http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/was-j ... 21483.html
I have just written a long rant on Facebook, and I am pasting it here, I'd be interested to know what others think.
It's a pity, shameful, even, that even someone like Joanne Kathleen Rowling attempts to hide behind a male pseudonym because she's worried that her writing won't sell if boys see that the book they have picked up was written by a woman. The article highlights the Bronte sisters who wrote under the names of Currer, Ellis and Action Bell, as was the custom of their time. THEIR time. Early 19th century. They were raving successes under their pennames, and remained so after their anonymity disappeared.
Let's look at some more recent examples - Agatha Christie, who wrote under her real name, was hailed as the "Queen of Crime", with an astounding readership. Her play, "The Mousetrap", is the longest running play in history and her books, with a maximum estimated sales of 4 billion, is only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. She wrote under the penname Mary Westmacott for a time, and remained just as successful.
Enid Blyton, the most prolific children's author of the 20th century, wrote under her real name and was quickly lauded as the woman responsible for getting children to read. True, towards the end of her career, libraries banned her works but even so her readership continued to grow and even now is perhaps most children's introduction to reading independently. She didn't need to hide behind a male pseudonym at all. Oh wait, she DID hide under a pseudonym, once, Mary Pollock, just to see whether her books were selling for their own merit or for her name. Critics said, "Enid Blyton had bettter watch out for Mary Pollock." Tada! Women ARE taken seriously, and they were, even in the 20th century.
Why did Rowling feel the need to pose as a man? In my opinion, it is less to do with alienating readerships and more to do with trying to sound like J. R. R. Tolkien. Someone as talented and intelligent as her should FURTHER Christie's and Blyton's examples by using her full name and proudly letting the world know that a woman wrote books as excellent as the Harry Potter series, and this new novel.
The article states, '“It sometimes makes sense for a female author to use a pseudonym, particularly when the main characters are male, or when it's a genre with a strong appeal to men, like military science fiction, certain types of fantasy or gritty thrillers," Penguin editor Anne Sowards told the Wall Street Journal last year.'
Umm... okay? Let's take a look at female director Kathryn Bigelow, history's only female winner of the Academy Award for Best Director, whose two best known films The Hurt Locker, and Zero Dark Thirty, focus on wars, military fiction, bombs - all the works that would strongly appeal more to men than to women.
Perhaps while writing the Harry Potter series, she took Bloomsbury's advice, but with The Cuckoo's Calling, she's just getting some attention.
(I would like to stress than I am an admirer of her writing, just not her publicity stunts).