualified.

16 No cash or other alternatives to early access are available. Places for early access and/or registration or account details cannot be transferred or sold by registrants to whom they have been allocated under any circumstances. If we suspect or become aware of anyone that has or has offered to transfer or disclose any registration details, whether by way of a sale for money or money’s worth or otherwise, we will terminate access to Pottermore for those accounts.
Marketing communications

17 We do not send any marketing communications to registrants under the age of 16. If you are 16 years or older, the personal information you provide to us will only be used for marketing purposes if you have consented to receive future marketing from us or our commercial partners during the registration process to which you are directed after clicking The Magical Quill. Please see our Privacy Policy for further details regarding the use of your personal information for marketing purposes.
Our rights

18 We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to disqualify any registrant that provides incomplete or invalid registration details or that otherwise breaches these rules or our Terms.

19 We cannot guarantee the availability of The Magical Quill banners or of the websites on which they appear and are not otherwise responsible for any disruption to the Promotion due to events outside of our reasonable control.

20 We reserve the right to cancel or terminate the Promotion or extend or resume the eligibility period or disqualify any participant at any time without giving advance notice and will do so if it cannot be guaranteed that the Promotion can be carried out fairly or correctly for technical, legal or other reasons or if we suspect that any person has been manipulating entries or the results or has acted unethically in any other way.

21 We reserve the right to withdraw access to any registrant in accordance with our Terms.

22 Our decision is final and we reserve the right not to correspond on any matter in connection with this Promotion.
Responsibility

23 We have arranged this Promotion in good faith but, to the fullest extent allowed by law, accept no responsibility for loss or damages as a result of anyone participating in the Promotion or accessing Pottermore. Your legal rights as a consumer are not affected.
General

24 The laws of England apply and any disputes will be dealt with in the English courts only. Nothing in this rule shall deprive consumers of the protection afforded to them by the mandatory rules of law of the country in which they live.

25 The promoter of this Promotion is Pottermore Limited. Our registered address is Devonshire House, 1 Devonshire Street, London W1W 5DR.

This is not an address to which you should send enquiries or complaints about Pottermore or the Promotion. If you have an enquiry or complaint, please refer to our Help pages in the first instance.

An explosion of speculation followed this update, and fans were eagerly awaiting the clue. At roughly 3:15 a.m. BST, the Pottermore Insider was updated, summarizing the preceding information, but also adding more:

Pottermore Insider blog post: 7 books, 7 days, 7 chances:

Pottermore Insider; 7 books, 7 days, 7 chances The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted the hidden link in our ‘You ask, we answer’ blog post from
19 July, which took you to an interview J.K. Rowling gave in 2000.

In that interview was some interesting information about a Magical Quill, located in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Magical Quill detects the birth of a magical child and writes their name down in a large book. Every year, Professor McGonagall checks the book and sends owls to the children who are turning eleven, to inform them that they have a place at Hogwarts.

Each day for seven days, from 31 July to 6 August, we will be placing a clue on the Pottermore homepage to help you locate The Magical Quill. If you find it, you’ll have the chance to gain early access to Pottermore.

There will be a new clue every day, and each clue will relate to a different book in the Harry Potter series. On Day 1 the clue will relate to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, on Day 2 the clue will relate to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and so forth. The clues will also vary in difficulty. On Days 1-3 the clues will be harder, and on Days 4-7 the clues will be easier.

To find The Magical Quill, you need to solve the clue and add the answer to the end of the web address http://quill.pottermore.com/ This will lead you to a website where The Magical Quill will be located while early access places are available. The Magical Quill’s location will change every day.

Example:

Clue: How many books are there in the Harry Potter series? Multiply this number by 10.
Answer: 70

Add this number to the end of the website address. (In this case it would be http://quill.pottermore.com/70)

Hit ‘Return’ to go to the website where The Magical Quill is located.

Once you have found The Magical Quill, you will be redirected to Pottermore.com. If the registration process is still open for that day, you will be able to submit your details to register to access Pottermore early.

