The story of Harry Potter is one of the most successful in history, but it almost never saw the light of day. J.K. Rowling wrote the first book, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,' as a struggling single mother on a manual typewriter. The manuscript was rejected by 12 different publishing houses. It was finally accepted by Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, only after the chairman’s eight-year-old daughter, Alice Newton, read the first chapter and immediately demanded the rest. Even then, Rowling’s editor advised her to 'get a day job' because there was little money in children’s books. She was also asked to use the initials 'J.K.' (adding her grandmother’s name Kathleen) because the publishers feared that boys wouldn't want to read a book about magic written by a woman.