Ben Franklin used many pen names. Should you?
by Anne R. Allen
Should you use different pen names if you write in different genres? Do you need to write under a pseudonym because people at work might find out you write steamy romances? Is it easier to write freely if you hide your real identity behind a fake name? Should you use a different pen name for each genre you write in?
Not anymore.
Recently I talked with a veteran author who’d heard from an “expert” that she should only publish books in one genre with her real name, and should republish all her books in other genres under separate names.
I had to tell her she’d been listening to some very outdated advice. You can show genre with cover design, blurb, logo, and many other cues, but publishing under lots of names in the digital age is a recipe for disaster.
Or as social media guru Kristen Lamb says, it’s a ticket to Crazyville.
Multiple pen names aren’t practical in the age of social media. You would have to maintain separate social media accounts and blogs for every one of your personas.
Facebook won’t let you have personal accounts under fake names, so most of your names would be shut out of interacting on Facebook. (And many authors think Facebook ads give you the most bang for your buck in book advertising.)
Plus the new publishing paradigm is blurring genre lines. These days, position in a brick and mortar bookstore isn’t the primary factor in selling books—name recognition is.
Yes, Lots of Writers Have used Pen Names
I know pen names seemed de rigueur in the last century. Aspiring writers used to spend lots of time thinking about possible pseudonyms. I know I did. It was exciting to fantasize about having a literary persona separate from my boring old self. Early in my career, I submitted some stories under the name Anna Rogers, (Rogers is my middle name.) Luckily the magazines rejected my stories and I didn’t have to deal with the hassles of multiple identities.
Historically, there have been lots of good reasons to use a pen name.
In the 19th century, women authors often used a male pen name in order to have their work taken seriously. The Brontës disguised themselves as the Bell brothers; Mary Ann Evans called herself George Elliot; and Amandine Lucie Aurore Dupin became George Sand.
Male authors also routinely chose to use a pen name, often to protect family members from being linked with their public personas, or to keep their real names from being attached to radical political or racy writing. Jean Baptiste Poquelin called himself Moliere, and Benjamin Franklin used dozens of pseudonyms from Alice Addertongue to Richard Saunders.
Sometimes authors wanted to hide their ethnicity or make their names more memorable or pronounceable. Harold Rubin called himself Harold Robbins, and Ford Hermann Hueffer took the more memorable pen name, Ford Maddox Ford.
More recently, some male authors have used female pen names in hopes of selling better to women, who buy more novels. But there’s not much evidence that matters anymore.
1) Big Publishing Made Pen Names Necessary, but That has Changed
In the 20th century, an author would usually use a different pen name for a different genre or even a different series. They also often needed pen names because they wrote “too fast” for traditional publishing. (In those days, they were only allowed one book a year under most contracts.)
- Horror writer Dean Koonz has written under over a dozen pseudonyms, including Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Aaron Wolfe, David Axton, John Hill, Leigh Nichols, Owen West, Richard Paige, Anthony North, and Brian Coffey.
- Erle Stanley Gardner wrote his P.I. mysteries as A.A. Fair and also wrote under the names Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr.
- Romance author Jayne Ann Krenz first wrote under the name Jayne Castle, her maiden name. But she signed a contract allowing one of her publishers to own the name, and, after leaving that publisher, she couldn’t use that name for ten years. So she began writing as Jayne Taylor, Jayne Bentley, Stephanie James, Amanda Glass and Amanda Quick.
- Stephen King wrote some of his more psychological work as Richard Bachman—complete with a phony book jacket photo and fake bio. (When Bachman was outed as King, Mr. King wrote that Bachman had died suddenly of “cancer of the pseudonym”.
- And of course romance goddess Nora Roberts writes her thrillers as J. D. Robb.
2) Most Reasons for Pen Names are no Longer Relevant
But most of the reasons for using a pen name don’t matter much anymore. Very few authors are penalized for writing too fast in the digital age. And authors can always self-publish books between big releases.
In the old days, some authors had to change their names because their publishers bought their names, like Jane Ann Krenz. Or their sales didn’t live up to the publisher’s expectations and they could “never write in this town again” unless they became somebody else.
But now we have self-publishing, and even authors with sagging sales want to capitalize on what fans they do have, not toss them aside.
We don’t need to worry about your books being on the wrong shelf in a physical bookstore, either. Most books are bought online.
3) Secrets Don’t Stay Secret in the Digital Age
There are some reasons for a pen name that still make sense. There’s the privacy issue.
