| J.K. Rowling's publisher suggested she use those initials rather than her real name because it was believed that a fantasy authored by a woman would not be read by boys, and thus would have less earning potential[0]. Her success is evidence that the prejudice is unwarranted, and culturally waning, not that it doesn't exist, and certainly not that it never existed. And there's a long history of women authors publishing under male names for similar reasons, the Bronte sisters being famous examples[1,2]. Although obviously in their cases, the stigma against women authors was much worse than in modern times. Also, data shows that authorship still favors men considerably[3, 4], although women do sometimes dominate certain genres. [0]https://www.capitalfm.com/news/jk-rowling-full-name/ [1]https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/12-fem... [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB [3]https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/04/research-male-... [4]https://pudding.cool/2017/06/best-sellers/ |