It’s important to note that finding The Magical Quill does not guarantee you access to registration, as registration will only remain open while the early access places allocated for the relevant day are available.

Don’t worry if you don’t manage to register first time. There will be plenty of opportunities to find The Magical Quill as we will be revealing a new clue each day from 31 July to 6 August. For those who miss out on early access to Pottermore, please note the site will be open to all from October. Keep visiting Pottermore to find out when registration commences.

We won’t be telling you when a clue goes live, so you’ll need to keep a careful eye on Pottermore.com over the seven-day period. However, we will let you know, via Pottermore.com and the Insider, when registration for a particular day has come to an end.

Finally, we will not be enabling early access to the site straight away. Once The Magical Quill challenge is over, we will send successful early access registrants a Welcome email, letting them know when they will be able to access Pottermore. We won’t be able to let everyone into the Beta site at the same time, so please be patient with us. You may have to wait a few weeks for your Welcome email to arrive.

For more information about The Magical Quill and early registration for Pottermore please visit the Help section of Pottermore.com.

Although the Pottermore Insider would not be revealing when a clue goes live, Potter fans received an extra, unofficial tidbit of information. At 3:30 a.m. BST, the Pottermore devotees were awarded with a “leaked” e-mail from LeakyCon (which, it was known, had promised early notification/information about the Pottermore online challenge to LeakyCon registrants):

LeakyCon e-mail to registrants, courtesy of LilyDreamsOn:

Documentation of Day 1: Fan speculation, Clue 1, Finding The Magical Quill, Pottermore registration, e-mail validation:

With the secret leaked, Harry Potter fans, in typical obsessive fashion, clung to the time revealed in this letter: 8:00 a.m. BST. Some fans felt secure enough to use the 4.5 hours to get some rest. Others were too excited and/or hesitant to trust to go to sleep (or else, in their time zones, there was no reason to sleep!). Over the next 4 hours the Pottermore website was refreshed (just in case) and scrutinized, with no indication of a clue. At times Twitter users would report being granted access, that one simply had to tap bricks, etc. None of these were confirmed or plausible, and fan speculation turned as wild as a Rita Skeeter report. With the hint from the LeakyCon letter of Diagon Alley (and knowing that Clue 1 would consider SS/PS), fans turned to Chapter 5: Diagon Alley. Lists were created on CoSForums, Tumblr, Facebook, and the like documenting every detail of the chapters. Most speculation considered numbers, due to the example Pottermore provided, but there was no definitive knowledge that the extension would be number-related. One of the most popular theories at one point was envisioning numbers in the Pottermore.com background’s desk. But this did not seem to have any bearing on revealing the clue (which, we knew, would be posted to the homepage – though we did not know if the clue would be blatant or hidden).

8:00 a.m. BST came with surprisingly little reaction from the Pottermore.com servers. Despite the indubitable weight of Potter fans on the servers in desperate hope, the website did not crash as it did at midnight (in contrast to CoSForums, which had over 1,000 students and Muggles attempting to access the Pottermore thread!). The stability of the website indicated that the time would be close, but the LeakyCon e-mail only said 8:00 a.m. BST would be the starting point for when the clue may be released. At this time, some doubted the validity of the e-mail, but it did not matter because everyone was, at this point, going to wait.

And we did not have to wait long. At approximately 8:45 a.m. BST, Clue 1 was revealed. Pottermore.com was updated with the clue in the centered, purple banner with the message:

Clue 1 revealedCan you find The Magical Quill?
--Day 1 clue—

How many breeds of owls were offered on the Eeylops Owl Emporium sign, then multiply this number by 49.

Indeed, this question was from SS/PS Chapter 5, Diagon Alley.

