Anybody read this before it was revealed that debut author Robert Galbraith was really J.K. Rowling? Did the reveal change your opinion of her as a writer?
A friend recommended it to me, so I put it on hold at my library last week, before Rowling was outed. Good thing, since there are 80 people on hold now and I’m number 9.
In that article it mentions that prior to the reveal, the book had sold 1500 copies - so I bet not a lot of people here did.
After, sales went up 150 000%. Wonder if that’s a boost or a blow to her ego. On the one hand, the pure writing didn’t sell well and on the other hand “People love me! Plus $$$”
Breaking into the writing business is hard. Nobody can honestly expect to do it twice.
The names are more suited for a parody of a detective novel.
That’s very true though it made me immediately think of Stephen King/Richard Bachman. “Thinner” released under the Bachman pseudonym sold 28,000 copies and only increased 10X after the reveal according to the wikipedia article.
I didn’t read it, but I may now. I’ll get it for my daughter at least. I’m 65th in line at the library.
I honestly wonder where they got that number from. A search of WorldCat (a catalog of every library in North America) shows that the book was purchased by 567 systems. 11 individual libraries within my local system have purchased the book. Assuming my system isn’t atypical, a total of 2500 copies should have been sold just to libraries just in North America.
Cuckoo’s Calling was a critical hit, so I’d wager the 1500 number is just being thrown around to make people think it was “completely unknown” instead of just being “not very well known.”
Now I’m sure of it. Spotchecking a few of the systems on the list, I get the following numbers:
Buffalo, NY - 20 copies
Toronto - 17
Pittsburgh - 19
Cleveland - 35
New York City - 17
Brooklyn - 11
That’s 119 copies right there.
Huffington Post cites it as coming from Harry Potter fansite Leaky Cauldron, and Leaky Cauldron doesn’t cite it at all. So the 1,500 figure might very well be made up, a rumor, or just a typo.
According to this article, the 1500 number was the hardcovers sent to bookstores within the UK. Since it’s out of stock at both Amazon UK and Amazon US, there was probably a standard print run done and this reveal caught the publisher off guard. I’m sure they are rushing a second print run.
I wonder how quickly the secret would have come out if the book got bad reviews. Would anyone have bothered to learn more about “Mr. Galbraith”?
The CBS news report said that suspicions were raised because the book was “too good” to be a debut novel. There are not enough :rolleyes: We’ve all read outstanding debut novels. If we hadn’t, nobody would ever talk about the “sophomore slump”.
My guess is that Rowling published under a pseudonym because (almost) nobody liked The Casual Vacancy. If this latest novel hadn’t been well received, the secret may have never come out.
Cynics are already asking that. While the book was well received in crime fiction circles, it was still a fairly obscure title from an unknown author. Why would a newspaper be interested in it? The journalist in question got an anonymous tip directly saying that the author was in fact J K Rowling. From whom, we wonder?
Cormoran Strike and Lula Landry sound like they could have attended Hogwarts or taught there.
I wonder if there’s a link between the name Galbraith and the economist John Kenneth.
Looking for more connections between Robert and Rowling, ala “I Am Lord Voldemort/Tom Marvolo Riddle/Steven Marcato”.
I really think you could be on to something there.
Meanwhile, the source of the leak has emerged (unless you believe this to also be part of some huge orchestrated publicity stunt) - someone at Rowling’s law firm blabbing to a friend. JK not happy, and they have apologised.
I hope that she fires the law firm or that they fire him. Or he should lose his license. That’s a major breach of trust.
Which makes the story even more :dubious:
I don’t believe the idea that this is some “huge orchestrated publicity stunt.” If they wanted publicity, they could have just released the novel under her real name, as they did for The Casual Vacancy. I believe what Rowling has said; that she wanted the book judged on its own merits. So I think the lawyer screwed up majorly, and perhaps after having had too many glasses of wine.