The problem is there IS no privacy in the digital age. Eventually you’ll be found out. The Internet hates secrets and loves to hate people who keep them.
Look at Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling and Anita Raja aka Elena Ferrante.
The “unmasking” of Elena Ferrante made headlines all over the world. When there’s a mystery, intrepid reporters and amateur online sleuths will do anything to solve it.
And then there’s the routine “doxing” that happens whenever some bully doesn’t like the ending of your story or something you posted on Facebook. They will find you and out whatever secrets you’re trying to keep.
Some of the Amazon review trolls even accused superstar author Anne Rice of being a fraud because she writes under the name Anne, which she has used since she was five, since her parents gave her the unfortunate name of Harold Allen. I kid you not.
Full disclosure: I was known as “Nancy” for the first three years of my life. When my beloved Aunt Anne got married and moved out of our house, I discovered my real name was Anne and refused to answer to the nickname Nancy. I thought the household needed an Anne, so I had to be her.
I have no doubt the trolls could accuse me of fraud, too.
Okay, There are Good Reasons to use One Pen Name—but not so many for Multiple Pen Names
Besides appeasing the trolls who think anybody is a “fraud” who has changed or matured in any way since they were wearing Huggies, there are sensible reasons to want to use a pen name.
1) It’s the name you’re known by, even if it’s not the name on your birth certificate.
2) Your real name is Harry Potter. Or Stephen King or Kim Kardashian. (Or anyone else, famous or not, is already using your name.)
3) You’ve got a snoozerific real name like John Smith or Anne Allen. If your real name is boring and your parents didn’t give you a nice middle name, you may want to call yourself something more memorable. When I was in high school, I wrote for the school paper as Andree Antiphon. (I’m so glad that one didn’t stick. )
4) Your writing might adversely affect your day job. (Maybe you’re a youth minister who writes steamy erotica.)
5) Or you could have family issues (You’re telling the thinly disguised story of your Uncle Charlie’s secret life as a cabaret singer named Chardonnay.)
6) You’re the victim of cyberbullies. Whistleblowing authors and others who have been victims of online mass bullying and “doxing” may find they simply can’t write under their own names anymore, so they have to start their careers again with a new persona. They’ll have to hope the trolls will have found a new victim and won’t dox the new name.
BTW: Beware too-good-to-be-true marketing schemes and promoters who game the Amazon system. Many are fraudulent, and if you ask for your money back, the ringleaders will get their minions to attack with character assassination via social media and one-star reviews. I have heard lots of heartbreaking stories about one particularly vicious promoter and her army of trolls. Amazon’s lawyers are on her trail, but others will spring up to fill her shoes.
But these are not reasons for multiple pen names. You can use any name you like as your “brand” name, but don’t dilute it by trying to promote more than one brand.
You do need multiple pen names if you’re that youth pastor who writes erotica and you also write inspirational YA romance. Or if you write kid’s picture books and violent thrillers. But unless you write in such wildly different genres, you probably don’t need two separate brands.
4) Writing in Multiple Genres Under one Name is Not a New Idea.
- Carl Sandburg wrote everything from poetry to historical biography to children’s stories—all under the same name.
- Isaac Asimov famously wrote in “every category in the Dewey decimal system.”
- Mary Stewart (ne: Mary Florence Elinor Rainbow) not only invented contemporary romantic suspense, but with her Merlin trilogy wrote some of the best high fantasy ever. She wrote them all as Mary Stewart.
- Neil Gaiman writes books for different ages, from children’s picture books to sophisticated social satire—and penned the screen adaptation of Beowulf—all under his own name.
- Rita Mae Brown also uses her own name for everything from LGBTQ+ literary to cat cozies and 1930s Southern comedy.
And I don’t hear anybody complaining.
Writing in The Passive Voice blog comments last year, epic fantasy author Tom Simon said:
“I’m highly suspicious of that advice about using pseudonyms for different genres; it may only be an artifact of the circumstances in which it originated. All data older than about three years is basically irrelevant to the new publishing model. It may be that the old advice still holds good — but if it does, it will have nothing to do with the original reason behind it. I would be very wary of assuming that the old practice is applicable in the new circumstances.”
5) Brand Trumps Genre in the 21st Century
Just look at a little book called The Cuckoo’s Calling.
A critically acclaimed detective novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, by one “Robert Galbraith” was languishing in the midlist. It had sold only 1,500 copies in the UK when the author was outed to be none other than J.K. Rowling.
After the revelation, the book zoomed to #1 on the bestseller lists.
Branding is everything these days, and for an author, your name is your brand.
