Sneaky JK Rowling

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere on AW yet.
I always suspected she'd do something like this.

JK Rowling has managed to produce yet another hit – this time under a pseudonym.
The author wrote crime novel The Cuckoos Calling under the name of Robert Galbraith and had been marked as a writer to watch by other novelists.

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Interesting that other novelists were so taken with her(his?) work. I've only read three of the harry potter's so I'm not an expert on JK Rowling's writing but I wasn't that enthralled by them. She is undoubtedly a good plotter though.

I reckon if I was as successful as JK Rowling I'd want to pick up a pen name at some point too.

Well...it's not April 1st...

Why is this article written so badly?? It's getting on my nerves! Typo in the headline, missing punctuation, wtf?

Look, maybe the crime involves clams, ok?!

In other news, dang.

I was hearing about this on Twitter. Is the Daily Fail the only source for this story?

But, assuming the story is accurate, it seems pretty logical to me. After all, she published that one (The Vacancy?) under her own name, and it was kind of a flop because everyone was expecting more Harry Potter. It's like those actors who can only play the same character over and over because they're so type-cast and boxed in by directors and audience alike because that's what they're Known For. At least writers have the option to change their names and break away from what they're Known For, if they so choose.

There's another thread that has another story with a quote from her admitting to it. Apparently the book is a mystery about clams.

Huffington Post link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/13/jk-rowling-pseudonym-robert-galbraith_n_3592769.html

Maybe I'm a minority view here, but I admire her for doing this. She could have marketed her grocery list under the authorship of her own name, and had a million-seller. Instead, she chose to be subversive, with a pseudonym, and see if the work could stand on its own merits.

Now that she's been outed, it will probably sell like garlic in Transylvania. Considering that she's probably not real concerned about money now, that result might not satisfy.

caw

Interesting. It's not wholly uncommon for authors to do this though. I'm not much into crime novels, but I'll think about it since she wrote it.

katci13 said:

Interesting. It's not wholly uncommon for authors to do this though. I'm not much into crime novels, but I'll think about it since she wrote it.

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Yes! I've been debating about this...I'm not very into crime novels. But I'll read anything by Rowling.

And yet, there's a part of me that's going, "You know, this was her experiment to see who would pick it up if it didn't have her name on it." And I fall under the category of "people who wouldn't pick it up if it didn't have her name on it."

Part of me feels like I ought to honor her intent by not buying it, if that makes any sense at all.

Good for her. She's achieving merit in areas beyond her exceptional past success. We should all be so talented and lucky.

ellio said:

Interesting that other novelists were so taken with her(his?) work.

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You are somehow unaware that J.K. Rowling is a woman?

caw

blacbird said:

You are somehow unaware that J.K. Rowling is a woman?

caw

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I imagine the pseudonym being male is making it awkward with regards to discussing the two books. Especially if the two names come up in the same sentence.

JSSchley said:

Part of me feels like I ought to honor her intent by not buying it, if that makes any sense at all.

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I thought about that. But I have a Dan Brown book because it's based on Dante's Inferno and I don't normally read thrillers. So I figure the two are kind of the same. New information about a book makes it more appealing?

I have just read this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23304181

. . . about a war veteran turned private investigator called Cormoran Strike.

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From this it does not sound like the sort of crime I would be interested in - but I would want some more info before I decide.

Checked it out at Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408703998/?tag=absowrit-21 - which has the 'click to look inside' facility. Read the first couple of pages. Meh. The quotes from the reviews are interesting.

Unfortunately, I went to see the Amazon reviews to see what readers had to say before taking a punt, and it seems to have been trolled by Rowling's fans, with reviews that amount to JK Rowling wrote this!

I'll have to wait until I can get to a Waterstone's and have a look myself at the first chapter.

Amazon has a 'look inside' facility for the book. Just read some of it . . .

lolchemist said:

Why is this article written so badly?? It's getting on my nerves! Typo in the headline, missing punctuation, wtf?

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The Telegraph
Dailymail
HuffingtonPost

Are pretty much all horrible news sources. Never use them for actual news.

blacbird said:

You are somehow unaware that J.K. Rowling is a woman?

caw

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The 'he' I was referring to was Robert Galbraith whose work I was talking about but seeing as 'he' is 'she' and 'she' is JK Rowling then it becomes mildly confusing.

Good for JKR.

I liked a Casual Vacancy, too. IMHO, there's no reason for JK to doubt her writing abilities.

I find this line both amusing and alarming:

Reviewers ... marvelled at how a male author could ever describe women’s clothes so well.

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She is not the first well known author to try and write something anonymously. Stephen King wrote as Richard Bachman so as to escape the expectations of his fans.

Way too many writers who have success tend to coast; writing books that are a pale reflection of earlier work. Relying on their fan base to snatch up what they publish, regardless of quality. Given her astounding level of success with Harry Potter, Rowling could write anything and expect a certain number of sales. Her reputation and track record are enough to assure that.

I think it's admirable that she actually wanted a challenge. To write something as an unknown again. She deserves credit for writing something as just an author rather than as J K Rowling.

I'm proud of her for doing it when she didn't have to.

ellio said:

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere on AW yet.

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snickers um...