JK Rowling wishes her alter ego was still under wraps

FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2012 file photo, British author J.K. Rowling poses for photographers during a photo call to unveil her new book, entitled: 'The Casual Vacancy', at the Southbank Centre in LonShow more

J.K. Rowling says her crime-writing alter ego Robert Galbraith had respectable sales and two TV adaptation offers before he was exposed as a pseudonym and that she wished the secret.

"Robert was doing rather better than we had expected him to," she said, referring to sales of 8,500 copies in print, audiobook and e-book formats of thriller The Cuckoo's Calling, which was published in April, adding that he had received two offers from television production companies.

Earlier this month, a newspaper revealed that the book about a former military man working in the civilian security industry, was written by Rowling and since then it has topped best-seller lists.

Rowling said she took a pen-name because: "I was yearning to go back to the beginning of a writing career in this new genre, to work without hype or expectation and to receive totally unvarnished feedback.. I hoped to keep the secret as long as possible,” she said.

* AFP