J.K. Rowling wrote it? No wonder 'The Cuckoo's Calling' is so good
Readers no doubt remember the worldwide anticipation that ensued when it was announced 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� author J.K. Rowling was writing 鈥淭he Casual Vacancy鈥� 鈥� a new book aimed at an adult audience.
It turns out that Rowling鈥檚 newest novel didn鈥檛 receive quite the same pre-release buzz.
After receiving a tip, the discovered that Rowling was the real author behind a recently published mystery novel titled 鈥淭he Cuckoo鈥檚 Calling,鈥� which was billed as written by Robert Galbraith and originally released in April. In the author鈥檚 bio, Galbraith was described as a former member of the Royal Police. The bio also noted that the name Robert Galbraith was a pseudonym 鈥� a completely accurate statement, as it turns out.
In her own last week, Rowling said she 鈥渉ad hoped to keep this secret a little longer.鈥�
鈥淏eing Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience,鈥� the author said. 鈥淚t has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.鈥�
Now that the cat is out of the bag, "Cuckoo's Calling" has soared to number two on the Amazon bestseller list and number one on the Barnes & Noble website. Because the book rose from such low sales numbers, the book's sales on Amazon increased more than 507,000 percent.
According to the book鈥檚 publisher, (also Rowling鈥檚 publisher for 鈥淐asual Vacancy鈥�), a sequel is in the works.
At least one reviewer was not entirely fooled by the ploy, writing that 鈥渢he book seemed almost too assured and sophisticated to be a first novel,鈥� NYT writer Sarah Lyall noted.聽
But some publishers, it seems, were.
Kate Mills, who is the publishing director of Orion, that she had seen the manuscript by "Galbraith." 鈥淪o, I can now say that I turned down JK Rowling,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淚 did read and say no to Cuckoo's Calling. Anyone else going to confess?鈥�
Mills told the that the book didn鈥檛 catch her eye. 鈥淲hen the book came in, I thought it was perfectly good 鈥� it was certainly well written 鈥� but it didn't stand out,鈥� she said.
As mentioned by the , Rowling mentioned in a 2001 interview that she found the idea of writing under a pseudonym 鈥渁ppealing.鈥�
