Harry Potter was a bad idea

Harry Potter was a bad idea. At least to those initial publishers that turned JK Rowling down.

It must dog their thoughts constantly.

‘I turned down a career defining success.’

But let’s examine this situation with the lens of ‘good idea v bad idea’.

Those publishers don’t like losing money.

Those publishers most likely have a few decades of experience each and probably have a track record of picking the best sellers from the duds.

When they read that first chapter preview they didn’t see a remarkable idea, they didn’t even think it was a good idea. They saw a dud. So they passed.

Then another publisher takes a chance on Rowling and Harry Potter becomes a worldwide phenomenon.

Why?

The sample JK Rowling sent didn’t change. It wasn’t a new and improved chapter. It was the same words in the same order.

What changed was the publisher’s actions.

The book clearly wasn’t written for middle aged jaded publishers, it was written for children.

So the soon to be wildly successful publisher took the book to his child to get their opinion.

The child thought it was amazing and so did millions of children around the world and seemingly overnight Harry Potter becomes famous to kids everywhere.

For some it was a bad idea, for others it was an unbelievably good idea.

Therefore, before you go beating yourself up for a terrible idea, you should answer the question ‘who is it for?’