How A Mysterious Tweet Exposed JK Rowling As The Author Of 'The Cuckoo's Calling'

Business Insider ^

[Perdogg]

By now almost everyone will have heard the news — J.K. Rowling, the author of the "Harry Potter" series of books and one of the most successful writers ever, published a low-selling but highly praised detective novel under the name Robert Galbraith earlier this year.

The story was broken last night by Richard Brooks, the arts editor of the UK's Sunday Times. It's clearly a huge scoop — but how exactly did Brooks manage to crack the literary world's best-kept secret?

[a fool in paradise]

He’s a she???

[GreyFriar]

JK Rowlings is a man? or is Richard Brooks a woman?

[Cowboy Bob]

The article said that the book sold a wopping 1,500 copies and was a “hit.” To me 1,500 copies is a failure. Methinks that Rawlings came out with the announcement to help rescue this bomb.

[Revolting cat!]

Oh great, more penny awfuls from this graphomaniac with seven clichés per page (I counted!)!

[Flycatcher]

It's clearly a huge scoop — but how exactly did Brooks manage to crack the literary world's best-kept secret?

Literary world's best-kept secret?!

I guess it must be. I've never heard of it...

[RobertClark]

The article said that the book sold a wopping 1,500 copies and was a “hit.” To me 1,500 copies is a failure. Methinks that Rawlings came out with the announcement to help rescue this bomb.

BINGO!!!

[irishjuggler]

The article said that the book sold a wopping 1,500 copies and was a “hit.” To me 1,500 copies is a failure. Methinks that Rawlings came out with the announcement to help rescue this bomb.

Bingo. I was thinking along the same lines. It may have played out like this... Rowling, out to prove that she's not coasting on her name, demands that her publisher put out the novel under a pen name. Rowling, for reasons of ego, convinces her publisher and herself that her writing is so great that it will sell itself on its own merits. The publisher humors her and agrees to the plan. The book has abysmal sales, and now it's time for Plan B.

[discostu]

They didn’t say it was a hit, they said it was low selling but highly praised. Now it’s a hit though, Amazon has it in their top 100.

[married21]

I really liked the Harry Potter series, although I readily admit it is not literature for the ages. It’s just like in the movie industry— G-rated adventure stories can be big blockbusters. But then the makers have to try to do something more ‘grown-up’ and they go on to produce R-rated stuff that bombs.

Family entertainment will not gain you respect from snobby peers in the industry, but it will make you a ton of money if you are reasonably good at it.

[ArtDodger]

I think Stephen King pulled the same stunt with his low-selling Richard Bachman books. No one bought them for their ‘stand alone’ merits so they were linked to the big name to sell.

[Calvin Locke]

...penny awfuls...

Hehe. I came across the terms "penny dreadful" and "shilling shocker" a earlier in the year.

Knowledge, heretofore, that has been looking for an application.

[wideawake]

Are people still really taken in by this low-rent, see-through “viral marketing” in 2013.

[Revolting cat!]

"penny dreadful"

I'm Mrs Malaprop, and I stand by what I meant to say. ( "shilling shocker" is a new one on me.)

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

A “mysterious tweet” just outed her, huh? I’m sure her and her publisher are devastated now that the secret’s been revealed.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Apparently, they are.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I don't believe that. The Running Man was a good selling novel and King was already prepping Misery to be a Bachmann book when word leaked out that he was Bachmann. He tried to fight the rumors, but he eventually admitted it.

[kingu]

... Hmm, there's quite a few things going on here.

First, you have a boutique imprint, by Little, Brown & Co, which typically handles under 5,000 copies at a time. This is the imprint that sold 1,500 copies on Amazon.co.uk; apparently it was the limit that Amazon could secure out of the print, all the rest of the copies were sold to book chains in the UK, which appears to be mostly sold out.

The Mulholland imprint handles worldwide distribution, and their minimum is 80,000 copies. Amazon typically commands no less than 30% of their runs, and appears to have sold out on Saturday night. The presses for Little, Brown & Co's Mulholland is running ragged, as present order window off of Amazon is 10-14 days, which means it will be the third printing if you ordered it today, or roughly 200,000 copies sold already.

So, for those who are interested in collecting books, hunt down this cover: from someone who has stock right now, and you'll likely have a book that will go up in value. Because of UK laws, this imprint does say that it is a pseudonym for the real author.

Oh, and as a side note, third printing will have the author bio of JK Rawling. First and second prints have the fake bio.

[EDINVA]

IMHO, the greatest benefit of the Harry Potter series is that it gets kids to read, and to enjoy reading. They can move on from there, but something has to spark an interest in reading itself. This is especially true in an error when so many alternative options (i.e.,computer games) are availabe.

[Revolting cat!]

Check out the mysteries of Benjamin Black, alter ego of literary writer John Banville. In one interview, Banville said that as Banville he’s good for 500 words a day, and as Black for 5000.