J. K. Rowling — From Poverty to Billionaire Status
Skill Development Expert Profile — J. K. Rowling
The Harry Potter series has sold more than 500 million copies. It’s the best-selling book series in history, making J. K. Rowling the world’s first billionaire author.
But success was far from certain, and while writing the first book, Rowling skipped meals to ensure her young daughter was fed. Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript, and we could easily never have heard of Harry Potter at all.
Poverty
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I built my life.” — J. K. Rowling
According to Joanne, she was as poor as you could get in modern Britain, without being homeless. She was living on state benefits and did her writing from a coffee shop that would let her sit as long as she wanted while only buying one coffee.
She had a small baby, was recently divorced, and her mother had been diagnosed with MS. On top of that, she was clinically depressed and contemplating suicide. Life was not looking great. Still, she never gave up on her lifelong ambition of becoming a writer.
“I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They…
