"If JK Rowling Cares About Writing, She Should Stop Doing It"

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Pyan

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A piece by Lynn Shepherd (who she?) in the Huffington Post is causing a bit of a stir - she wants JK Rowling to stop writing adult fiction because her book The Casual Vacancy "sucked the oxygen from the entire publishing and reading atmosphere....that sort of monopoly can make it next to impossible for anything else to survive, let alone thrive."

If JK Rowling Cares About Writing, She Should Stop Doing It | Lynn Shepherd

Is she right? or do you agree with the many, many comments that say that, basically, she's a whiney non-entity that should shut up, as there's always going to be room if your writing's good enough...?
 
I don't agree. Not a fan of J K Rowling myself, but it's not her fault that there is going to be huge hype surrounding anything she publishes. And really, the people who go out and buy something just because of all the flurry -- because they want to be in on the conversation when people talk about the book -- and for no other reason, weren't going to go out of their way to buy a book by a comparative unknown anyway. If the Rowling book weren't there, those people were going to buy a book by whichever other author was being the most hyped at the time.

And I notice that this Lynn Shepherd thinks it's all right if Rowling sucks all the oxygen out of the Juvenile market. I guess people who care about writing don't care about children's books? Or maybe books for children and the people who write them don't count?
 
I never read, 'The Cuckoo's Calling,' but, 'The Casual Vacancy,' was very disappointing.

If Rowling's name hadn't been on it, it would've sunk without trace.

While the view is a bit extreme, the writer here does have a point. Pterry's work has become darker, a lot less funny, and nowhere near as enjoyable as his earlier work - but his past glories mean that he still outsells, for example, our own Toby Frost, and his brilliant, 'Space Captain Smith,' series.

Terry Pratchett wrote some incredibly funny books, which also managed to provide insight into the human condition, but he's stunk on ice since, 'Unseen Academicals,' and still manages to shift more books in a week than many authors do in a month.

I work in a second-hand bookshop, where I'm in charge of Science Fiction and Fantasy (which includes Horror, to my disgust), and people want Pratchett, Tolkein, or Stephen King - Asimov, Heinlein, Dick and a dozen others just gather dust.

In the children's section, people want the, 'Harry Potter,' stories or Jacqueline Wilson - Lewis, Cooper and a score of others are ignored.

Unfortunately, people just don't read as much these days, and they're terrified of trying something new (to them) - and that's why bookshops are going to the wall.
 
I don't agree with the article either. I think it takes more to choke out a market. Indeed, a hype takes up with a storm, but that storm couldn't be matched by those books blacked out by it. Huffpost is still a bit sensitive about the fact that they share initials with Harry Potter.
 
Like I said in the other thread I won't be bothering to check out Ms Shepard. Any writer who thinks it is easy to shut off writing stories can't be much of a storyteller. One can't help but wonder if she is a lost the plot literary fiction writer (the breed that shape the words and character but forget the story - I am not suggesting all literary fiction is that way).

I enjoyed "The Cuckoo Calling" and once I got past the first 150 pages "The Casual Vacancy" was good too. Actually I'd be kind of gutted if stopped with the Cormoran Strike books (hope I spelled that correctly).
 
It is a ridiculous article. Yes, I am a fan of JK, though NOT of The Casual Vacancy because it was terrible. Yes, I bought it because her name was on it and yes, I agree that it would have just disappeared into book oblivion if she hadn't written it.

But, on the other hand, The Cuckoo's Calling was fantastic. I am a big fan of crime/mystery books, particularly British ones. The Cuckoo's Calling did everything a good crime/mystery is supposed to do - it had great characters including a detective with too many person problems to count, an interesting murder that I wanted to solve before the detective, and a well-written setting (her descriptions of London were phenomenal).

I don't think Rowling has a monopoly on all books. If she ever writes something similar to The Casual Vacancy ever again, I don't think it will sell. Whereas, more books based around the detective from The Cuckoo's Calling will sell, but rightly so. And so what if the book hadn't sold so well before we knew it was her? It hadn't been out all that long, reviews were just starting to surface, and very few people will pay for a hardcopy first book of an unknown author. You've got to remember, while Harry Potter was called a good book when it was first released, it wasn't the phenomenon it is now until much later (book 4 was when I started attending releases for it). It's the same for other popular authors - it takes a few books or years for stuff to take off usually.

