Harry Potter will soon be available for download. it turns out that JK Rowling has kept the rights for digital versions and a new website has the exclusive offer on one book at a time. Previously she has claimed to be fully in favour of print. This has now been modified.

This could be a significant event. The launch seems to be phased so that fans get fully involved even before the books are available. The book trade is always thinking about the festive season when most of the sales in bookshops occur. there may be other sites in support of the book before the end of the year.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/rowling-releases-harry-potter-into-the-ether-on-pottermore/?scp=2&sq=harry%20potter&st=cse

The Bookseller meanwhile reports that sales of science and education titles are as strong as general publishing and have already started to benefit from growing digital sales.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/global-publishing-back-front-foot.html

However so far there has not been much free content around this sort of publishing. At least that is my impression. An exception is Bloomsbury Academic

http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/page/Our$0020Business$0020Model/our-business-model;jsessionid=584147D3AE15B15E55D07D6A2B38AF36

There may have been some conversations in Bloomsbury about where all this is going. Will journals move in the same direction as the wizards?