The breeds of owls on the sign are: Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy = 5. 5 * 49 = 245. So one would visit http://quill.pottermore.com/245, where you were directed to Sony. In the middle of the Sony website was a large banner that told you to catch the Magical Quill (i.e. Click on it). Upon catching the Magical Quill (which glowed blue, as opposed to the brown, white, and speckled feathers floating around it), you received a “Congratulations” message and was redirected to the Pottermore.com homepage, where you received this message:

Pottermore.com registration messageCongratulations! You have found The Magical Quill

You now have the chance to register for early access to Pottermore. You need to submit your registration details before today’s registration closes. Not everyone will be able to register now, but don’t worry: if you can’t register today, you’ll have the chance to find The Magical Quill up until 6 August. You’ll also be able to register from 7 August for access in October, when the site will be open to all. Good luck.

Register now

By clicking “Register now” (and it is doubtable that anyone did not do this!), you were directed to a registration page. There were 5 boxes asking for various information (the boxes were arranged in a slideshow; upon finishing one box’s information, the next box would be thrusted to the forefront).

Pottermore.com registration steps
Step 1. We just need a few details so we can create your account for you.

When were you born?
[Dropdown menu]
Continue

Step 2. Select your country
[Dropdown menu]
Continue

Step 3. What is your first name ?
What is your [parent or guardian’s] email address?

Your account details will be sent to you[r parent or guardian’s] email address, so please check this is correct.
Continue

Step 4. Please enter a password that has a minimum of six characters, including at least one number.
Enter your password
[Password strength]
Please type it again
Continue

Step 5. Please tell us which Harry Potter books you have read and which films you have watched.[List of books/films with checkboxes next to each]
Continue

Congratulations, you are magical!
List of magical folk
[Your name]
Harry Potter
Ronald Weasley….etc.
(All of this is set against a background of a parchment book’s 2 pages)

Continue

Please choose your username
Choose a username that is easy for you to remember.[List of 5 usernames: WordWordNumber (e.g. ShieldFelicis71)

Please type these two words into the box below, separated by a space
Type the two words:

We will send your joining instructions to:
[Your e-mail]
*I have read and accept the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. If you are under 18 years of age, by ticking this box you confirm you have obtained permission you’re your parent or guardian to accept these terms to register and use this site.
Create my account

Upon choosing entering your information and choosing your username, you were notified that an e-mail would be sent to you for validation of the account. The validation link needed to be activated within 48 hours to officially create the account. However, the e-mail validation was not time sensitive. As long as you completed the Pottermore.com registration, your username and early access was reserved until your 48 hours were up. If you did not receive an e-mail or validate your account within 48 hours, you lost early registration.

On Day 1 there was a great variation with how long it took to receive e-mails. For some it took a matter of minutes. For others, it took hours. Pottermore.com has acknowledged a problem with using Yahoo mail, which is what caused many of the delays. But delays were also likely caused by the sheer amount of registrants.

Upon validation you would sign into your account (Sign in to Pottermore – Please enter your username – Please enter your password – Keep me signed in – Sign in), and you received this message. Upon logging in you saw a page (with a dark Privet Drive in the background, with owls and a witch’s outline) that said this:

Pottermore.com loginTo ensure the exciting world of Pottermore is as magical as possible, a million lucky registrants will be given early access to the site to help us shape the experience before the site is open to all in October. If you are selected, please keep checking your inbox, because from 31st July you will receive an email granting you early access to Pottermore!

-Coming soon- A brand-new online experience from J.K. Rowling based around the Harry Potter books. Arrives October 2011

-What is Pottermore?- Pottermore is an exciting new experience from J.K. Rowling based around the Harry Potter books. It is FREE to join and use, and is designed to be safe for people of all ages.

After validation was completely processed, this is the message that replaced the first paragraph of the preceding passage:

Pottermore.com validation granted Congratulations!
You’ve successfully validated your early access Pottermore account. You will be one of the lucky few to shape the experience before the site opens to all in October.
You may have to wait a few weeks for your Welcome email to arrive as we can’t let everyone into the Beta site at the same time.
We look forward to seeing you.