The point of this longwinded reply is that the author of that article is ridiculous. There has always and will always be authors who are insanely popular, and I know JK Rowling is in a class of her own here, but there is still the opportunity for other work to sell well. I think that if the work is good (or more like, if it has mass appeal), it will eventually be a success.

Also - she said "I did think it a shame that adults were reading them [Harry Potter]". Um, excuse me? I don't even know how to properly respond to this. There is never shame in reading anything. If you're reading and you enjoy it, then good for you. More people should read.
 
The Ace said:
I never read, 'The Cuckoo's Calling,' but, 'The Casual Vacancy,' was very disappointing.

If Rowling's name hadn't been on it, it would've sunk without trace.
Click to expand...

Having read them both, I'd still agree about Casual Vacancy. Not sure about how well written, I'm qualified to judge, but the story itself was dull. But I found Cuckoo's Calling to be interesting and sufficiently well written I was hooked. Despite Ms Shepherd's comments, I seem to recall that it was getting pretty good reviews before JKR's name was attributed to it (albeit much lower sales).
 
RebeccaTheWrecker said:
If she ever writes something similar to The Casual Vacancy ever again, I don't think it will sell.
Click to expand...

While I agree with most of what you are saying (more people should read!), I think that if she writes something like The Casual Vacancy again it will sell very well indeed, just because people will be curious to see if it is good or bad. And then, if lots of people are saying it's bad, then there will be people (not everyone) who will read it because they are curious about that. They will want to know if it is really that bad, and why people say so, and most of all (for some of them) they will want to be part of the conversation. People who don't read very much always like to talk about the books that everyone else is talking about because that way they can prove that they do read, without going to the trouble of reading many books.

But how many times have we heard some of our own friends and members here -- literate people, people who read many books and generally try to read only the best -- say something like, "If people say this book is bad I want to read it myself and find out." I've heard that said many times. In fact, I get the impression that with some readers, the more often and the more publicly a book is savaged, the more they feel that fairness dictates they ought to read it.
 
Hi,

Let me get this straight. JK (As a kiwi I find that confusing to write since JK will always be someone else - but I will push on) should quit because she's too successful?!!! Grief!!! Tht has got to be the silliest thing I've heard in a long time.

Look she puts out a book a year or so (I don't actually know), it dominates the market for a while, maybe a month (again a complete guess), and people love it. That's actually great for the rest of us. Because she's bringing readers back to the fold. People who might actually have rented a movie instead etc, but who decided to read a book. People who then were so happy with what they read that they decided to read something else, maybe something by other authors.

Harry Potter as I understand it has actually revived the entire fantasy genre.

I haven't read her books but maybe they help me sell a few more. So I say good on her and keep writing, please.

Cheers, Greg.
 
I would plough through another Casual Vacancy. At present she has written eight books I enjoyed so she is entitled to the odd one that is not as good.

I've done the same with Kathy Reichs she had written about nine books I'd been gripped with so I gave the next couple a go but now I do check them out of the library before I buy them.

A debut author for me hasn't earned my loyalty. I wouldn't got to the good bit in the Casual Vacancy for an author I hadn't read before.
 
"Harry Potter," was reputed to've got kids into reading again - it was a bit like parents buying sliding puzzles or violins for their kids, so that it could be said they were talented or intelligent.

While a lot of people bought the books, it's amazing how many. 'Fans,' don't know who Peeves is (since he didn't appear in the films). Adults tended to buy the books and read them themselves, kids preferred the films.

While some kids did read, 'Harry Potter,' and start looking around afterwards, the numbers are nowhere near what the hype would have you believe - I think someone deemed it necessary to turn a small victory (some children being drawn to reading) into a large one (the generation that rediscovered reading).

I still remember a reviewer howling that, 'The Dark is Rising - The Seeker,' was a cheap attempt to cash in on the popularity of HP - being completely ignorant of the fact that Cooper's brilliant novel ( ruined by the film) saw the light of day two decades before Rowling put pen to paper.

