JK Rowling doesn’t have any middle name.

9 Jan

In fact, her name is simply Joanne Rowling. So why is there a ‘K’ thrown in to the mix? Well there’s nothing magical about I’m afraid. Her marketing team decided that boys, who represent the majority of her target audience, would be less likely to buy literature by a female author so they went with initials instead and ‘J Rowling‘ sounds a little bit too much like a stoner’s name doesn’t it?!

In general, writers choose a pen name as a means of working three distinct angles. Firstly, to get a little anonymity in their personal life. Secondly, to make their name easier to remember. Take ‘Stan Lee‘, creator of pretty much every comic book character you’ve seen a film about in the past 10 years. His real name is Stanley Martin Leiber which I guarantee you’ll forget 10 minutes from now. Lastly, and most sneakily, they choose a name which puts their books on the eye-level shelf for their target audience. How underhanded is that?