For Day 1, registration was open for approximately 1.5 hours (8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. BST). If you came after registration was closed, the Pottermore.com homepage read:

Pottermore.com, registration closed Sorry, Day 1 registration is now closed

Those of you who would like the chance to gain early access to Pottermore must find The Magical Quill and then submit their registration details. Each day, from 31 July to 6 August, a clue will be revealed here. Solve the clue and you will be taken to The Magical Quill. Be quick, The Magical Quill won’t be there for long and registration will only be open while spaces are still available each day.

NOTE: Although the above describes the process involved for Day 1, the general outline is still applicable to all subsequent days of finding The Magical Quill and early access registration. Following this will be more elaborate explanation on subsequent days of The Magical Quill challenge. To see a succinct review of the challenge and of registration, please refer to the [expand] tag below or the opening post.

Summaries of The Magical Quill challenge (Days 1-6) and Pottermore registration process are now available:

The Magical Quill Summary, Clues 1-6:

Here is a succinct summary of clues, times, locations, and difficulties associated with each day’s clue. Courtesy of (and sincerest thanks to) ardnaxela (with additions).

July 31, Day 1:

August 1, Day 2:

August 2, Day 3:

August 3, Day 4:

August 4, Day 5:

August 5, Day 6:

Pottermore registration process summary:

Day 7

Pottermore Insider has released this information about Days 6 and 7:

Some questions answered (updated)UPDATED: So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?

We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed. We can tell you that tomorrow’s clue (Day 6) will be released between 1:30pm and 4.00pm BST, and the final clue (Day 7) will be released between 12:30am and 3:00am BST on Saturday 6 August.

Given the trend of each clue lasting less than 1 hour, you may want to plan accordingly if you still need to register. The clue should not be difficult (just make sure to have a calculator handy), but registration will certainly be time-sensitive. It has been speculated that the distribution of early access accounts has not been even and that earlier days had more open registration spots. If this is the case, expect the time registration is open to dwindle faster. Although registration spots may be dwindling, Harry Potter fan enthusiasm certainly is not!

Remember, though, that once you have created your account your early access account is reserved for 48 hours. It does not matter when you activate/validate your account through e-mail, just as long as you do so within 48 hours. Pottermore has claimed to have resolved most of the e-mail issues (and this is reflected in today's overall speediness in e-mail reception), so you likely will not have to wait long for the e-mail.

Days 6 and 7

Pottermore Insider has released this information about Days 6 and 7:

Some questions answered (updated)UPDATED: So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?

We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed. We can tell you that tomorrow’s clue (Day 6) will be released between 1:30pm and 4.00pm BST, and the final clue (Day 7) will be released between 12:30am and 3:00am BST on Saturday 6 August.

Given the trend of each clue lasting less than 1 hour, you may want to plan accordingly if you still need to register. The clue should not be difficult (just make sure to have a calculator handy), but registration will certainly be time-sensitive. It has been speculated that the distribution of early access accounts has not been even and that earlier days had more open registration spots. If this is the case, expect the time registration is open to dwindle faster. Although registration spots may be dwindling, Harry Potter fan enthusiasm certainly is not!

Remember, though, that once you have created your account your early access account is reserved for 48 hours. It does not matter when you activate/validate your account through e-mail, just as long as you do so within 48 hours. Pottermore has claimed to have resolved most of the e-mail issues (and this is reflected in today's overall speediness in e-mail reception), so you likely will not have to wait long for the e-mail.

Miscellaneous Magical Quill information:

Pottermore Insider:

Pottermore Insider, the official Pottermore blog, has been updating reliably about The Magical Quill challenge. Here are the 4 posts they have made about the challenge:

7 books, 7 days, 7 chances:

Header image:

7 books, 7 days, 7 chancesThe eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted the hidden link in our ‘You ask, we answer’ blog post from
19 July, which took you to an interview J.K. Rowling gave in 2000.

In that interview was some interesting information about a Magical Quill, located in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Magical Quill detects the birth of a magical child and writes their name down in a large book. Every year, Professor McGonagall checks the book and sends owls to the children who are turning eleven, to inform them that they have a place at Hogwarts.