Don’t waste your time marketing more than one brand.
As another commenter said on The Passive Voice in response to the Rowling/Galbreith revelation,
“I have not heard that anybody ever got mad because they bought Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare and thought it was a science fiction novel. But a lot of people bought Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare who would never have heard of it if it hadn’t been for Asimov’s SF.”
So don’t worry so much about that one slow-witted reader who can’t tell that a book with a hot shirtless Highlander on the cover is probably a different genre from that thriller with cover art full of guns and blood.
Instead think of all the smart readers who will appreciate that you have time to write more books.
Update: What about Pen Names for Co-Authoring?
I was asked that question on Twitter in reply to a tweet of this post. Obviously the tradition has always been that when two authors co-write a book they choose a pen name that represents them both, often a combination of both names.
But I don’t think that’s such a great idea anymore. Why?
- Who gets the name if you break up? I know of at least two authors who ran into this problem when they broke with co-authors. One co-author lost pretty much everything, because the partner claimed custody of the name. Make sure you have this decided in an ironclad contract before you publish. More on this in “Murder is more Fun with an Accomplice” by Melodie Campbell
- James Patterson co-authors all the time without resorting to pen names.
- Are you ever planning to write under your own name? If you do, you’ll have to start your career again from scratch. Do you really want to do that?
***
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) October 1, 2017 (This is an updated version. I originally listed good reasons for pen names in two places. Now they are consolidated under “Okay, there are Good Reasons to Use One Pen Name…”)
What about you, scriveners? Do you use a pen name? Do you use multiple pen names? How much more work does each pen name create for you?
I also have a new post up on my book blog. It’s #30 in the “Poisoning People for Fun and Profit” series. This month I’m talking about lead poisoning.
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Ah, finally someone who agrees with my perspective. I spend enough time on my own name without having to double or triple or quadruple my efforts to promote multiple personas. Excellent post, Anne.
Kathy–Thanks! I’m glad you agree. I hate to see this bad advice zooming around the Booky forums and writing groups. Old news! We all have too much to do.
Hey, so I’m starting to biuld a blog, it isn’t very far along, but it has a family focus. In the future I want to also have an atheist blog. The problem is that the current idea people have about atheists would ensure that my family centred blog would have zero traffic. I felt like if I did that I’d be forced to use 2 different names to keep them seperate. Would you suggest something different?
Annie–There are some reasons for using multiple pen names, and I wrote about them in another post I should link to with this one. One is if you write something mainstream and something highly controversial, like YA romance and BDSM erotica. I think your two subjects are probably in that category. It’s too bad that’s true, but we live in polarized times.
Ha!
Ain’t that the truth. I fell into having too many names due to a family nickname. Since all my family & neighbors call me Chet or Chester & all my teaching buddies know me as Charlie, I had this absurd thought when I started publishing that it would be more clear who I was if I simply used my initials. Why did it not occur to me that I was simply adding a THIRD identity to an already confusing situation?
Anne — thanks for this post. Perhaps because of your post, younger authors won’t dive into the multiple identity hole into which I have slung myself.
Charlie, Chet, Chester, CS–I know you didn’t get into the multiple-personas game because you were following some archaic publishing rule. Just chance. But the great thing is you have a unique last name. so people can still always find you. Still, it might be better to start consolidating the names now. It would probably not be too hard to change the name on your FB page, Twitter and blog so they’re all the same. Probably the CS Perryess name, since that’s how you’ve published your audiobooks.
Exactly the advice I give my students! I write in four genres (yes four!) My audience does cross over. And the covers/blurbs make it absolutely clear whether a certain book is fantasy, sci-fi, crime, or romance. Absolutely, brand trumps genre these days. Especially when you count on your blog to bring readers to your website – imagine if I had to have four?? Great column, Anne!
Melodie–You’re a perfect example of an author who writes in multiple genres successfully I’m reading one of your Rowena books right now. And the truth is I’d never pick up a paranormal time travel romance. But this is a Melodie Campbell paranormal time travel romance, so I know it’s going to have your signature humor, and I’m loving it!
You’re a doll, Anne! Did I tell you one of my students is a fan of yours now? I hooked her with a paper copy of one of your books. She’s older and prefers them.
Melodie–Thanks much! Tell her there are more where that came from!
If I use a variant of my actual full name, it’s because my WIP began as an idea for a story written by my MCs in another story long ago–the story didn’t exist and I wasn’t gonna write it but was in a hurry for an idea so I translated my name: Gabriella Garlock = Messenger (angel) Spear Tournament.
