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Correction: Rowling was 'outed' by her lawyer's wife's friend. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/jk-rowling-angry-and-disappointed-aft

by junto 13y ago

Correction: Rowling was 'outed' by her lawyer's wife's friend. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/jk-rowling-angry-and-disappointed-after-law-firm-leaked-robert-galbraith-pseudonym-8718087.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/j... If I was the law firm, I'd fire the lawyer.

cschmidt 13y ago
I like this line: Publishers Little, Brown have since issued a reprint after sales rose 415,000 per cent when the real author was unmasked.
- praptak 13y ago
  Nice, but this doesn't help the law firm. They cannot keep a secret. Their clients won't expect their leaked secrets to bring them comparable profits.
- lostlogin 13y ago
  One would suspect she wasn't doing it for the money...
joezydeco 13y ago
Funny coincidence that this 'outing' happened just as the book was headed for the clearance bin.
- sriramk 13y ago
  I really doubt that Rowling was doing this for the revenue. She seemed to genuinely want to just write under a different name/genre without any of the craziness that comes with a Rowling book launch.
  - mathattack 13y ago
    She doesn't need the money, so this is probably from the publisher.
- UnoriginalGuy 13y ago
  Given how much damage this whole incident has done to that law firm I seriously doubt any sane law firm would let themselves be put in that position just for a publicity stunt. Normally intentionally "leaks" are just "anonymous sources" etc. They're very rarely if ever named. Plus she doesn't need the money, she is one of the richest women in the world. I suspect she wrote under a different name to see if the book would stand on its own without her big name boosting sales.
  - gnosis 13y ago
    "she doesn't need the money, she is one of the richest women in the world." Never underestimate what the rich and super rich will do to get more money. Does Warran Buffet need more money? Yet he's still trying to make himself richer. Do all the top CEO's, VCs, and board members in the world "need" more millions and billions? Maybe not. But it hasn't stopped them from trying to further enrich themselves. Besides, there could be other motivations for this stunt, such as fame or wanting to be talked about or thought of as a certain type of author.
    - wololo 13y ago
      This is what she is about (Harvard commencement speech): https://youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c https://youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c
    - Surio 13y ago
      Totally true! I liked what you said there. This view is not cynicism (as some might say), but this is realism :) Good one!
    - snowfox 13y ago
      That is true. But why would her lawyer be willing to risk his reputation to help Rowling to make more money? Just trying to solve this puzzle.
    - nicholassmith 13y ago
      Rowling actively rid herself of cash and fell out of the top 100 richest last year, I think money isn't that important to her.
- hga 13y ago
  "just as the book was headed for the clearance bin" Really? A hardcover that's been out less than 3 months and that got favorable critical attention (and a lot of favorable Amazon reviews before the leak)? I've heard it had sales of less than 2,000, which last time I checked (a long while ago, I admit) was considered to be OK for the first printing of a hardback and could result in a paperback run. I welcome someone who knows the current market's number thresholds, not to mention this market segment, which I don't know, to weight in.
  - clarky07 13y ago
    those numbers are pretty low. to be considered moderately successful it would probably need to be at least an order of magnitude higher. that being said, it was still early. you never know what could happen. it was reviewed favorably.
Achshar 13y ago
Yea my lawyer would be the last person I would expect to leak my secrets.
bradleyjg 13y ago
If I were JK Rowling, I'd complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for appropriate discipline. From their handbook: "Protection of confidential information is a fundamental feature of your relationship with clients. It exists as a concept both as a matter of law and as a matter of conduct. This duty continues despite the end of the retainer and even after the death of the client."
i_cannot_hack 13y ago
I am not sure what piece of information you are trying to correct? They made it quite clear in the original article that the leak began when she was outed on twitter, and that they only analysed the book because they were unsure wether they could trust the source or not.
epo 13y ago
> If I was the law firm, I'd fire the lawyer. If I was Rowling, I'd fire the law firm if they didn't.
mattmanser 13y ago
To me it's interesting that this shows just how dangerous Twitter can be to people as their social brain just can't properly comprehend what it is. 20 years ago, the lawyer would have told his wide's friend and she'd have gossiped it to a few other people and 5 years later it would have eventually been a well known secret that would be occasionally alluded to by the columnists of the papers. Rowling could still remain tantalisingly stum and no-one would be much the wiser. Instead she says it on twitter which feels like a fairly intimate gossip to a few choice friends but in fact is massively public and boom, consequences for the Law firm, the lawyer and huge public embarrassment for the friend. From a social point of view, the friend was just acting as she'd have acted 20 years ago, but technology is so different now that a simple piece of gossip has had very different consequences.

