I'm pretty sure that JK Rowling used "JK" rather than "Joanne" simply because her publisher thought it was expedient for sales. Boys aren't (or weren't) as likely to buy a fantasy book written by a female as written by a male. I'm sure that as a largely unpublished author, she relied heavily on her publisher's advice on this.
As for Robert Galbraith - I think that was simply a nomme de plume allowing her to write something different. At the time, she would have probably earned a much bigger advance and initial sales if she had published under her own name. She did originally try to keep her identity secret, so this was almost certainly to throw others off the case. (As a crime novel fan, I notice a significant number of female writers "disguise" their gender despite the fact that more crime fiction *readers* are female than male). I have no real view on the sensibility of Warner Bros Discovery investing a lot in a reboot of Harry Potter. As someone who read the first book, and saw the first film, but never went beyond them, I have no skin in this game. But I wouldn't underestimate the continued popularity of the characters regardless of what Rowling has said and done since. From what I can tell, the studio tour just outside London continues to sell well, the musical in London is pretty solidly sold out, the queues at King's Cross Station for photos of platform 13.5 are always busy and Universal seems to be continuing to roll out Potter-related theme park experiences. I suspect that the books still sell pretty strongly too. While it feels a bit soon to reboot a series entirely in this way, how many Batman or Spiderman reboots have there been in the last 20 or so years? (See also Dracula, Tarzan and any number of other fictional characters over the history of film and television) I'd guess that WBD is taking all of that into account before greenlighting a new series. And I'm sure they'll bail if it doesn't work. Adam. On Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 3:27 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > Amidst all the discussion about Rowling and her opposition to people > claiming different genders, rarely has it been brought up that using the > initials JK is a traditional author technique of misleading potential > readers into believing the female author is a male, and that when she > penned a mystery novel under a pseudonym about a decade ago, she chose to > call herself Robert. I know that gender is an inflammatory issue for many > and Rowling has been a fuse that ignites that flame, but in all Rowling’s > rhetoric, I cannot help but think she might have some identity issues of > her own to sort out… that her issues related to gender have more to do with > who she is than who others are. > > Regardless, the last thing Harry Potter needed was MORE details from the > books. The movies were already too long. The secret to making me watch more > Harry Potter is to cut out the ephemera and tell a clear, interesting, > concise story. Preferably a story that doesn’t involve either children or > wizards. > > On Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 6:40 AM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> It'll take ten years to tell all the stories from Rowling's books, and >> stuff that was in the books but left out of the movies will likely be >> included... the budget will be on par with *GoT* and *...Dragon*, WBD >> said... >> >> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/harry-potter-tv-series-officially-happening-at-max-1235371717/ >> (link) >> Buuuut there's still the belief that with ten years of *Potter* on >> telly, comes more anti-trans b*tchin' from JKR... >> >> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/harry-potter-tv-series-controversy-jk-rowling-1235372796/ >> (link) >> >> B >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/10def35f-70ea-4f7e-a50f-718d2e18a562n%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/10def35f-70ea-4f7e-a50f-718d2e18a562n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4BX_Tb0J3A5BTC7rXyP%3DuDBzg5P_S99-0TPPoGMRVrS5Q%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4BX_Tb0J3A5BTC7rXyP%3DuDBzg5P_S99-0TPPoGMRVrS5Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGCkppKfzz2w9W1o%3D5mYnJtwM8t7O%2BvTSbbNztZq8x1w%2Bw%40mail.gmail.com.
