J K Rowling's books selling for thousands of pounds

This book on the left sold for over £3,000:


If the signature turns out to be a fake, will it matter? The author used a fake bio and misled her readers. If she asked someone else to sign the books, is it just one more deception to sell books? How much would it matter to readers willing to shell out thousands of pounds?

Washington Post

Good question. It would matter to me.

I remember when I was a lobbyist intern in Washington, D.C. going into the bowels of the Congressional office buildings to watch the signature machines signing letters from the Congressmen and Senators.  I never looked at signatures the same after that.

 Then I had over 15,000 checks to sign a month in one of my jobs and eventually had a stamp of my signature.

Sigh... I wish my books sold like that... but I barely get one sale a month.  Damn you jealousy!  You foul thorn in my side!  Leave me in peace!

No need to be jealous. The author is not someone to be admired. She hid her identity because she wanted to be a first-time novelists again. So she claims. She also claims that no one at her publishers knew about her real identity. On Monday, 22nd July, it was reported in the London Evening Standard that a London bookshop owner had turned down the chance to make more than £100,000 from personally signed first edition copies of JK Rowling’s debut detective novel.

David Headley, owner of first edition specialists Goldsboro Books, bought up 250 signed copies of The Cuckoo’s Calling before the real author was revealed.

Copies of the book signed by “Robert Galbraith” have since been re-selling on eBay for more than £1,000 each after Rowling’s unmasking.

If J. K. Rowling wanted to remain anonymous, why did she sign hundreds of books for resale? How did she do it? No one at the publishers was supposed to know that she was the real author. She couldn't pop down to London to sign the books. If they were sent to her, they would have to be sent to Edinburgh at her address, which would blow her cover.

So, who did sign those books? My guess is that someone at the publishers signed the books and J.K. Rowling never even saw them.

Yeah, that sounds pretty dirty and underhanded.  Intentional or not.

Boycott her books.

Ah, it is the rare flower that rises to the top without some nefarious scheme along the way - or remains there unscathed by greed's tawdry calling.

After giving this some further thought, I think that DK is probably right. The books were not signed by anyone; they were printed.

"Yes, those books will have value," said Angel Webster of Bauman Rare Books in Manhattan. "The first edition is already a scarce commodity and she only signed a handful of them under vague circumstances."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books/jk-rowlings-fake-robert-galbraith-signature-on-the-cuckoos-calling-has-real-worth/story-fn9412vp-1226680452500#ixzz2aIMEIp2h

The "vague circumstances" is probably a euphemism for "printed".

Shelagh, 

Will you get one?  Or do you want one?

No, Alice, I don't want one. J. K. Rowling and I are poles apart. She wrote a series of books for children that made her rich and famous. She can afford to do anything she wants whenever she wants. She doesn't need to write for money; she can afford to write for pleasure.

Her first book for an adult readership received 845 five star reviews and 847 one star reviews on Amazon.com. This bothered her to the extent that she hid her identity and tried to become a first-time author again. Why do this when her first book in the Harry Potter series was not a commercial success. In order to write the second in the series, she applied to the Scottish Arts Council and received £8.000. Was that her intention if the new detective novel wasn't commercially successful? Was she going to follow through pretending to be a first time author and apply for another grant? The twelfth richest person in the UK asking for a handout? What was this pretence all about? Why sign any copies? None of the first print run of the first Harry Potter novels was a signed copy sold to the public. The only signed copies were gifts to friends and family.

There was no way that she could succeed in being a first-time author again, so why try? Why sign books in order to increase sales when she didn't need the money? The so-called signed books are being sold for thousands of pounds without any authentication. Who signed them? Were they signed or merely printed signatures? How many books in total were signed? We know that one book shop bought over 200 signed copies. How many more were sold to bookshops? Reviewers on Amazon complained of ordering signed copies that didn't have signatures when the books arrived. What was all this about if it wasn't about making money and deceiving people?

Conversely, I wrote two children's books that didn't raise enough money to cover the costs of advertising. I haven't and wouldn't do any of the things J. K. Rowling did in order to be something she is not, i.e., a struggling first-time author ... and I wouldn't need to pretend! I'm happy to be unsuccessful; she's unhappy with her success.

Strange isn't it?

Not strange, just a badly executed fraud. Hope she's rewarded with lots of copies downloaded from Pirate Bay. Both "signed" and unsigned.

She reportedly said to a journalist at the Daily Mail:

Quote :

'While we can't verify whether any particular book currently on eBay etc is genuine, any future books I sign in this way will be authenticated,' she admitted.
'My Robert Galbraith signature is distinctive and consistent; I spent a whole weekend practising it to make sure,' she said.

She's taking the piss, isn't she? She thinks we are all stupid.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2377451/Harry-Potter-author-JK-Rowling-speaks-secret-book-wrote-false-name.html

David Headley contacted me by email and said that his was the only bookstore in the UK to receive signed copies. He asked me to post this here:

“I have been reliably informed that all the signed copies were in the sole possession of one London bookstore. I have also been informed that J. K. Rowling signed books in April exclusively for that store. I have no knowledge of how the books were signed or why she agreed to sign them.”

J.K.Rowling is to donate the royalties from sales of the book over the next three years to a soldier's charity:

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/rowling-donate-royalties-soldiers-charity.html

The way this was done with all the pretence and lies is not excusable. However, anything that raises money for such a good cause is appreciated. I may not be J. K. Rowling's biggest fan, but I am exceedingly pleased with her decision.