Why didn't J.K. Rowling use her real name when she was published?

Answer 1

Jo goes by JK Rowling because her publisher feared that young boys, who were the target audience of the Harry Potter series, might be reluctant to buy a book by which the author is female. But, Kathleen is not Jo's middle name. In fact, Jo does not have a middle name. She took on Kathleen as her pen name's middle name because that was her grandmothers name, but it is not her legal name.

Answer 2

When publishing her first book her publisher told her that she didn't think a man would read a book written my a woman. So she took the middle name of one of her grandmothers and abbreviated her first and new middle name.

Answer 3

At the time of publishing, it was suggested that young boys would not want to read a book written by a woman. The editor told her to use her first and middle name initials. Since she didn\'t officially have a middle name, she used her grandmothers name.