Each day for seven days, from 31 July to 6 August, we will be placing a clue on the Pottermore homepage to help you locate The Magical Quill. If you find it, you’ll have the chance to gain early access to Pottermore.

There will be a new clue every day, and each clue will relate to a different book in the Harry Potter series. On Day 1 the clue will relate to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, on Day 2 the clue will relate to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and so forth. The clues will also vary in difficulty. On Days 1-3 the clues will be harder, and on Days 4-7 the clues will be easier.

To find The Magical Quill, you need to solve the clue and add the answer to the end of the web address http://quill.pottermore.com/ This will lead you to a website where The Magical Quill will be located while early access places are available. The Magical Quill’s location will change every day.

Example:

Clue: How many books are there in the Harry Potter series? Multiply this number by 10.
Answer: 70

Add this number to the end of the website address. (In this case it would be http://quill.pottermore.com/70)

Hit ‘Return’ to go to the website where The Magical Quill is located.

Once you have found The Magical Quill, you will be redirected to Pottermore.com. If the registration process is still open for that day, you will be able to submit your details to register to access Pottermore early.

It’s important to note that finding The Magical Quill does not guarantee you access to registration, as registration will only remain open while the early access places allocated for the relevant day are available.

Don’t worry if you don’t manage to register first time. There will be plenty of opportunities to find The Magical Quill as we will be revealing a new clue each day from 31 July to 6 August. For those who miss out on early access to Pottermore, please note the site will be open to all from October. Keep visiting Pottermore to find out when registration commences.

We won’t be telling you when a clue goes live, so you’ll need to keep a careful eye on Pottermore.com over the seven-day period. However, we will let you know, via Pottermore.com and the Insider, when registration for a particular day has come to an end.

Finally, we will not be enabling early access to the site straight away. Once The Magical Quill challenge is over, we will send successful early access registrants a Welcome email, letting them know when they will be able to access Pottermore. We won’t be able to let everyone into the Beta site at the same time, so please be patient with us. You may have to wait a few weeks for your Welcome email to arrive.

For more information about The Magical Quill and early registration for Pottermore please visit the Help section of Pottermore.com.
Posted by Pottermore Ed' at 03:11

[Source]

Issue with Day 4 of The Magical Quill challenge:

The Magical Quill - some questions answered (updated):

The Magical Quill - some questions answered (updated)The following post contains some questions that have arisen so far during The Magical Quill challenge. In order to respond quickly, we’ve answered these below, including some existing information, summarised from our Help pages and earlier Insider posts:

I have a friend who wants to use my Pottermore account. Is it okay to share my password?
Your Pottermore account is for your personal use only. You should never divulge your Pottermore password to anyone because it protects your personal information from potential misuse and identity theft. By creating an account on Pottermore, you confirm that you will treat your login details as confidential. If you would like more information, please see our Terms & Conditions.

I haven't received my verification email yet; has there been a delay in sending these out?
Earlier in the week, there was an issue with Yahoo! Mail and some related services, which meant that some validation emails were taking longer than normal to arrive. This issue has now been resolved. However, we have been unable to deliver validation emails to approximately one in ten of the email addresses supplied to us due to them being mistyped. If you have not received a validation email within 48 hours of submitting your details to Pottermore, you should assume that we have been unable to deliver your validation email to you, and you will need to register again.

Please be very careful when entering your email address; don't forget to double-check it before you click ‘Continue’!

UPDATED: So far, all the clues have appeared in the early hours of the morning in my time zone. Will this continue for the remainder of The Magical Quill challenge?
We know that Harry Potter fans around the world are taking part in the challenge, so we will be varying the times that the clues are revealed. We can tell you that tomorrow’s clue (Day 6) will be released between 1:30pm and 4.00pm BST, and the final clue (Day 7) will be released between 12:30am and 3:00am BST on Saturday 6 August.

