20. JK Rowling
One of the most famous authors of a beloved book series decided to drop her first name when she was still unpublished. Joanne Rowling decided using her initials J.K. might help appeal to a young male audience. She wanted them to read her books on a boy’s journey into wizardry and witchcraft.
“Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone” went on to become the first of the best-selling book series in history. The seven novels have been translated in over 60 languages and were launched into a popular film series as well.
It is interesting to think that her next creative endeavor would have JK Rowling once again assuming a male persona. Rowling would publish another book under the pen name Robert Galbraith in 2013. The crime fiction novel “The Cuckoo’s Calling” is the first in the Cormoran Strike series, which has published three sequels.
Rowling said she published the book under the pseudonym to “successfully channel(ed) her inner bloke!” Editor David Shelley read it without knowing Rowling was the author and admitted that he would never have thought “a woman wrote that.”