JK Rowling: 'The Cuckoo's Calling' Pseudonym Reveal Was "NOT A Marketing Ploy"

When Jk Rowling published The Cuckoo's Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, she hadn't expected to be outed so fast by a crack team of investigative journalists and Oxford University linguists who cross-referenced the crime novel with other authors to eventually choose Rowling as key suspect. JK did give up the game when she was questioned, but said she found it "liberating" to create a male alter-ego and write without the weight of expectation that the Harry Potter franchise inevitably would bring regardless of the adult audience.

*Thumbs Nose* "Don't Pretend You Weren't Fooled, World!"

In an FAQ section on the 'Robert Galbraith' website, JK Rowling has hit back at rumours that the leak was orchestrated by her publisher to maximise sales in a tough economic climate. "If anyone had seen the labyrinthine plans I laid to conceal my identity (or indeed my expression when I realised that the game was up!) they would realise how little I wanted to be discovered," she wrote in response to the question "Was revealing the true identity of Robert Galbraith not simply an elaborate marketing campaign to help boost sales?" She said "This was not a leak or marketing ploy by me, my publisher or agent, both of whom have been completely supportive of my desire to fly under the radar. If sales were what mattered to me most, I would have written under my own name from the start, and with the greatest fanfare."

JK Rowling Will Release More Novels As 'Robert Galbraith.'

The author also points out that the book was doing pretty well before her true identity was unveiled, with 8,500 copies sold since the April release and two television production companies interested which is successful by most authors' terms. However, this is Rowling we're talking about who gave us 'the Boy who Lived' and sparked a giant movie franchise; i.e. the richest author on the planet. For a first-time writer, Galbraith was respected, with critical acclaim from reviewers and fellow crime writers from the off. It was this success that sparked The Sunday Times' investigation, who were suspicious how a debut novel could be so self-assured. After Galbraith became Rowling, sales of The Cuckoo's Calling rocketed up to 17,662 in the week afterwards, with bookseller Amazon reporting a rise of 507,000% in sales in the day after the newspaper published their finding. 

Keeping up her fake appearances, Rowling's next Robert Galbraith novel will hit shelves next year.