J.K Day is Coming...
On September 27th, J.K Day will hit the UK
with a heavyweight blow. Needless to say, The Casual Vacancy is possibly
the most anticipated novel of 2012. Since the announcement of the
acquisition by Little, Brown all I've been able to hear is the sound of reviewers
rubbing their hands together.
Having had a few conversations about it there
seems to be one question echoing around; will it actually be a big seller?
True, this is a huge departure from Harry Potter, the plot revolves around a
small English town at war over a vacant parish council seat. Now to me, 'war'
and 'parish council' are not two subjects that naturally go together to make a
great read. But more than that, is it a great read her fans will get their
money behind?
A lot of people think it isn't, that it's too
different and won't interest the HP readership. A legitimate concern but on the
other hand I believe we should factor in time. The first Harry Potter book was
published in 1997, for anyone shuddering to do the maths that's 15 years ago,
with the concluding book rounding everything up in 2007. The loyal J.K Rowling
fans that grew up devouring her writings are now in their mid-twenties.
Now for those aged fans, *ahem* like me, a
bit of general fiction is probably appealing. That it's by one of the most
successful childhood authors of all time is an added selling point. So yes,
there probably is a money-at-the-ready adult readership.
If this book doesn't succeed then, it comes
down to one factor; the novel itself.
Now this is where I begin to feel bad for J.K. For most novels sales can be used to measure the success of a book and success usually means it was a good read. The Casual Vacancy doesn't have this yard stick. People will be picking this book up out of curiosity, for comparison and even out of nostalgia but will they be picking it up because they are actually interested in the novel? To be blunt, I won't. The story holds no great interest for me, the blurb doesn't quite sell it enough and I'm turned off by the cover. But I'll pop to Waterstones and buy it anyway.
As a dabbling writer, I can understand that authors want their readers to enjoy their scribblings. What's scary for J.K Rowling is that come Thursday she could have one of the bestselling books in the UK that isn't liked for itself. And that's a sad day.
So it comes down to a question, would you rather people bought a book for its story or to use as a measuring stick? To a publisher maybe it doesn't matter why but to an author, to J.K, maybe people enjoying a new story is all that really matters.
Will you be buying The Casual Vacancy?
