Pseudonym

After the Casual Vacancy was released last September, I wondered how long we’d have to wait for another J.K.Rowling novel, as it turns out, not as long as you might think.

Less than seven months after the release of the Casual Vacancy J.K.Rowling quietly released a new novel entitled The Cuckoo’s Calling. So why had almost no one heard about it? It was written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Unfortunately for Rowling while the novel received critical acclaim, after three months on the market the book had sold only 1,500 copies. But what a difference having her real name behind it has made… within a matter of days since it was revealed she was the true author of the novel the books sales have risen 156,000% and it’s now the number one book on Amazon.

In an ironic twist of fate, an editor has come forward to say he actually turned down the novel, making it the second time in a decade that an editor has turned down what turned out to be a major hit by the exact same author. It’s interesting to know and perhaps even comforting for authors like myself that even J.K.Rowling could be rejected again, even if it was under a pseudonym.

In a way I do feel for J.K.Rowling who said:

I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.

Though I admit I’m amazed she even attempted to write under a pseudonym or for that matter that it took a full three months for anyone to figure it out. It seems like something that would have been discovered much sooner. As it is… I’m extremely excited for this new J.K.Rowling original and I’ll be reading it shortly.