Reading expands the mind, so stupid people don't do it.
 
I think you are right, Ace. I have heard many people say that the Harry Potter books have revived the fantasy genre and encouraged multitudes of children to read who were not reading before, but this seems to be one of those things that people believe because other people are saying it, and because it sounds so logical, rather than because there has been any evidence to prove it.

I've not even heard any anecdotal evidence that this is true, though some like yours that it indicates that it is not true, or at least true to a much, much lesser extent than she tests credit for -- the kids who go straight for the Harry Potter books in your store and ignore Susan Cooper and the rest. I've also read articles where the reporter interviewed young Harry Potter fans and the interviews would go something like this:

Reporter -- Are you reading more now?

Child -- Yes!

Reporter -- And what are some of the books you are reading?

Child -- I've read The Chamber of Secrets three times already.

So they may be reading more, but that "more" might not be reading more books by more authors, it's simply the number of times they've read the Harry Potter books.

I also recall one Christmas shortly after one of the HP books had been released, and going to the bookstore looking for a boxed set of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books. There were shelves and shelves and shelves of the latest book by Rowling in the children's section, but no Alexander, no Cooper, none of the classics I would have expected to see prominently displayed as potential Christmas gifts ... and in many cases not in the store at all. I finally had to go to a bookstore catering to teachers to find the Prydain books (and there I noticed a lot of the other books that had been missing, but it was a tiny, tiny store, and not a lot of people would have been going there to do their Christmas shopping).

But the next Christmas, when there had been no new HP book out that year, there all those authors were again in boxed sets as I would have expected the year before.

As I said, anecdotal evidence, but I've not heard any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise to, show that the HP books have created a generation of readers.

So no, I don't think she is doing anything for the fantasy genre, or encouraging kids to branch out and read more books. That's no reason why she should stop writing, but she gets a lot of praise she doesn't deserve.

Although I think she has the power to make all that happen, if she did the things that so many other children's authors do to encourage children to read ... like mentioning some other books they might like to read. But I've only ever heard of her mentioning one children's book that she liked. She's not under any obligation to do that, of course, but if she did she would deserve all the praise she gets.
 
In my humble opinion the only thing that matters in publishing is the number of sales you get.

They keep saying this is business not personal.

JKR has squillions of sales - so mathematically there are always a tiny percentage; the ones who are always more vocal than the ordinary reader, that complain about her.

Same with Dan Brown.

My point is anyone who says she should not write has green monster syndrome. (jealousy):)
 
I think my best friend would disagree. He works in libraries and that has included school libraries. Part of his job was when children were first reading the books (before the movies came out) to then use that to direct them to other stories. Children joined his book clubs and reading schemes on the back of Harry Potter.

The one thing Harry Potter has is an ability to be no effort to read. When I first became very ill with my ME my brain went from degree level study to Thomas the Tank Engine. The first four Harry Potter (the others weren't out then) were the only books I could read for about three years. It might be for some people Harry Potter is about the only thing they can read.

The Cuckoo's Calling is just as easy. For me, it is great to have a book in my favourite genre that I can read no matter how fogged my brain gets.
 
Hi,

Well the effect of Harry Potter may or may not be huge. But it does seem to be there.

