The secret’s out, and it’s all over the internet. JK Rowling wrote another book! Except she didn’t write it under her own name like her first foray into adult literature with The Casual Vacancy. This time, she shopped her detective book The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pen name Robert Galbraith.
Interestingly, it took an editor playing detective to discover the true author of the mystery novel. According to an article from NPR, editor Richard Brooks from The Sunday Times felt like something wasn’t quite right. A tweet claimed Rowling was the writer of this debut novel, but vanished into thin internet air. However, it was enough to get him sniffing on the trail that included hiring linguistics professionals to compare the writing to Rowling’s style.
In the end, The Cuckoo’s Calling had sold about 500 copies since its debut in April, but has now exploded because of uncovering the real author. Rowling states on her website that “I 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 from publishers and readers under a different name.” But the fact that it made a huge difference in sales knowing that the “debut” novel was written by a famous writing veteran calls into question what it takes to be discovered.
On the Book Pregnant blog, Nancy Bilyeau talked about book genres and new authors being discovered. The most interesting point was that readers of genres like thrillers and mysteries liked to go with favorite authors whose works were well known and loved by readers. Genres like romance, especially with new categories like New Adult bursting on the scene, have readers that are willing to try new books from new authors.
From lurking on writing message boards, I can attest that those that seem to do well and experience immediate sales surges tend to be in the Romance category. I would like to see someone do a study about debut authors and genres to see if that observation truly does hold up. But what about Rowling as Galbraith?
It took the discovery of her true identity to make sales rocket. The reviews remain good for the book regardless of the reveal. It proves that she has the chops to write adult contemporary novels. And perhaps she truly did just want to experience the journey of a writer from a fresh perspective. She made it further than most with a deal with the same publishing house. There are articles coming out about those that passed on the manuscript when it was just Galbraith’s writing.
Rowling has the money and time to be rejected. She could have lived with just 500 copies sold in three months. Yet I can’t help but question whether or not the “reveal” of Galbraith being her wasn’t carefully planned in order to avoid the immense amount of scrutiny that The Casual Vacancy came under. With the amount of sales she has now, does it mean that it may be impossible to be discovered unless you have a famous name or already have some writing success?
What Rowling isn’t having to experience is that slow burn aspect of building a readership. For most new authors outside of genres that like discovering newbies, it takes dedication to keep putting out works to build a readership. It can also take a Herculean effort in marketing by an author to get their name seen. Clearly, Rowling got to jump right over that experience as an unknown author.
Let’s be honest. Most of us new authors flogging away would kill to reveal that no, in fact, we are actually this really famous author that will ensure our work will get seen and purchased. Heck, most of us would kill for a fraction of what JK Rowling has, which includes a lot of writing talent. With the general reviews staying positive, it looks like The Cuckoo’s Calling will continue to do well. Those of us about to publish will need to gird our loins for the battle of being discovered since we cannot cast spells to improve our chances. Someone pass me some Felis Felicis!
Update:
So it’s been further revealed that the mysterious tweet came from someone connected to Rowling’s law firm. Someone on her legal team let it slip to a wife’s friend who Robert Galbraith really was, and that person sent the tweet that then immediately disappeared. It goes to show that information – especially juicy secret info – is not safe to share if you want it to remain a secret. Guess Rowling forgot to use the Obliviate spell to cover her tracks.
Falls Into Writing 
You have been discovered. I very much enjoy your blog! this is an interesting topic, I’m really undecided where I stand on Rowling wanting to hit lightning twice. She can afford to make a double stab at it, so why not from her perspective.
Thanks for reading my blog! I think her statement of wanting to stay under the radar is from a very rich and successful writer who may miss that thrill of chasing the dream that she had with her first book. I think she may have been romanticizing the process that she went through. She may also have been trying to see if she really was a good adult contemporary writer since her first books was judged against Harry Potter. For me, I’m just encouraged to see one of the most successful writers still trying new things. I’m considering trying it out even though it’s not my normal genre that I enjoy. Curiosity may get the better of me!
I’m the publisher of a small press, and our debut fiction title comes out in September. I’m hyper aware of the major names getting attention, reviews, and sales, and I’m in the process of my own “Herculean effort in marketing” in the hopes that we’ll start rolling and keep rolling despite being a debut press featuring a debut author.
I haven’t checked out the Book Pregnant link you posted, but I will; luckily from that standpoint, I publish literary fiction and I feel like readers of that are more likely to be excited about a name they don’t know. We’ll see in September, I suppose!
The other thing that Rowling is getting is a surge in purchases during the summer months, which I am finding through research drops dramatically. Congrats on your debut author and title coming out! You may be write – with literary fiction, I think readers do like finding the new “gem” to enjoy and pass on to others – like they’re a part of the discovery. Please let me know when the book comes out so I can read it!
I admire her for publishing anonymous, and I don’t think her cover should have been blown. With great power comes great responsibility (and often a potentially crushing amount of criticism). I remember reading that she published The Casual Vacancy under her real name because she thought it was braver that way, but I won’t be surprised if she goes anonymous again, given the amount of expectation and pressure attached to her novels. I think it would be a relief to know that each book was judged on its individuals, and not as a comparison. Especially when you’re testing the water of a new genre.
It would be interesting if she self-published something, to test how long it took her to accumulate a new readership and how that could be done with small-scale marketing and word of mouth referrals.
You know, I was going to question whether or not she should self-publish a work to see how a truly anonymous system could work for her. I just don’t know if she would buy into that or even be brave enough to do it. That might be the only way she could anonymously publish. Unless she hires someone to truly impersonate her to get the manuscript through the traditional publishing path, I think it might always be traceable back to her. Someone, like this magical tweet that supposedly happened, would spill the beans. And I’m still fascinated that linguistics professionals could tell it was her. I loved taking linguistics classes, and I would love to know how they figured it out in the end. Alas, for Rowling – she just might be too good to remain anonymous!
If she self-published, she could remain anonymous, surely? No marketing, or media, just a few carefully planted seeds and review submissions to see how far the plant spread (cheesy metaphor, there). I also think if any secret novel that she wrote got enough hype and interest to attract the interest of the reviewers and linguistic professionals – like what happened in this case – she could definitely chalk that work up on the success board and come clean. I guess I’m just interested in how far self-published books and would-be bestsellers can go without the backing of agents or publishers, and how quickly.
I totally agree. And she would have the means to really attack the PR monster to promote it. If she made that move, it would be really great to see it play out!