The pen name J.K. Rowling belongs to the first billionaire author, Joanne Kathleen Rowling, a British novelist, who created the award-winning Harry Potter series that has sold over 400 million copies around the world. Her books have been published in at least 50 languages, including Latin and Greek.

Her journey to birthing the gift that is the Harry Potter Series to the world makes an interesting story; especially as it leads to her becoming the first billionaire author.

In today’s post, we bring you the story of how J.K Rowling became the first billionaire from writing books. By the way, if you haven’t already, consider subscribing to After School Africa for more insightful videos like this one below:

WATCH: 7 Books Oprah Winfrey Thinks Everyone Should Read

OKAY..

First, Life Happened

Joanne Rowling’s life was sailing as smoothly as possible. At age 20 she had a degree in French and was already working for Amnesty International while writing the first book in the Harry Potter series. Then life happened and she lost her mother to multiple sclerosis after fighting for over a decade.

She tried to put that all behind her by traveling overseas to teach English in the coastal city of Porto. She got a second dose of life’s medicine when she met and fell in love with an aspiring journalist Jorge Arantes. She soon had a miscarriage and against her better judgment, married Arantes.

Nine months later she was delivered of her daughter, Jessica whom she would need police presence to forcefully take from Arantes who had become increasingly abusive. Weeks later she got on a plane to Edinburgh, Scotland where her sister and her husband lived.

Holding on to What She Had

Interestingly Rowling never stopped writing for once. Not even when she had to live from hand to mouth and was in her own words “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” She kept on writing. At a point, suicide became an option but after going for therapy and finding inspiration in her daughter, was able to finish the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1995. It would take two years, a dozen rejections and at least 15 remakes before Bloomsbury found her work interesting enough to offer a £1,500 advance. Since when it rains it usually pours, Rowling was able to get £8,000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council.

June 26, 1997, marked the beginning of a new phase in her life as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in theU.K under the pen name “J.K. Rowling”. It was an immediate success as it appealed to its primary audience (children) and adults too. It even received the British Book Award. And that was how Harry Potter worked his magic, turning a destitute single mother into a celebrity author overnight? [pause] Well, not exactly but you get the point. The story doesn’t end here though.

Then She Hit Pay Dirt

 J.K leveraged on the popularity the Harry Potter brand had already garnered. She went on to pen six more books in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows(2007). All of them became bestsellers and are available in at least 200 countries and over 50 languages. These books have sold over 400million copies worldwide and made her a lot of money from movie rights.

ALSO WATCH: Top 10 Creative Writing Competitions for Young Writers | WIN UP to $100,000

How the ‘Billion’ happened

Within days of the first Harry Potter book, Scholastic (a publishing powerhouse) had bid more than $100,000 for the American publishing rights. Later on Warner Bros. wanted a feature-film deal for the first two Harry Potter novels. They paid a handsome seven-figure sum which became a very successful movie franchise. By July 2000, the Goblet of Fire novel broke sales records, selling three million copies in the first 48 hours while ALL the following books broke successive records.

By 2004 J.K had become a billionaire while still only halfway through eight Harry Potter films and well before the launch of the Fantastic Beasts movies which would prove to be a cash-cow. Rowling is estimated to have earned well over $1 billion from Harry Potter book sales alone beside another $50 million for her books for adults and several Potter spinoffs. She has also earned hundreds of millions from her share of the profits from the Harry Potter movies, as well as the Fantastic Beasts movies.

She earned an estimated $60 to $80 million licensing fee for the attractions at Universal Studios in Hollywood and Orlando for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and gets a percentage of tickets, merchandise, food, and beverage sales. While money from theme parks has brought in about $100 million, she still makes money from licensing deals, the Broadway play Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, and TV deals.

Speaking on what it takes to succeed in the mist failures, she said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something; unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you have failed by default”.

Rowling’s story is one of holding on to one’s dream in spite of the storms of life. Her biopic would likely make a Hollywood blockbuster. What’s one lesson you are taking away from J.K. Rowling’s story? Tell us in the comment section? Let us know if you’ll like us to bring you more stories like this. If you haven’t subscribed to our channel, this is likely a good time to subscribe. Until next time, YOUR SUCCESS MATTERS!