Now that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been revealed as the author of “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” the US publisher is preparing for sales to explode.
The tiny Mulholland Books imprint of Little, Brown and Company, part of Hachette Book Group, is increasing the print run 30-fold after Rowling fessed up over the weekend.
“Mulholland is going to press for 300,000 copies, and we will start shipping those to stores later this week,” a spokeswoman told Media Ink.
Her mystery debut barely made a ripple this spring when it was published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, selling just over 2,000 copies in the US and Britain.
That changed on Sunday when the Times of London, after some sleuthing, revealed that Rowling was the author. The novel rapidly ascended to No. 1 on the Amazon bestseller list, where it remained yesterday.
The Times of London uncovered the real author based in part on a tip from Twitter. The paper’s art editor, Richard Brooks, tweeted that he felt the mystery story was too good to have been written by a novice. In response, he received an anonymous tip saying that the book was written by Rowling.
Little, Brown said it planned to publish a second book in the series in the summer of 2014, but it has no title or exact publication date yet.
The next book will also be published under the name Robert Galbraith, with a bio that reads: “Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and ‘The Casual Vacancy.’ ”
Despite positive reviews when it first appeared in London — where the author was described as a former military police investigator — it was slow to move off shelves, selling only 1,500 in the UK and fewer in the US.
Nielsen’s BookScan said only 500 copies had been sold stateside through last week.
But a Little, Brown spokeswoman noted, “The 500 figure from BookScan doesn’t include sales to libraries or from smaller independent bookshops, both of whom supported this book very well.”
Kling king
Assuming there are no last-minute hitches, Michael Klingensmith, the current publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, could be named the CEO of Time Inc. late this week or early next week.
If those talks hit a snag, however, Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes will likely turn to one of two internal candidates still on the short list.
Klingensmith — a dead ringer for singer Art Garfunkel — did not return a call seeking comment. The company has declined to comment.
It’s been four months since Time Warner announced the spin-off of Time Inc. and the search for a new CEO after talks with Meredith to combine their magazine divisions collapsed.
Still, there are plenty of people who think that some combination of Time Inc. titles with Meredith — which publishes Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal — could still happen down the road.
One reason the talks broke down in late March was that the Meredith family, which still controls the publicly traded Meredith Corp., feared dilution of their ownership if they merged the magazines to create a new company. An outright purchase of the Time Inc. titles would solve that problem and enable Time Inc. to cut its debt load.
A Gabelli & Co. report said some combination still makes sense post Time Inc. spin-off. Meanwhile, Meredith’s broadcast TV division would be free to pursue station acquisitions as that industry consolidates.
“We do not think a spin precludes a sale or partial sale of Time Warner’s magazine business,” according to the Gabelli report. “Notably, a Meredith Publishing/Time magazine combination would create a print powerhouse with inherent synergies and allow the MDP broadcast unit to follow the path being blazed by other TV consolidators.”
Vet’s home plate
Last night’s All-Star Game at Citi Field showcased 30 winners of Major League Baseball and People magazine’s “Tribute for Heroes” campaign, created to recognize veterans and military service members.
The 30 winners were treated to an All-Star weekend that included meeting Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig as well as Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief Martha Nelson, People Managing Editor Larry Hackett and Publisher Karen Kovacs.
MLB has committed more than $23 million for grants to hospitals and clinics that provide post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury treatment to veterans and their families in a public/private partnership with “Centers of Excellence” at university hospitals.
People has joined with Welcome Back Veterans and three other nonprofit organizations to provide assistance to veterans and has been running profiles of the veterans in the magazine.
Last night the veterans, ranging in age from 18 to 91, took to the field in a pregame ceremony and were surprised by a congratulatory video from First Lady Michele Obama and Jill Biden, wife of VP Joe Biden.