'Pottermore' Mania Builds As Fans Await JK Rowling's Announcement

On July 15, 2011 at midnight, the very last Harry Potter sequel will open, but Pottermania shows no signs of dying down. In fact, Potter author J.K. Rowling’s announcement that she is working on a new project entitled Pottermore has only increased the hype surrounding the franchise.

Ten coordinates were given to Harry Potter fan sites which, when combined and keyed into a Google Maps-powered website, yielded ten letters: P-O-T-T-E-R-M-O-R-E.

Pottermore's Twitter page has more than 40,000 members so far. YouTube is following suit, teasing Potter fans with bits of information and clues on Rowling's latest ventures. Further revelations will be made on Good Morning America on June 23 at seven a.m.

Speculation is already rife on what the new project could be, and while Rowling’s publicists have remained tight-lipped, they have clarified that it is not a new book. On her website, the author said it was “highly unlikely” she would write more Potter novels. “I've got enough story for seven books and I never planned to carry the story beyond the end of book seven,” she wrote, according to The Guardian.

“Theories include a Harry Potter encyclopedia (something Rowling has talked about ever since the last Potter book was published)… I've also heard rumors of a Harry Potter-themed social networking site,” says Lizzie Keiper, a blogger at The Leaky Cauldron, a Potter fan site.

Speculation on the trademark information of Pottermore has also been making rounds of the Internet. “The info, which was registered in 2009, 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, and more – in short, pretty much everything,” said The Leaky Cauldron.

Clicking on one of the mysterious-looking owls on the Pottermore website simply directs you to a YouTube page with a clock counting down to the moment Rowling reveals her secret.

It’s likely that Pottermore could be an in-depth online interactive Harry Potter reference site. Rowling won a court case in 2008 against the publisher of a proposed Potter lexicon. Part of her reasoning was that she intended to write a definitive Potter encyclopedia herself.