Interesting — if irresponsible — speculation that the e-book industry could be saved by JK Rowling publishing Harry Potter five exclusively in ebook format. Rowling's already got a huge ebook following if the popularity of the hand-scanned and OCRed bootleg editions are any anything to judge by.
What if Rowling turned her back on the notoriously screwy publishing industry and, like Dylan, went electric? In a business so economically farpotshket that even Scholastic hasn't shown a recent consistent profit — this despite the biggest market share of any publisher since Gutenberg — what if Rowling inked an exclusive deal with Random, or the Rocket E-Book people, or any other e-publisher who hasn't already gone belly up?
