Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira! And I'm Finn! Before we start, we have a huge shout-out today for Rhea and for Jay, who is seven years old and lives in Carlsbad, California!
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SPEAKER_00Jay, you said your favourite episode so far was the toilets one. That was a stinky classic. I mean, who doesn't love learning about medieval gong farmers, right? Exactly! Both of you requested today's topic, and honestly, so did lots of other listeners. We have been asked to cover this so many times by kids all over the world, we finally caved. So what are we talking about today? Well, imagine writing a story that becomes the best-selling book series in the entire history of the world. Whoa, like more than a hundred copies. Way more! Over 600 million copies! But here is the crazy part. Before it got published, twelve different publishers looked at it and said, no thanks. Twelve? Are they crazy? Who finally said yes? A small publisher in London, and they only said yes because the boss's eight-year-old daughter read the first chapter and demanded to read the rest. Haha, yes, kids rule! Wait, what book was it? Today, we are travelling back to the 1990s to discover exactly how Harry Potter was made. No way! The boy with the lightning scar! I am so ready for this. The story starts in the year 1990. A 24-year-old woman named Joanne Rowling was on a train travelling from Manchester, a city in the north of England, down to London King's Cross station. Was it a magical steam train, like the Hogwarts Express? Nope, just a regular, boring passenger train. And to make things worse, the train broke down and was delayed for four whole hours. Ugh, four hours sitting on a train with nothing to do? That sounds like torture. Did you have a phone to play games on? This was 1990, Finn. Smartphones didn't exist yet. People read books or stared out the window. Joanne was just sitting there, looking out at the fields, when suddenly an idea popped fully formed into her head. The idea for Harry Potter! Exactly! She said she clearly saw a scrawny little boy with messy black hair and glasses who didn't know he was a wizard. Did she start writing it down immediately? I would have scribbled it everywhere. She wanted to. The ideas were flooding her brain like a tidal wave of magic. She thought up a wizard school, ghosts, spells. But there was one massive problem. She didn't have a pen. What? Not even a pencil! How do you invent the greatest story ever and not write it down? She checked all her pockets and her bags. Nothing. She didn't even have eyeliner. And she was too shy to ask any of the other passengers to borrow one. But she might forget it. That actually turned out to be a good thing. Because she couldn't write, she was forced to just sit and think for four straight hours. She built the entire wizarding world inside her imagination before she ever wrote a single word on paper. So when the train finally got to London, did she run to a store, buy a hundred pens, and write the whole book? She did start writing that very night, but writing a book takes a long time. In fact, it took her five whole years to finish the first book. Five years? That's almost my entire life. Why did it take so long? Well, life got really tough for Joanne. Her mother passed away, which made her very sad. Then she moved to Portugal to teach English, got married, and had a baby girl named Jessica. That sounds nice though. It was, but sadly, her marriage didn't work out. By 1993, Joanne moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, as a single mum. She had no job, very little money, and was struggling just to buy food. That is so hard. How do you write a book when you're just trying to survive? By never giving up. Joanne lived in a tiny, freezing cold apartment in Edinburgh. In the winter, the temperature drops down to freezing. To keep her baby warm and get her to sleep, she would bundle little Jessica up, put her in a stroller, and walk the hilly cobblestone streets until the baby fell asleep. And then what? The second Jessica was asleep, Joanne would rush into a warm cafe, buy one single cup of coffee, and write as fast as she could. Whoa, she wrote Harry Potter in a coffee shop while her baby slept. Yes, she didn't have a fancy laptop. She wrote on scraps of paper and in cheap notebooks. Then she typed it all out on a heavy, old-fashioned manual typewriter. Every single time she made a mistake, she had to retype the whole page. She is basically a real-life superhero. Did she finally finish it? She did. In 1995, the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was finally complete. The boy from the train was ready to meet the world. So she sent it to a publisher. They gave her a million dollars and she became rich instantly, right? I wish. She found an agent who sent the typed manuscript to publishing companies in London. The first one read