New details emerge about the revelation of J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym

by · July 14, 2013

The New York Times has reported some fascinating new details about how The Sunday Times discovered that Robert Galbraith was actually J.K. Rowling. According to the paper’s arts editor, Richard Brooks, it all began with Twitter. Last week, one of his colleagues posted about how much she loved The Cuckoo’s Calling and how it seemed like it hadn’t been written by a debut author. That’s when the plot thickens.

‘After midnight she got a tweet back from an anonymous person saying it’s not a first-time novel, it was written by J. K. Rowling,’ Mr. Brooks said in an interview. ‘So my colleague tweeted back and said, ‘How do you know for sure?’

The person replied, ‘I just know,’ and then proceeded to delete all his (or her) tweets and to close down the Twitter account, Mr. Brooks said. ‘All traces of this person had been taken off, and we couldn’t find his name again.’

Brooks then proceeded to do some internet research, discovering that both The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Casual Vacancy shared the same agent, publisher, and editor, which aroused his suspicions – how could a novice writer be important enough to have the same editor as J.K. Rowling? His next step was to send a request to linguist experts who confirmed that the two books had many similarities. Acting off of this evidence, Brooks emailed representatives for Rowling on Friday evening, who responded the next morning with a confirmation.

The revelation of J.K. Rowling as the true author of The Cuckoo’s Calling has caused the book’s sales to skyrocket unbelievably – 507,000% in fact, from #98,424 on the Amazon bestseller list straight to number one in less than a day. Previously, the book had sold only 1,500 copies in Britain. Because of demand, the book is being rushed into an immediate reprinting, where the author information will be updated to include Rowling’s name. That means that if you’re looking for a first edition, you’d better act fast! A sequel to The Cuckoo’s Calling is set to be released in the summer of 2014.

These new details revealed by the Times have made an unbelievable story even more mysterious! What are your thoughts on these new developments, or The Cuckoo’s Calling in general? Have you started reading the book yet? Let us know in the comments below!

Jessica J.

I've been making magic at MuggleNet since 2012, when I first joined the staff as a News intern. I've never wavered from the declaration in my childhood journal, circa October 2000: "I LOVE Harry Potter! If I clean my room, my mom says she'll make me a dinner a wizard would love!" Proud Gryffindor; don't hate.