The Making of the Potterverse (2 page)

J.K. Rowling (Louis M. Lanzano/AP Photo)

The
Herald
in Glasgow offered a profile of Rowling, elaborating on her background, her struggles and her efforts to sell Harry Potter. In the course of the interview, Rowling admitted, “This book saved my sanity. Apart from my sister, I knew nobody. I’ve never been more broke and the little I had saved went on baby gear. In the wake of my marriage [ending], having worked all my life, I was suddenly an unemployed single parent in a grotty little flat. The manuscript was the only thing I had going for me.” A number of other publications provided more details of her past and the initial development of Harry Potter, among them: the
Sunday Times,
the
Scotsman,
and the
Electronic Telegraph
.

The manuscript for
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
(renamed
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
in America) had been completed in 1996, and attracted the attention of agent Christopher Little, who wanted to represent J.K. Rowling. Eight UK publishers ultimately rejected the manuscript, but Bloomsbury took it on, offering the author a $4,000 advance.

When the first Harry Potter went into auction in America, Scholastic managed to secure the rights for about $100,000 — an unbelievable amount as far as J.K. Rowling was concerned (and, ironically, about one percent of what she’s worth in 2007). In addition, the
Bristol Evening Post
reported that two Hollywood studios were attempting to secure a deal for the films based on the rights David Heyman had acquired.

Following the sale of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,
Rowling took home, in her mind, an even bigger prize: a gold medal and £2,500 as part of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize — the children’s equivalent of The Booker. “It’s a particularly wonderful award to win from my point of view,” she told the press, “because the final judging is done by children and they are obviously the people whose opinions matter to me the most.” She also mentioned that she planned on a seven-book series and that she was halfway through book three, having already finished book two,
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
. Most surprisingly, she added, “I also have another children’s book half-finished.” No further word on
that
particular project.

Nestlé Smarties winner J.K. Rowling visited the school she used to attend, the Forest of Dean, where she talked to students about becoming a writer and encouraged them to read. At the time, the press noted that the first Harry novel had sold 35,000 copies.

The “good humor and pace” of the first Harry Potter novel got it into the top four of the
Guardian
’s Children’s Fiction Prize.

The Scottish Braille Press made a Braille edition of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
. Sally McCallum of the Braille Press said, “Everyone was really excited about publishing
Harry Potter
in Braille because the book was so good and it is important to have good books in Braille for children.” Added author J.K. Rowling, “It is wonderful. I’m really honored that the title has been chosen.”

J.K. Rowling paid a surprise visit to Alford Primary School in England, where she read from her novels and took questions from the students.

The
Electronic Telegraph
conducted an interview with Rowling and in the accompanying profile observed, “When her first novel was published last year, Rowling became a literary sensation. The novel won her the Smarties Prize — the children’s equivalent of the Booker. It was sold to eight other countries, netting a $100,000 advance for the American edition, a huge sum for a first novel, almost unheard of for a children’s novel. Such is the excitement about Joanne Rowling that she is being compared to C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl, who also achieved the rare trick of delighting both children and adults. The secret seems to be that her target [audience] consists of one person: herself.” This article was also the first mention of a possible Harry Potter film deal, though Rowling couldn’t really comment on it at that early juncture.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
was published in Britain. Of the book’s arrival in the UK, The
Scotsman
wrote, “The second
novel,
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
, has leapt to the top of the hardback bestseller lists, overtaking adult works with all the élan of a gracefully speeding broomstick. Certainly, young readers have been clamoring for the next installment of Harry’s funny, scary, magical life. It is the book which will keep the beloved offspring quiet for substantial segments of the summer holidays. Yet adults, not all of them teachers or parents avidly curious to learn what has so enthralled their children, are it seems almost equally allured by Harry’s escapades at Hogwarts. This is as it should be. The great children’s books have always transcended petty boundaries of age.”

The value of Bloomsbury stock was being driven upward by the success of J.K. Rowling’s creation.