This isn't particularly relevant to the article here, but does anyone else feel like the "outing" of J.K. Rowling as Robert Galbraith just stinks of clever PR and misdirection?
If she really wanted to stay anonymous, she would have chosen a different publisher, publicist, agent, etc.
No, for a pretty simple reason. She wouldn't have bothered with all the effort to try and stay hidden if she didn't mean it. She doesn't need the money.
At least one editor has already admitted to passing on the book, not knowing Rowling wrote it, so she went through the "normal" means of querying under the pen name, not saying "I'm JK Rowling, and I want to publish under a pseudonym"
I will say though, it will look fishier if the Lawyer who leaked the information isn't reprimanded or fired, since he broke client confidentiality.
By releasing the book under a pen name and THEN letting her identity be revealed, it provides the book a chance at being taken more seriously as a good read rather than just a piggy-backing effort.
If she openly released the book with her name attached, it would instantly be compared to her past successes and receive false praise or scrutiny based on her achievements as a fantasy writer.
Comments
This isn't particularly relevant to the article here, but does anyone else feel like the "outing" of J.K. Rowling as Robert Galbraith just stinks of clever PR and misdirection?
If she really wanted to stay anonymous, she would have chosen a different publisher, publicist, agent, etc.
No, for a pretty simple reason. She wouldn't have bothered with all the effort to try and stay hidden if she didn't mean it. She doesn't need the money.
At least one editor has already admitted to passing on the book, not knowing Rowling wrote it, so she went through the "normal" means of querying under the pen name, not saying "I'm JK Rowling, and I want to publish under a pseudonym"
I will say though, it will look fishier if the Lawyer who leaked the information isn't reprimanded or fired, since he broke client confidentiality.
Except that the lawyer is a partner and partners aren't just "fired".
Isn't that worse though? Its seems that a partner breaching confidentiality is a good reason for large clients to walk away from the firm.
They certainly can be. Partnership agreements normally cover this type of thing in great detail.
By releasing the book under a pen name and THEN letting her identity be revealed, it provides the book a chance at being taken more seriously as a good read rather than just a piggy-backing effort.
If she openly released the book with her name attached, it would instantly be compared to her past successes and receive false praise or scrutiny based on her achievements as a fantasy writer.
She wanted to see how the book would be received without the burden of her reputation, which she did.
I'm pretty sure a book with the tagline "the new book by JK Rowling" wouldn't have needed much PR.