JK Rowling reveals price of next novel

A day after her publisher reached a settlement with the Department of Justice that is expected to cut the price of bestselling e-books in the US to $9.99, JK Rowling announced that the electronic edition of her next novel would be priced at twice that sum.

The author of seven Harry Potter books that sold 450 million copies said her first novel for adults would be called The Casual Vacancy. Little Brown, an imprint of Hachette with worldwide English-language rights to the book, will publish it on September 27. With strong demand expected for her first full-length novel in five years, her pricing strategy could be a test of a confused new market for e-books following the DoJ’s lawsuit. The title will sell for $35 in hardback and $19.99 in e-book format in the US, and for £20 in hardback and £11.99 in the UK, according to Little Brown. But the publisher did not say whether it would make the title available through leading e-book retailers.