Monetizing Hatred: the JK Rowling Case
“There is no such thing as bad publicity”, said an author who knew much about the biz, even as far as the 19th century.
Oscar Wilde, who had a long writing career, was praised by some and frowned upon by many. But the similarities with JK Rowling — currently the world’s richest author — don’t end here.
While Wilde’s success was a result of his prolific writing throughout his life, his outstanding sales were partly due to the way he lived his life. They were a result of the things he said and the person he was in public.
Controversy, we all know, is bound to be on everyone’s mouth.
For those who have missed what caused JK Rowling’s demise: the author has recently been very vocal about her view on sex, gender, and women who belong (or, according to her, don’t belong) to the trans community.
While I believe JK Rowling is genuinely ignorant of queer and transgender issues, I am also ready to argue that the strength of her belief is directly proportional to the growth in sales that this public hatred generates.
The reaction to Rowling’s new book is the perfect example. Outrage sparked after media revealed the plot of the new episode of thriller-investigative Troubled Blood. The episode, early reviewers report, would be about ‘a cisgender man committing crime disguised as a woman’.
Everyone is tweeting, reposting, blogging about their disappointment. What’s this but not a very clever marketing strategy?
Had it been any other author using this literary trope, it would have gone completely unnoticed by the critics’ radar. The fact that it’s written by JK Rowling, so vocal against trans women, puts this trope under a whole new light.
In other words: a book that would otherwise be completely unremarkable and widely ignored is, suddenly, all the media is talking about.
And to think that people all across the globe are only talking about for how bad it is! Back to Wilde’s quote, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Moreover, the fact that so many activists and readers are sharing the news means a massive popularity boost for JK Rowling’s new release. Whether we want it or not, this debate is fueling her agenda.
She isn’t the first in the business to use this strategy. Also, this isn’t the first time she exploits queer spaces and queer conversations to expand her empire. Queerbaiting is a crime she has already stained the Harry Potter universe with irreversibly.
I, a fan of the Harry Potter books for the whole of my childhood and teenage, like to address my fellow readers this way:
Don’t feel guilty to like the books and everything produced in the past. Keep enjoying it, but also: engage with it, and with the author, critically.
If you support the LGBTQ+ community, you might want to take concrete action and boycott JK Rowling. This, in concrete terms, means: don’t buy new editions of her books (you can find plenty of them used in second-hand marketplaces), don’t buy the new movies, don’t buy official merchandise.
Genuine or improvised, what she’s putting out there is hatred and ignorance. Pure and simple. Whether this is a strategy or not, it doesn’t make her reproachable actions and words less unacceptable. Let’s not forget how this whole discourse is harmful to queer/trans people.
Bottom line: I don’t believe she’s really committed to all the hatred she’s pouring on the internet, I believe she was financially clever enough to find a way to keep her name on everyone’s mouth at all times.
