J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter

Well it's official. The cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been revealed:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17828868/

As an author myself, it's not unheard of to hear reference to Ms. Rowling in certain circles. Some authors bemoan her success, wishing for such themselves, or at least wishing they had her riches to roll around in. Pretty much the measure of a successful author is compared to that of Ms. Rowling or Nora Roberts. But even Nora, no matter how many books she's written or how many romances she's written or how many TV movies they make of her books will never attain the world wide fame or heck, even the bank account of J.K. Rowling. I heard it said once that Ms. Rowling is richer than the Queen of England. Considering all those Crown Jewels and castles, that's really saying something.

But for a woman who was digging through the couch for loose change over ten years ago, the fame that goes along with the success of her Harry Potter books has got to be daunting. Here I am, with maybe a few hundred fans, feeling "pressure" to make the third book of my BEAST series something they won't be disappointed in. Ms. Rowling has MILLIONS of fans, and she's just finished her final, controvertial Potter book.

I mean, can you imagine?

Ultimately, you have to write what your muse tells you to write. And announcing that someone is going to die in the next book is Big Publicity because everyone wants to know "who". But killing off a well-liked character can have rabid fans tossing their books against the wall, thoroughly pissed they ever started your series in the first place. Heck, at least Rowling is FINISHING her series, unlike a certain Robert Jordan... But don't get me started on him. lol

Like I said before, many authors "wish" to be in Rowling's shoes. While it's nice to dream about being able to buy a villa in the south of France if you desire, I'm not so sure I'd want to be where she is. Money doesn't buy happiness, it only buys the illusion of happiness. So yeah, you could be sipping pina coladas in your villa, but you'll be surrounded by superficial people who are drooling for your table scraps, constantly hounded about your book plots, and under the most critical eye of the Almighty Public. If you can't handle a negative review from a small review site, there's no way in heck you could handle the kind of fame Rowling has with the critisizm that goes along with it...

So the next time you wish to be like Rowling, put her fame into perspective and ask yourself if you could handle the tremendous, stressful burden of being Uber Famous (echo echo). It's probably why Ms. Rowling rarely smiles...



~~Becka