J. K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is the pen name she uses as a writer. The J is for Joanne, her real first name, but she prefers to be called Jo. Apparently, people only call her Joanne when they’re angry with her. The K is made up. Her publisher asked her to write using a name with two initials, but she didn’t have a middle name.

Jo did a few different things before she struck upon the idea of writing children’s books. She worked as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International and as an English teacher in Portugal. The idea for the Harry Potter novels came from nowhere while she was on a train to London. She said, “The characters and situations came flooding into my head”.

Publishing Harry Potter

A California bookshop five minutes before Deathly Hallows was released Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in June 1995. The initial draft included an illustration of Harry by a fireplace, showing a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. Following an enthusiastic report from an early reader, Christopher Little Literary Agency agreed to represent Rowling. It was submitted to twelve publishers, all of which rejected the manuscript.. Barry Cunningham, who ran the children's literature department at Bloomsbury Publishing, eventually bought it. Nigel Newton, who headed Bloomsbury at the time, decided to go ahead with the manuscript after his eight-year-old daughter finished one chapter and wanted to keep reading. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, one of Rowling's favourite memories was of Cunningham telling her, "You'll never make any money out of children's books, Jo." Rowling was awarded a writer's grant by the Scottish Arts Council[k] to support her childcare costs and finances before Philosopher's Stone's publication, and to aid in writing the sequel, Chamber of Secrets.In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies. Before Chamber of Secrets was published, Rowling had received only £2,800 ($4,200) in royalties.