BEFORE the news broke in The Sunday Times, the book had sold 1500 copies since publication. But within five hours of the real author's identity being revealed, the crime novel was top of the Amazon fiction charts, and the publishers had commissioned a further 300,000 copies. So, should we cheer, or boo?

J. K. Rowling had hoped to keep the whole thing under wraps. She had written her first crime novel, The Cuckoo's Calling, but wanted her authorship to be as mysterious as the plot. To this end, she used the pseudonym of "Robert Galbraith", and even gave this unknown writer a tantalising biographical snippet in the author profile: Robert Galbraith, we were told, "was attached to the SIB (Special Investigative Branch), the plainclothes branch of the Royal Military Police. He left the military in 2003, and has been working since then in the civilian security industry."

But "Robert" has never done a day's security work in his life - "he" has been too busy writing record-smashing Harry Potter stories under "his" real name.

The truth had been leaked by a member of the law firm that had acted for the publishers. He had shared this information with his wife's best friend, and suddenly the world knew, too. All deny that the leak was part of a devious marketing campaign, and Rowling declared herself "disappointed and very angry". "I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer," she said, "because being 'Robert Galbraith' has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name."

This is all very understandable. When you have achieved the commercial success that Rowling has, you do not need the money - but you might long for some genuine feedback from reviewers, without baggage from the past.

Others were disappointed, too, although for different reasons. Here was a book that suddenly sold 300,000 copies merely because of the name on the cover. As someone said: "This isn't a whodunnit, but a whowroteit." It seemed to confirm that to those who have, more will be given; and to those who have not . . . well, you know how it ends.

But to me, it is a cheerful story about valuing what we do, whether we sell carpets, clean floors, or breed pigs - valuing what we do for its own sake. Without the publicity, this book would have sat largely unnoticed; yet it would still be the well-written story it is. Its quality has not been affected by the leak - just the number of readers.

Jesus died with a grand total of four people at the foot of his cross, and one of those was his mother. As I say, it is all about the quality. Everything else is wonderfully out of our hands.

Simon Parke is the author of A Vicar, Crucified (DLT, 2013).