Repost

For those wondering about the name of the stone. "Philosopher stone" is the original name. In the U.S. version they called it the "Sorcerer Stone" out of fear that the books wouldn't sell otherwise if the audience would think it was a book about philosophy.

Now the books being singed as "J.K. Rowling" in stead of "Joane Rowling" (as originally intended) is a bit in the same boat. They didn't want a woman's name on the cover afraid boys wouldn't boy the books if they knew the author was a woman. (Although a Dutch author I read a lot of books from as a kid, was also a woman, and I am a boy (or man if you wanna call me that), but maybe I'm just extraordinary).

lol imagine caring what gender the author of a book is. can't relate

It does indeed seem a bit odd to me as well, but that's really the reason why the books are signed with "J.K" in stead of "Joane"... By the way, Rowling does not have a middle name. The K stands for Kathleen which was (if I recall correctly) her grandmother's name. But as far as Harry Potter is concerned a lot of things are a bit miscalculated by publishers. I mean at least 6 publishers refused Harry Potter, and I wonder how they think of themselves now knowing what a commercial success they missed.

I didn't know that about the "K", that's interesting!