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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Uh, no she wasn't.
The book was selling *well* for what it is. "Quiet mystery" is actually a genre unto itself. Or sub-genre if you want to be precise. Those books sell about the way THE CUCKOO'S CALLING was selling. And 8600 copies total in three months is good sales for that genre.
She was getting exactly what she wanted; a chance to write a book that could find its natural audience without the hysteria that accompanied THE CASUAL VACANCY. The reviews it got were free of Potter expectations, the buyers weren't buying it because it had her name on it; they were buying it because they appreciated quiet mysteries.
The woman is worth north of a billion with a (permanent?) revenue stream in the tens to hundreds of millions without lifting a finger. If she says she wanted the Galbraith brand to be separate there is no reason to doubt *her*. The publisher? Yes. The agent? Maybe.
But a fancy publicity scheme that relies on getting a lawyer to trash his career and reputation is going to cost a lot more than just putting it out under her name. Too much trouble and the return doesn't justify it as a scheme; not with that explanation.
Seriously: if Rowling were that kind of money-grubber all she has to do is take a chunk of the Potter encyclopedia (all profits going to charity) turn it into a short story or novellete and sell it on Pottermore for $5-10. In one day, it would generate more money than the entire Galbraith series of mysteries could ever hope to produce.
Either she really wanted to keep it separate from her Rowling brand or she wouldn't have bothered with tinfoil-hat schemes and gone straight for the money (Casual Vacancy!).
She's the "victim" here; she gets a pile of money she doesn't need but her wishes for a quiet mystery writing career under a pseudonym is lost to her. Probably forever, unless she starts all over again from scratch with new characters and stories; a likely multiyear effort. Money can buy you many things but not lost time. That you never get back.
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perfect take on events...Rowling was unlikely to be looking for anything other than validation of her her ability as a writer.
Money would seem furthest potential motivation. Fact is she could write a check tomorrow acreate ten own imprint but odds are she wanted to rediscover her passion to write. A passion likely squashed by the very success that gives her the resources to try again from the beginning.
Whoever leaked this wrecked her chance at grass roots reader level literary validation any time soon. Sad some peon could toss or pebble in the road and unhinge the attempt.