Lynn Shepherd sets off storm of protest by suggesting Harry Potter author has 'had her turn' and is harming others' prospects
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The Guardian
The British crime novelist Lynn Shepherd has found herself at the centre of a storm after she called on JK Rowling to stop writing because she has "had [her] turn", suggesting that other writers need "room to breathe".
Writing in the Huffington Post, in a piece provocatively headlined "If JK Rowling Cares About Writing, She Should Stop Doing It", Shepherd claimed that Rowling's first adult novel The Casual Vacancy "sucked the oxygen from the entire publishing and reading atmosphere". Admitting that she had never read a word of Rowling's writing, Shepherd said that "Rowling has no need of either the shelf space or the column inches, but other writers desperately do", and asked the bestselling author to hang up her pen.
"By all means keep writing for kids, or for your personal pleasure – I would never deny anyone that – but when it comes to the adult market you've had your turn," wrote Shepherd, author of historical crime novels including Murder at Mansfield Park, Tom-All-Alone's (US title The Solitary House) and A Treacherous Likeness (published in the US as A Fatal Likeness). "Enjoy your vast fortune and the good you're doing with it, luxuriate in the love of your legions of fans, and good luck to you on both counts. But it's time to give other writers, and other writing, room to breathe."
"By all means keep writing for kids, or for your personal pleasure – I would never deny anyone that – but when it comes to the adult market you've had your turn," wrote Shepherd, author of historical crime novels including Murder at Mansfield Park, Tom-All-Alone's (US title The Solitary House) and A Treacherous Likeness (published in the US as A Fatal Likeness). "Enjoy your vast fortune and the good you're doing with it, luxuriate in the love of your legions of fans, and good luck to you on both counts. But it's time to give other writers, and other writing, room to breathe."
Published despite a warning that her intervention would be seen as sour grapes, the blog was immediately deluged with hundreds of angry responses. " As a successful author and freelance writer, I read this with my mouth hanging open. I don't think there is anything lower than publicly dissing another author – WITHOUT EVEN READING THEIR BOOKS," wrote author Robin O'Bryant. Another reader called the article "absolute rot. And, really, a bit shameful", adding: "An artist begging another artist to abandon their art because others can't compete? It's like the song Jolene, only a lot more pathetic."
The row quickly spread to Twitter, where writer Mark Chadbourn said Shepherd's piece was an example of "how authors can shoot themselves in the head, via a catastrophic misunderstanding of how publishing works", and the award-winning Paolo Bacigalupi called it "zero-sum author thinking", adding: "If you think other people's success diminishes you, don't be a writer."
But the ire didn't stop there: Rowling's fans have been taking to Amazon, where they have been leaving a deluge of one-star reviews for Shepherd's previously well-regarded novels (a Guardian review of Tom-All-Alone's called it "admirable", with the "necessary eye for squalor, meticulous research and deft plotting"). Now on Amazon.com, its US version The Solitary House has 59 one-star reviews, the majority written this week, ranging from "I've never read any of your books, and now I never will!", to "There is no way I could support an author (or anyone else for that matter) who has such a terrible outlook."
Similarly, A Fatal Likeness has 28 one-star reviews, including one which suggests Shepherd "just literally murdered [her] career". Murder at Mansfield Park now boasts 15, with one reviewer judging: "It's been done before and done better. Shepherd does not have the skills to write a compelling novel. She should take some notes from JK Rowling's excellent Cuckoo's Calling."
Speaking to the Guardian today, Shepherd apologised for upsetting writers and readers alike, explaining that she had "only ever meant to raise the issue of how hard it is for new writers to get noticed and how publishing is much more of a zero sum game than people often think".
"Many writers face the same challenges and frustrations when they're just starting out, and JK Rowling did herself," Shepherd said. "She's been a phenomenal success since then and has millions of fans who are passionate about her books. That's an amazing achievement. With hindsight I'd have written my piece an entirely different way, as I never intended it to upset anyone, and I'm very sorry that it did."
The Guardian