J. K. Rowling and Enid Blyton
Two Outstanding Children's Authors with a Lot in Common
Enid Blyton, children's author of the 20th century and J.K. Rowling, children's author of the 21st century have more in common than you might think.
Books written especially for children started to appear during the 18th century. A diet of moralistic stories included Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” and Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”. The 19th century brought Wyss’s “Swiss Family Robinson” and Andersen's “The Little Mermaid”. American writer Louisa May Alcott left her mark with “Little Women”, “Jo’s Boys” and “Little Men”. Richmal Crompton’s “Just William” and Milne’s “Winnie the Poo” enthralled children in the 20th century. In 1997 J. K. Rowling gave us “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to be followed by six more in the series. But by far the most prolific 20th century children's author was Enid Blyton.
As children both Blyton and Rowling were natural storytellers enthralling their friends with stories from their fantasy worlds. Blyton even sent dozens of stories and poems to magazines hoping for publication. Only one poem was published and rejection slips poured in. Her mother called her efforts “scribbling” and a “waste of time and money”.
Phenomenal Best Sellers
As established authors both have been phenomenal best sellers. During her 40-year writing career Blyton wrote over 700 books, 4,500 short stories and innumerable articles for educational journals. During her lifetime she sold 200 million books. In total Blyton has sold some 400 million books worldwide. Approximately one half of her titles are still in print selling more than 10 million copies annually.
Blyton may be the only children’s author to have outsold Rowling. But Rowling has sold her books faster: some 325 million in 65 languages in 10 years not including sales of the seventh book in the Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", released in July 2007. The last five books in the series are reputed to be the fastest-selling books in history.
Creating a Public Image
In 1950 Blyton established her own limited company, Darrell Waters Ltd., to manage her business and develop her public image. Her signature became her trademark and she created a public image through which she marketed her books.
Unless one has a signed copy we don't know what Rowling's signature looks like. Bloomsbury Publishing, Rowling's publisher, keeps her constantly in the public eye with every achievement, such as the awarding of the Smarties Prize being treated as high profile news releases.
Letter Writing versus Internet Blog
Blyton was a keen letter writer, keeping in touch with her fans through the magazines she wrote for. That doesn't seem very high-tech but Rowling also does a similar thing through her blog making the most of internet technology.
A Critical World
Both writers have suffered criticism. There are those who objected to Rowling's books because her characters are wizards and witches. At the end of the 1950s many librarians in the U.K refused to allow Blyton’s books shelf space on the grounds that children might not read the great works of literature. Such criticism only resulted in even higher book sales for both authors.
Forty years since her death and Blyton has still not lost her popularity. At least half her books are still in print and many have been made into film and television programmes. Noddy and his little car sell by the thousand alongside Potter-themed merchandise.
Chorion, the company that own the rights to all Blyton's work, have produced a new series entitled "Make Way for Noddy", broadcast every morning in UK and the first five books in the Harry Potter series have been made into wildly successful films, with two more to follow.
It seems there is still space on the book shelves for both Enid Blyton and J. K. Rowling.
Sources: "The Enid Blyton Biography" Stoney, B. Hodder, London 1992, ISBN 0 340 58348 7 (paperback)
"Gillian Baverstock Remembers Enid Blyton" Baverstock, B, 2000
"A Childhood at Green Hedges" Imogen Smallwood, 1989