it and said no. Aw man. Well, what about the second one? They said no too. They told her the book was too long for children. A third one said no. A fourth one said boys wouldn't read a book by a woman. That is ridiculous! Boys love magic. I would read a wizard book no matter who wrote it. I agree. But in total, twelve different major publishers rejected Harry Potter. They all completely missed out on the biggest story in history. Twelve rejections? I would have been so sad. Did she quit? Never. Finally, a year later, the manuscript went to a small London publisher called Bloomsbury. The boss, a man named Nigel Newton, took the first chapter home. Did he read it? Better. He gave it to his eight-year-old daughter, Alice Newton. Alice took it to her room, read it, and an hour later came downstairs completely glowing. What did she say? She wrote a note that said, the excitement in this book made me feel warm inside. She demanded that her dad give her the next chapter immediately. Alice saved the day! Eight-year-olds know what's good. Exactly! Because Alice loved it so much, Bloomsbury agreed to publish it. But they didn't think it would make much money. They gave Joanne an advance of just £1,500. Wait, how much is that in dollars? About £2,500. And they only printed exactly £500 copies of the book in their very first run. They thought it would just be a tiny, quiet release. Only £500 books? That's not enough for my school, let alone the whole world. I know! Out of those 500 copies, 300 went straight to public libraries. But the amazing thing about a great story is that you can't keep it a secret. What happened? Did kids start telling each other? Exactly! Word of mouth spread like wildfire. Kids told their friends, who told their friends? The book won awards, and suddenly bookstores couldn't keep it on the shelves. How many books have they sold now? Hold on to your hat. The seven Harry Potter books have sold over 600 million copies worldwide. They have been translated into 85 different languages. That is enough to fill 6,000 large stadiums. Or like almost enough to give a book to every single person in the United States. Twice? Easily! It is officially the best-selling book series in the entire history of publishing. And it all started with a delayed train and no pen. Wait, I have a question. Why does the cover say JK Rowling instead of Joanne Rowling? Good catch! That's actually one of my favourite fun facts. The publisher was still worried that young boys wouldn't want to read a fantasy book written by a woman. Still? That is so silly. Why wouldn't we? It is silly, but they asked her to use her initials instead of her first name, so readers wouldn't know if she was a man or a woman. She used J for Joanne, but she didn't actually have a middle name. What? Then where did the K come from? She borrowed it from her grandmother, Kathleen, so she became JK Rowling. And guess what? If you find one of those original 500 first editions today, it can sell for over $50,000 at auction. Whoa, I need to go check every library in town immediately. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz. Are you ready? Okay, I'm ready. Bring on the magic. First question. In what year was Joanne Rowling delayed on the train when she got the idea? Next one. How many publishers rejected the Harry Potter manuscript before one finally said yes? Question three. What was the full name of the eight-year-old girl who convinced her dad to publish the book? Here's number four. Exactly how many copies were printed in the very first run of the book. Last question. How many Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide today? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is the train was delayed in 1990. For question two, twelve different publishers rejected it. Big mistake. The answer to number three is her name was Alice Newton. For question four, they only printed 500 copies in the first run. And the final answer is, over 600 million copies have been sold. I still can't believe 12 publishers said no. They must kick themselves every single day. I bet they do. But it just proves that you should never give up on a good idea. Even if it takes five years to write it in a coffee shop. And always keep a pen in your pocket, just in case. That is great advice. Hey listeners, if you love magic as much as Alice Newton did, please leave us a five-star review. Just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the five stars. Yeah, it helps other kids find the show. We really appreciate it. Oh, and don't forget to check out our site, kidopoly.com. We've got tons of fun learning games, cool articles, and activities waiting for you there. It's awesome. And if you want a shout out on the show or just want to say hi, email us at hello at kidopoly.com. We love hearing from you guys. Thanks for travelling back to the 1990s with us today. See you next time on History is not boring. Bye everyone.