"What is it about this book that has captured the imagination of millions? More importantly, has Harry Potter truly revived reading and become a phenomenon, that is, a marvel? Many people believe so:
The [New South Wales Sidney] Education Department’s Deputy Director-General (Schools), Alan Laughlin, said the popularization of literature – especially the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon – was partly responsible for the lift in literacy because it had taken reading out of the “egghead” realm.1
The National Endowment for the Arts released “Reading at Risk” last year. This is a study which shows adult reading rates have dropped ten percentage points in the last decade, with the steepest slump among those eighteen to twenty-four years old. [...]More critically, the [Harry Potter] books enchanted struggling readers as well – kids like seventeen year old Mike Cossairt of Stafford, Va., who credits Harry Potter for his discovery of pleasure reading and its effects.2
Almost six out of ten children (59 percent) think the books have helped them improve their reading skills. And 48 percent say Rowling’s creation is the reason they read more. [...]Colin Harrison, Professor of Literacy Studies at the University of Nottingham, who contributed to the research, said: “The sheer pervasiveness of JK Rowling’s books means Harry Potter will certainly have impacted on children’s literacy levels.” 3
Harry Potter has had a particularly strong impact on boys’ reading habits, even more than on girls’. According to a study by Yankelovich and Scholastic, 57 percent of boys have read the series, compared with 51 percent of girls. This also has increased reading for pleasure, with 61 percent of boys saying J.K. Rowling’s books have stimulated the “fun” aspect of reading. Parents are also noting what kids are saying about Harry Potter, and have overwhelmingly said they see positive results from their child(ren) reading the books. Out of 260 parents surveyed, 85 percent said their child wanted to read more frequently and 76 percent noted that this had helped their child in school.4
Statistics demonstrate literacy has increased, thanks to Harry Potter. But why has this set of books exploded across literature circles internationally, and how are teachers and librarians (and booksellers, too) keeping people reading and expanding their reading?"

Harry Potter and the Literacy Phenomenon - The Leaky Cauldron

So I return to my thesis. If a few would be best sellers get knocked from their perches by the JK books, I don't really care. If more people are returning to reading, and more children especially are taking up the passtime, I do care.

So carry on JK.

Cheers, Greg.
 
I'm not a fan of Rowling, but I doubt any of it is as bad as Ms Shepherd's article. In a market where anyone can find a title by any of a dozen different search paths, there is literally no such thing as crowding anyone out. Shepherd's metaphors are anchored firmly in the past, when books could elbow one another for space on physical shelves, or competed madly for column inches in the NYT Review of Books.

This was an entire article about something that isn't happening, presented in true copywriter style via an eye-catching and suitably combative headline that is guaranteed to generate some net noise. It comes to little ado about less.
 
If as an aspiring writer if my first book came out the same time as another Rowling book I would curse my luck. My attempt I suspect would be buried under the marketing machine she now has.


But that's all.


JK has as much right to publish as I do or anyone else for that matter. JK will inject massive profits into publishing simply because of who she is which can never be a bad thing. Publishing is suffering these days and the profits will help new writers as profits are re-invested.


Yes this Shepherd, who ever she is, does have a point but not one I agree with. If people are buying Rowling books she'd be silly not to sell them. Just how many jobs are secured by one of her books?


The rest is pot luck and that never changes.
 
The Ace said:
I work in a second-hand bookshop, where I'm in charge of Science Fiction and Fantasy (which includes Horror, to my disgust), and people want Pratchett, Tolkein, or Stephen King - Asimov, Heinlein, Dick and a dozen others just gather dust.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain. When I worked for Waterstones I had to face the Pratchett Wall. I got around it by doing personalised, hand-written recommendations, eg for TBOTNS I wrote, 'The greatest genre novel ever written.' Sold lots - and only one or two returned!
 
The Book of the New Sun?

I agree with Ace because he likes my books!

This is a difficult one. Although Rowling has a right to write and be published, I don't think she is a great author, and I find her spread across bookshelves depressing. The problem, as far as I can tell, comes from the willingness of publishers to promote a small number of "big-name" authors who end up growing out from the genre they originally occupied (I look forward to the GRR Martin sewing bee book*, or the Tom Clancy Regency Romance spin-offs).

I honestly don't know whether, given a choice of Rowling or Good Novel X, a reader will buy only Rowling and not both. However, there are only a certain number of review columns, and when they are taken up by what's close to a celebrity event, they are not being used for newer, and perhaps more deserving, writers. Also, as has been said, once you get to a certain critical mass, you have to write a lot of truly dreadful books to lose your fan-base. People will always continue to buy stuff just "to see what the hype is about", which is probably how acknowledged rubbish like 50 Shades did so well.

Assuming that this continues, I expect that small presses and perhaps the better end of self-publishing will gain ground, and that more books will achieve cult status, simply because they're not able to become bestsellers regardless of quality. I could see a mainstream of, say, 50 writers filling bookshops, while a sort of underground grows via internet recommendation.

* "Now cut the fabric just below the neckline. With a battleaxe. While your rival is wearing it."
 
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