The Professor is talking up that Rowling pseudonymously written book, of which I don't quite understand the purpose. The adoption of new nom de plumes is, I understand, now common practice for mid-list authors who have found themselves frozen out by underwhelming sale numbers. Or, I should say, it *was* common practice back in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the midlist. (I really should read through the whole of that Rusch writing-business series when I have a moment.)
Anyways, it makes sense to take a pen name when you're struggling or have been given the editorial kiss of death, but why would a massively successful best-selling author cut her own knees out from under herself like that? Ego, I guess?
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I think there are two primary reasons successful writers with built-in audiences choose to write under pseudonyms:
They are so prolific they threaten to oversaturate their own market, or to try new things. By publishing under pen names, they can indulge their compulsion to write without overexposing themselves, providing more product than anyone can absorb. This also permits them to explore subjects, moods, genres and approaches that is not their norm and which may alienate their fans, (always expectant for more of that which they are fans of), or to build a new, possibly separate audience.
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