JK Rowling Publishing under a Pseudonym

[SteveEisenberg]

JK Rowling law firm pays damages over pseudonym leak

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has accepted a substantial charity donation from the law firm that revealed she was writing under a pseudonym. . . .

Rowling said she would be donating all the royalties for the book to The Soldiers' Charity. . . .

"Her tremendous show of support for The Soldiers' Charity will help to remind people of the many sacrifices made by our soldiers, long after any news of Afghanistan has left the front page."

I'm cynical about a lot, but not about this.

[HansTWN]

Wouldn't the publisher have the strongest motive? Rowling doesn't care about the money, but the publisher wants to see the book succeed and a timely leaking of the real author was in their interest. Even if they can't do it directly. I still can't believe that there was no plan behind this, getting the law firm to do the dirty deed is one way...

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Wouldn't the publisher have the strongest motive? Rowling doesn't care about the money, but the publisher wants to see the book succeed and a timely leaking of the real author was in their interest. Even if they can't do it directly. I still can't believe that there was no plan behind this, getting the law firm to do the dirty deed is one way...

Sure the Solicitor agreed to leak it knowing his reputation, and maybe his career, would be ruined.
Apache

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Apache

Sure the Solicitor agreed to leak it knowing his reputation, and maybe his career, would be ruined.
Apache

Maybe they paid off somebody on the inside?

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Wouldn't the publisher have the strongest motive? Rowling doesn't care about the money, but the publisher wants to see the book succeed and a timely leaking of the real author was in their interest. Even if they can't do it directly. I still can't believe that there was no plan behind this, getting the law firm to do the dirty deed is one way...

Can you actually see this happening? If the lawyer says that is the case, would not Rowling dump the publisher. And if a lawyer would rat out Rowling what is to stop him from ratting out the publisher.

It is the Goose that laid the golden egg kind of story, that only a publisher with an ironclad unbreakable contract with the goose, and up to the eyebrows in debt would consider IMO. But maybe this is the case?

Helen

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Can you actually see this happening? If the lawyer says that is the case, would not Rowling dump the publisher. And if a lawyer would rat out Rowling what is to stop him from ratting out the publisher.

It is the Goose that laid the golden egg kind of story, that only a publisher with an ironclad unbreakable contract with the goose, and up to the eyebrows in debt would consider IMO. But maybe this is the case?

Helen

I am not saying my scenario is correct, but it seems unlikely that there was no plan here. Perhaps the publisher only agreed to take the book in the first place on the understanding that it was leaked at some point in time? But this leak seems too convenient.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Wouldn't the publisher have the strongest motive?

If Rowling ever becomes convinced you are right, she'll never let Hachette publish her again. Considering that, I don't think the publisher had such a motive.

Originally Posted by HansTWN

. . . a timely leaking . . .

It's impossible to know how timely it was. If it had taken a couple more years for this to come out, perhaps the publisher would have benefited even more.

FYI, here's the publisher ownership chain:

The Cuckoo's Calling is published by Sphere Publishing.

Sphere is an imprint of the Little Brown Book Group.

Little Brown's parent company is Hachette.

Hachette's parent is Lagardère Publishing.

The parent of Lagardère Publishing is the Lagardère Group.

According to my last Wikipedia link, the owner of the Lagardère Group is the Government of France. I'm not certain this is correct, but neither do I think Hachette's sole goal in business is to make as much money as possible this quarter.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

I am not saying my scenario is correct, but it seems unlikely that there was no plan here. Perhaps the publisher only agreed to take the book in the first place on the understanding that it was leaked at some point in time? But this leak seems too convenient.

And it's just possible that the world isn't full of conspiracies wherever you look and things do happen as stated... naaah, that'd spoil too many threads on forums all over the world...

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

If Rowling ever becomes convinced you are right, she'll never let Hachette publish her again. Considering that, I don't think the publisher had such a motive.


It's impossible to know how timely it was. If it had taken a couple more years for this to come out, perhaps the publisher would have benefited even more.

FYI, here's the publisher ownership chain:

The Cuckoo's Calling is published by Sphere Publishing.

Sphere is an imprint of the Little Brown Book Group.

Little Brown's parent company is Hachette.

Hachette's parent is Lagardère Publishing.

The parent of Lagardère Publishing is the Lagardère Group.

According to my last Wikipedia link, the owner of the Lagardère Group is the Government of France. I'm not certain this is correct, but neither do I think Hachette's sole goal in business is to make as much money as possible this quarter.

I am just brainstorming and don't want to claim I have it all figured out. But since there will be no new Harry Potter books waiting might not have helped since Rowling's popularity will decrease over time. I think we can all agree it would be best for the publisher if the secret is revealed at some point in time. We are talking a little over a 1000 books compared to the possible sale of 100 of 1000s.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by elcreative

And it's just possible that the world isn't full of conspiracies wherever you look and things do happen as stated... naaah, that'd spoil too many threads on forums all over the world...

They are sitting on a potential gold mine -- and all they have to do is get the word out somehow? And then it happens....

[rkw]

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.

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.

[samhy]

But I thought only the lawyer firm and the agent knew who was the author. If the publisher didn't know, they couldn't leak the name

[elemenoP]

Oh the publisher definitely knew. At least her editor must have known; editors do communicate with their writers quite a bit during the publishing of the book! Who knows how many other people at the publishing house knew; maybe not many.

If the publisher had a massive warehouse full of books ready at the time of the leak, I would have believed it. But they didn't. Can you buy The Cuckoo's Calling at Costco yet? If not, the publisher is not taking full advantage and gaining maximum potential at the right moment.

And the official story is so entirely plausible to me: Lawyer has dinner with close friends, and mentions an interesting tidbit/boasts of a famous connection. The dinner companion then has a really juicy secret, and can't help but blurt it out to feel a moment of power.

eP

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

If the publisher had a massive warehouse full of books ready at the time of the leak, I would have believed it. But they didn't.

They had to rush-order a 300K printing because they only had a few thousand in the system.

If they had been ready to go with that order suspicions would be in order but as is... Nope, not plausible.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by rkw

Whoever leaked this wrecked her chance at grass roots reader level literary validation any time soon.

I thought she already got this years ago.

I think she did lose out on receiving objective mainstream media reviews for the next book in the Cormoran Strike detective series. Every reviewer will have read the first book in the series, which sounds fair, but means too much will be made of whether the series is getting better or worse.

I read the book last weekend. As I think has been said in this thread, it can be criticized for lack of plot originality. But I can't fully follow most mystery plots anyway. The most important thing to me is characterization, and the detective is an excellent character. The book has a basis in research, teaching me a lot about what it is like to lose a leg. There's also good material on what it's like to be famous in popular culture, something Galbraith/Rowling obviously didn't need to do research on.

The villain's characterization is mediocre, but isn't that true for most mystery novels, even award winners?

I'm on the fence with the plausibility of the detective's assistant, and especially of her fiancé's inability to see that you can't deny your lover a dream job right in the local commuting area.

It sounds like I am damning the book with faint praise. But Cormoran Strike is a more fully realized character than the detectives in most prize-winning mysteries.

Anyone who thinks J. K. Rowling is politically too far left may be surprised to find that the book is quite patriotic.