JK Rowling US book sales lag behind industry-wide boom following transphobia criticism

Harry Potter author's recent comments have been widely described as transphobic by LGBT+ activists

Sales of books by best-selling novelist JK Rowling have lagged in the US amid an industry-wide sales boom.

The Harry Potter author has faced criticism in recent weeks for her remarks made in June about transgender people, which have widely been described by LGBT+ activist groups as transphobic.

According to publishing monitor NPD BookScan, Rowling’s sales had been at an upswing since the start of the year, but suddenly slowed in the month of June, despite fiction print books sales rising by 31.4 per cent compared to May. This trend was roughly consistent across fiction titles in adult, YA and children’s sectors.

Rowling’s books, however, rose by just 10.9 per cent, and the Harry Potter books by just 7.7 per cent.

Kristen McLean, analyst and executive director of business development at the NPD Group, said: “Looking at [Rowling’s] performance against the rest of the market, especially as benchmarked against her performance in 2019 – which was very consistent with the rest of the market – I think she’s down.

“She’s certainly underperforming the rest of the market, comparatively, by two thirds.”

McLean theorised that the rise throughout the first half of the year could be attributed to the coronavirus lockdown, as parents look to find books to keep their children entertained. She declined to speculate on the reason for the June dip.

The controversy surrounding Rowling’s views on trans people dates back years. In 2017, the author’s representatives characterised Rowling’s “like” of a transphobic social media post as “a middle-aged moment”.

In June, Rowling tweeted in response to a post that used the phrase “people who menstruate”. She suggested that the writer should have used the term “women” instead. Rowling’s remarks failed to take into account the many non-binary people and trans men who menstruate, and the many women, including cisgender women, who do not.

Rowling then posted an essay on her personal website defending her position, which was opposed by Harry Potter actors including Daniel Radcliffe. The author was subsequently criticised for liking a tweet that pejoratively compared hormone therapy to anti-depressants.