Rowling and the "Former Fan"

J. K. Rowling apparently had a cordial non-relationship with fans who built an encyclopedic website of her Harry Potter world. Right up to the time when they had a book in press. At that point, the popular and wealthy author, who had used the site herself, balked. She feels "exploited."

Given she was aware of The Harry Potter Lexicon, and seemed comfortable with its existence, it's a little hard to sympathize with this. She does intend to produce her own book, but it's easy to guess that most people who would buy one would buy both. And given she was using the site as she wrote, was she—unconsciously, perhaps—thinking that it would be available for her own reference work?

Rowling is hardly the first author who has been fan-friendly and then been unhappy to find that friendly can involve some loss of control. Let's hope they reach a mutual understanding without rancor. However, the court case is scheduled for the fourteen of April and RDR books has posted a statement that doesn't suggest they're about to back down. Indeed, they see larger issues at stake, and they may be right.