Don't succumb to the hindsight fallacy. A more sophisticated version of HP probably would not have made Rowling eleventy-billion dollars, yes. But HP exactly as she wrote it would probably not have made her eleventy-billion dollars, either. Things weren't necessarily inevitable, or even likely, just because they happened. Not unless you believe the universe is a game of billiards, with the cue ball already struck and in motion, and every else simply a matter of physics. But if that's true, chiding people about what they write or read is both useless and inevitable, because everything is predestined. Every good artist knows that a masterpiece is partially an accident, and that even a masterpiece doesn't necessarily sell. We practice our crafts anyway, not because we labor under the delusion that we have absolute control over our destinies, but because that is how we control the part we can control. You make the most beautiful thing you can, and what happens, happens. Joanne Rowling has done us a particular favor in this respect, because she's done the opposite of George Martin. She made her millions and kept writing. "Robert Galbraith", the name under which Rowling writes detective novels in the classic British tradition, has sold a lot of books because it's no secret who Robert really is, but they haven't set the world on fire in nearly the same way. Even with the same set of writing skills, given more time to mature, and even with the boost of her prior reputation, lightning did not strike in quite the same way twice. And I think Rowling would be the first to agree that this is to be expected. It doesn't mean she's somehow over rated. It just means that readers are complex people, too, and they insert just as much unpredictability into the equation. Hell, even Tolkien was always at the top of his game, much less anyone else's. The first half of Fellowship of the Ring has no idea what it is or where it's going, which is why we get treated to Tom Bambodil, and the internal monologue of a fox. Think of it as if you were shooting at a 5 inch plate at 1000 yards. That shot exceeds the mechanical accuracy of a modern rifle, so you have to get lucky to make it. But that doesn't mean skill doesn't matter. You have to be a skilled marksman in order to even get close enough to be lucky. In order for any author to retain his sanity, he has to accept this and focus on writing what he's inclined to write, and giving readers something to love. If lightning strikes, great. If it doesn't, you can still build an audience, go full time, and make a living doing the best job anyone ever had, which is telling stories. That's the real prize. And the only one you can predictably claim.