One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Calling

It was recently revealed that J.K. Rowlings had written a novel under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith," entitled, "The Cuckoo's Calling." After four months, the novel had only sold 1,500 copies, which could be considered respectable for a first time author named "Robert Galbraith," but it wouldn't exactly pay to keep the lights on. Since it was revealed that Robert Galbraith didn't exist, but was instead the famed author of Harry Potter, the novel has gone on to sell 100,000 times that amount. In a nutshell, this is what's wrong with the literary world.An author can write a novel that can garner critical acclaim and it can collect dust on the shelves. If that same author happens to be famous, that same novel will sell millions.
What causes this difference? You, the reader.
I've written numerous blogs about the roadblocks preventing a person from making it to print. To publish a work based on it's own merit is virtually impossible in this day and age. Even after making it to the shelves, there's no guarantee anyone will read your work. Worse still is the inability to independently publish an e-book and have it read, even if you offer it for free. Word of mouth, traffic and advertising are huge factors in being noticed in an Ocean with too many fish. "Robert Galbraith" could have written the best thing ever and still no one would take notice. As it stood, with sales the way there were, there would have been no justification to continue with a sequel to the novel until Rowlings let it slip that she was the author.
You can understand why a famous writer might use a pseudonym. There's too much pressure from fans and publishers alike to regurgitate what you've already written.There's also the fear of failure and criticism. In Rowlings case it looked as if she wanted to see if she could make it on her own. The answer she got was, "Kinda." If she'd been starting out as, "Robert Galbraith," she could have looked forward to years of painstaking work trying to inch up a ladder that shouldn't exist in the first place. It'd be like starting out in the mailroom of a company and trying to work your way up to C.E.O.. If all of this had been legit, the unsold copies of the book would have returned to the publisher in a few months, and "Robert" would have to do some serious convincing to get his next work published. After all, 1,500 copies or so at $12.99 apiece is only about $20,000. There's no telling what "Robert's" percentage of that would be, but he'd have to keep his day job for certain. As time goes by, he's less likely to sell more copies as bookstores keep their stock for only so long.