J.K. Rowling’s “The Cuckoo’s Calling” sales leap

Since the veil was lifted on Robert Galbraith, and J.K. Rowling was discovered, sales figures have grown in leaps and bounds for The Cuckoo’s Calling. The week before Ms. Rowling’s pseudonym was uncovered, the book sold 43 copies (within that week) in the UK. In the days after the news broke, sales jumped to 17,662 in six days. Even though retailers have run out of print copies, J.K. Rowling is back at number one for bestsellers in Britain. ABC 4 reports:

However, the revelation has given the book a massive boost in sales – it shifted 17,662 hardback copies in the U.K. between 14 and 20 July, up from just 43 the week before the news broke.

The sales figures made the tome Britain’s bestselling hardback book last week, with many retailers running out of copies, while signed copies are now fetching more than $1,500 on eBay.com.

The writer has since been forced to deny her unmasking was part of a ploy to boost sales, insisting, “It was not a leak or marketing ploy by me, my publisher or agent… If sales were what mattered to me most, I would have written under my own name from the start, and with the greatest fanfare.”

The Cuckoo’s Calling is Rowling’s second published work for the adult market, following last year’s The Casual Vacancy, and she recently finished work the upcoming 2014 sequel.