Y’know it’s hard out there for a pimp, er author…

First, let me be clear, I am NOT passing any kind of judgment. I very much enjoyed the Harry Potter series and have great admiration for J K Rowling as an independent woman, ambitious writer, person of integrity, and possible modern-day Horatio Alger story protagonist. And, with no need for the money, I truly believe she wrote as Robert Galbraith for the sheer low-pressure pleasure of being an unkown.

THAT SAID, as a writer struggling on the ground and in the cyberverse to continue to have opportunities to publish work… As someone who does not write fantasy/dystopian/zombie/psy-fi and who is not Stephenie Meyer, Veronica Roth, John Green, Cassandra Clare, Ms. Rowling herself, or an author of the Official SAT Study Guide (second edition)…

The following data points about THE CUCKOO’S CALLING (pseudonymously published but now revealed as a JK original) are a tough swallow.

“The novel had sold around 1,500 copies in hardback. However, in the hours after Rowling was named as its author, it shot up the bestseller charts. It was listed as the third biggest seller on Amazon.co.uk on Sunday, having entered the top 100 only the day before.” THE TORONTO SUN

“A few hours after the news broke, New Statesman reported that the book's Amazon sales have gone up more than 150,000%.” THE HUFFINGTON POST

“On Amazon.com, sales soared more than 507,000% after Rowling acknowledged being the author.” CNN.COM

"The upside of being rumbled is that I can publicly thank…all those people at Little, Brown who have been working so hard on The Cuckoo’s Calling without realising that I wrote it, and the writers and reviewers, both in the newspapers and online, who have been so generous to the novel.  And to those who have asked for a sequel, Robert fully intends to keep writing the series, although he will probably continue to turn down personal appearances."    JK herself

Here’s my translation:

• It appears that strong reviews, a great cover, and a terrific publisher still often yield tragically low hardback sales.
• Unknown writers stand little chance of getting books noticed.  Not no chance. Little chance. The odds kind of suck.
• Name recognition is priceless
• I haven’t got any much.

Sigh.

I think I should go pour me a glass of wine.

Also, I plan to contradict myself next week.