via Cracked.com. And did you know this?

Author J.K. Rowling might have approximately all of the money now, but things didn’t start out that way. Once upon a time, Rowling was living off of government assistance, retyping complete copies of the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to send out to publishers because she was too broke to have photocopies made. So she sent off her precious slaved-over copies of the manuscript to publishing houses, where they promptly went into the trash.

Can you imagine J.K. hand-typing copies of that huge manuscript because she was too broke to have photocopies made? That’s the kind of hard work and dedication that goes into making a success.