I think J.K. Rowling is a unique case. She faced a lot of backlash against The Casual Vacancy once it was known it was her (at least in the fandom circles that I was a part of). However, you didn’t mention her other pen name which has been successful: Robert Galbraith. While I think it was generally known that Robert Galbraith was J.K. Rowling fairly early on, I wasn’t a follower of hers, so I had no idea. I noticed and was interested in the second book in that series (The Silkworm) and when I found out it was part of a series and there was another book, I bought that one on Audible during a sale (The Cuckoo’s Calling). By then I knew it was her, but I listened to it with an open mind and quite liked it, so I’ve got the second book now, and if there’s a third, I’ll likely get that one also.

I’m not entirely sure how successful her Robert Galbraith pen name is or how successful the series is, but my impression is that it is doing pretty well. While many fans know it’s J.K. Rowling now, casual readers might not. I also think using a pen name allowed the first book to come out without all the Harry Potter fan backlash and receive some honest reviews.

Anyway, I do think her case is unique and not entirely applicable to the average author.

Thanks again for the great episode. This was my first one and I enjoyed it.