by junto 13y ago

cschmidt 13y ago

I like this line: Publishers Little, Brown have since issued a reprint after sales rose 415,000 per cent when the real author was unmasked.

praptak 13y ago
Nice, but this doesn't help the law firm. They cannot keep a secret. Their clients won't expect their leaked secrets to bring them comparable profits.
lostlogin 13y ago
One would suspect she wasn't doing it for the money...

joezydeco 13y ago

Funny coincidence that this 'outing' happened just as the book was headed for the clearance bin.

sriramk 13y ago
I really doubt that Rowling was doing this for the revenue. She seemed to genuinely want to just write under a different name/genre without any of the craziness that comes with a Rowling book launch.
- mathattack 13y ago
  She doesn't need the money, so this is probably from the publisher.
UnoriginalGuy 13y ago
Given how much damage this whole incident has done to that law firm I seriously doubt any sane law firm would let themselves be put in that position just for a publicity stunt. Normally intentionally "leaks" are just "anonymous sources" etc. They're very rarely if ever named. Plus she doesn't need the money, she is one of the richest women in the world. I suspect she wrote under a different name to see if the book would stand on its own without her big name boosting sales.
- gnosis 13y ago
  "she doesn't need the money, she is one of the richest women in the world." Never underestimate what the rich and super rich will do to get more money. Does Warran Buffet need more money? Yet he's still trying to make himself richer. Do all the top CEO's, VCs, and board members in the world "need" more millions and billions? Maybe not. But it hasn't stopped them from trying to further enrich themselves. Besides, there could be other motivations for this stunt, such as fame or wanting to be talked about or thought of as a certain type of author.
  - wololo 13y ago
    This is what she is about (Harvard commencement speech): https://youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c https://youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c
  - Surio 13y ago
    Totally true! I liked what you said there. This view is not cynicism (as some might say), but this is realism :) Good one!
  - snowfox 13y ago
    That is true. But why would her lawyer be willing to risk his reputation to help Rowling to make more money? Just trying to solve this puzzle.
  - nicholassmith 13y ago
    Rowling actively rid herself of cash and fell out of the top 100 richest last year, I think money isn't that important to her.
hga 13y ago
"just as the book was headed for the clearance bin" Really? A hardcover that's been out less than 3 months and that got favorable critical attention (and a lot of favorable Amazon reviews before the leak)? I've heard it had sales of less than 2,000, which last time I checked (a long while ago, I admit) was considered to be OK for the first printing of a hardback and could result in a paperback run. I welcome someone who knows the current market's number thresholds, not to mention this market segment, which I don't know, to weight in.
- clarky07 13y ago
  those numbers are pretty low. to be considered moderately successful it would probably need to be at least an order of magnitude higher. that being said, it was still early. you never know what could happen. it was reviewed favorably.

Achshar 13y ago

Yea my lawyer would be the last person I would expect to leak my secrets.

bradleyjg 13y ago

If I were JK Rowling, I'd complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for appropriate discipline. From their handbook: "Protection of confidential information is a fundamental feature of your relationship with clients. It exists as a concept both as a matter of law and as a matter of conduct. This duty continues despite the end of the retainer and even after the death of the client."

i_cannot_hack 13y ago

I am not sure what piece of information you are trying to correct? They made it quite clear in the original article that the leak began when she was outed on twitter, and that they only analysed the book because they were unsure wether they could trust the source or not.

epo 13y ago

> If I was the law firm, I'd fire the lawyer. If I was Rowling, I'd fire the law firm if they didn't.

mattmanser 13y ago

To me it's interesting that this shows just how dangerous Twitter can be to people as their social brain just can't properly comprehend what it is. 20 years ago, the lawyer would have told his wide's friend and she'd have gossiped it to a few other people and 5 years later it would have eventually been a well known secret that would be occasionally alluded to by the columnists of the papers. Rowling could still remain tantalisingly stum and no-one would be much the wiser. Instead she says it on twitter which feels like a fairly intimate gossip to a few choice friends but in fact is massively public and boom, consequences for the Law firm, the lawyer and huge public embarrassment for the friend. From a social point of view, the friend was just acting as she'd have acted 20 years ago, but technology is so different now that a simple piece of gossip has had very different consequences.