I solved the clue for Day 4 but I couldn't find The Magical Quill. What happened?
Due to huge demand today, not everyone who solved the Day 4 clue was able to find The Magical Quill. To ensure no one missed out on the chance to register for early access to Pottermore, we decided to direct people who successfully solved the clue straight to the Pottermore registration page, where they were able to register as normal.

I’ve found The Magical Quill more than once. Am I allowed to create multiple early access Pottermore accounts?
No. You may only register for the early access period once. Please refer to the conditions of participation in The Magical Quill promotion Terms & Conditions.

I have seen people offering to register early access accounts for others. Is it safe to give my personal details to someone who is offering this service?
Absolutely not. You should never share personal details online unless you are certain how they will be used and protected. Also, please note that the transfer of Pottermore accounts is expressly prohibited in The Magical Quill promotion Terms & Conditions.

Is there any update on the Yahoo! Mail issue?
This has now been resolved and everyone who registered with a Yahoo! Mail account on Sunday or Monday should now have received their validation email.

English is not my first language. Can I see the clue in French/Italian/German/Spanish?
Oui.
SÃ¬.
Ja.
SÃ*.

I have seen Pottermore early access accounts being sold online on places like eBay. Is it okay to buy or sell Pottermore accounts?
No. Please do not buy, sell, or transfer Pottermore early access accounts. Obtaining Beta registration for Pottermore with the intent of selling on those registration details for monetary gain not only deprives genuine fans the chance to gain early access, it is also expressly prohibited in The Magical Quill promotion Terms & Conditions.

We have the right to terminate any Pottermore accounts that are sold online.

Access to Pottermore is, and always will be, completely free so please don't be tempted by people selling Pottermore accounts online. You will only be wasting your money - and there are still more clues and chances to come!

I registered for early access yesterday with a Yahoo email address and have yet to receive my verification email. What's happened to my email and will I still be able to verify in time?

There is a delay with verification emails going out via Yahoo! Mail and related providers (such as BT Yahoo!), which means that, while emails are being sent out, they are being delivered at a greatly reduced rate.

We are currently talking to Yahoo in order to resolve this problem and will update this blog post with new information as we get it.

I found The Magical Quill and submitted my details to Pottermore, but I haven’t received a registration validation email. Where is it?
If you entered your email address correctly, you should receive your registration validation email quickly – and almost always within a day. When this arrives, you must click on the link in the email to complete the registration process. If you did enter your address correctly and still haven’t received anything, it may be that your email provider is still processing your email.

What happens if I don’t click on the link in my registration validation email?
To complete your registration you must click on the link in the validation email within 48 hours of submitting your details to the site. If you don’t, your registration will be invalid and you will need to start the registration process again.

Once I’ve clicked on the link in my registration validation email, will I be able to access Pottermore?
We will not be enabling early access to the site straight away. Once The Magical Quill challenge is over we will begin to send Beta registrants Welcome emails as and when they will be able to have full access to the site. We won’t be able to let everyone into the Beta site at the same time, so you may have to wait a number of weeks for your Welcome email to arrive. However, if you have been successful in registering during The Magical Quill challenge, we can confirm you will gain access ahead of the site opening to all in October, so please be patient!

Did some of the translations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone contain a different answer to the first clue?
Yes, some of the translations only referred to four of the five owl types when describing the Eeylops sign. We are double-checking the consistency of the translations for the remaining clues but, when in doubt, please always refer to the original English versions of J.K. Rowling’s books.

I submitted my email after the site was announced on 23 June. Why haven’t you emailed me yet about The Magical Quill challenge?
Everyone who submitted their email address between 23 June and 31 July will be contacted to let them know when registration opens to all for entry in October. This will be after The Magical Quill challenge has finished. The Magical Quill challenge is to select those will gain early access to the site during the Beta period.

See you for the next clue!
Posted by Pottermore Ed' at 19:40

[Source]

The Magical Quill registration for Days 1-5 has now closed:

@Pottermore Twitter:

Fan Speculation and Trends:

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