14 DAY TRIAL // A man who is responsible for outing J.K. Rowling as the true author of the crime novel “The Cuckoo's Calling” was fined $1,600 (€1,166). The man named by the media as Chris Gossage was the first to disclose the Harry Potter author was really behind the pen name of Robert Galbraith.
Rowling took the assumed name in order to see if the novel would get any attention on its own, rather than be influenced by the huge success of the Harry Potter series with which the name of Rowling is associated.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority slapped the fine on the lawyer and issued a written rebuke for having breached client confidentiality rules by “disclosing confidential information about a client to a third party.”
Gossage told his friend Judith Callegari last year that Rowling was actually the real writer behind the name Galbraith. In turn, Callegari leaked the information to a journalist in a conversation on Twitter. From there on, the information spread and “The Cuckoo's Calling” book exploded in sales after previously managing to move only 1000 copies.
Rowling was initially furious with the leak and decided to take the matter to court, accusing both the lawyer and his friend for leaking the information. Since then, she has accepted their apology as well as their donations to charity.
She was quoted as saying at the time that she “had hoped to keep the secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been as a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.”
Rowling is still trying to move on from her children's series of novels that has brought her worldwide fame and fortune. She has also penned a book called “The Casual Vacancy” which went on to gain positive reviews and break sales records.