Wired Recognizes J. K. Rowling

Wired magazine has honored Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, with its 2007 Wired Rave Award. The Wired Rave Award honors "the mavericks, dreamers and innovators" who make an impression upon the minds of the general public through the categories of technology, business, music, industrial design and blogs.

Where exactly does Ms. Rowling fall in this list of mental influentials? "The Mogul," as the magazine dubs her, is cited with becoming the first author to acheive billionaire status by writing books. In a story that has become almost as legendary as the story that surrounds the deaths of Harry Potters parents and a wayward wizard by the name of Voldemort, Rowling, stuck on a four-hour train ride, began to pen the story of a boy wizard. That story, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or, as it's known in the states, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) earned Rowling only a $4000 advance. A point that Wired notes before further explaining her now billionaire status.

Now, with the final Harry Potter book hitting shelves on July 21, Wired Magazine feels it's time to give Rowling her due. Nothing that Harry Potter came before the now popular MMORPs such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, Rowling has successfully cashed in on her own form of fictional world building as the Harry Potter universe born out of a single book series has spawned films, merchandise and an entire secondary world of fan-penned fiction.

In January, Rowling came in at #2 on Forbe Magazine's "20 Richest Women in Entertainment" list, right behind talk show mogul Oprah Winfrey. In July, her earnings will no doubt escalate, not only when the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Death Hollows, hits book shelves, but also with the release of the fifth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Unlike the other women on Forbe's list, mostly film actresses and pop stars, Rowling has built her wealth completely upon her intellectual property.

The issue of Wired Magazine featuring Rowling and 21 other winners of the Wired Rave Award will hit magazine stands on April 24th. Past winners of the award have included Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson, The Flaming Lips, Bryan Singer and radio shock jock, Howard Stern. Winners will be "celebrated," according to the Rave Awards site, on April 27th at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, CA.

SOURCE: The Leaky Cauldron: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:9734