But as I added reasons for writing that story the subject worked and now I actually do write about a class of Messengers who carry spears etc. etc. and slapping my name with its etymology on it seems just a little too neat and cute. Er, if anyone even noticed.
So maybe I won’t mess with the ponderous G. Lynn Garlock after all. It isn’t me.
G. Lynn–So many writers I know started out with a persona or blog linked to one book. Nobody tells us it’s not a good idea, and I know why we do it. When we’re starting out, we focus on one book because thinking of multiple books can seem so overwhelming.
But I’d suggest that you try to consolidate all your social media under one name. “Historewriter” isn’t going to promote the books of G. Lynn Garlock, and Gabriella Garlock may not be linked to G. Lynn. It will take a little work, but if you choose one name and put all your social media in that name, you can save yourself a huge amount of work later on.
Yes, I’m Gabriella L. Garlock (also) on Twitter, WordPress, Facebook…That’s how it will stay.
“Plus the new publishing paradigm is blurring genre lines. These days, position in a brick and mortar bookstore isn’t the primary factor in selling books—name recognition is.” – – Love this! Can we quote you? I wanna make a Pinterest meme out of this.
Gabriella–I love to be in memes! Go for it and send me a link! Thanks!
Yeah, I wish someone had pointed that out to me when I made my web site The Ninja Librarian. One of these days I’ll get my act together and make the blog a subset of a Rebecca M. Douglass writer page.
Rebecca–Meanwhile, just change the header of your blog to “Rebecca M. Douglass, the Ninja Librarian” and start using that when you talk about the blog.
In terms of indie publishers, multiple pen names can cut down your sales. You won’t get people who might crossover and read a different genre.
I had to add my middle name to my name because it was so ordinary and common. You can Google the full name and find me, but under first and last, several other people showed up first.
Linda–You’re right that self-publishers can actually lose sales if the books are under a different name, because you get noticed on Amazon by the number of books under your name. And yes, fans will lose out on finding your other books.
“Anne Allen” is right up there with “Linda Adams,” so I totally relate. Without my middle initial, I’m completely invisible and un-Googlable.
Can you imagine multiple Twitter accounts and blogs and everything else for all those pen names?
James Patterson writes almost every genre out there using his real name. Good enough for me.
Alex–It would be a total nightmare. I know one writer who maintains two personas, but I hardly ever hear from her anymore. I know it’s just because she doesn’t have time.
And yeah, if James Patterson is doing something, you can be pretty sure it’s going to be good for the old bottom line. The man knows how to sell books.
As you might imagine, Icy isn’t my real name 😉 Sedgwick is my real surname though. I only adopted Icy because when I started submitting short stories in 2008, I wanted something that would be memorable (and wouldn’t necessarily give away my gender as they were horror stories). It was my Internet nickname at the time anyway and I thought nothing of it. But anyone who’s also mates with me on Facebook will know me as LJ Sedgwick so I don’t exactly hide my real name, I just don’t broadcast it either. But I’d never set up a completely independent pen name because it’s difficult enough balancing personas for academia and fiction writing as it is!
Icy–I often wondered if that was your real name. It could be a nickname for Isabel or something. It is memorable. And choosing a name to write under that’s more memorable than your own can be a great marketing move. As long as you only use the one name. 🙂 Contemporary life is way too complicated already.
i have a very generic name – Sue Smith. Even if you add in the middle initial of C you’ll find multiple people with the same name, many of the authors, using this or a variant with initials. . Eighteen years ago i switched from writing to fine art and built a reputation using Sue (difficult to pronounce maiden name) Smith, because an art consultant pointed out she also had ten different sue smiths in her database. I’m facing the same question now. Under these circumstances, is using my real name a benefit or a distraction? I self-published an art book using the “art: name, but it’s too long to be practical and I’m writing fiction, now. I’d be interested in your experience.
Sue–I feel your pain. Anne Allen is about as generic as Sue Smith. My first book was published without my middle initial, and I think that’s one of the reasons it failed. I understand the problem with a long name, though. Book designers hate them. They’re tough to fit on a cover. Plus an unpronounceable name isn’t going to be memorable. I guess I’d try an initial, then Google Sue Q. Smith or whatever to see how much competition there is. If you can’t go with the initial, then maybe try a shorter middle name, even if it’s not the one your parents gave you. You could choose a family name, like Catherine Ryan Hyde (Ryan was her mom’s maiden name) or go the full Bob Dylan route and choose the name of an author you admire. “Sue Austen Smith” would be memorable. 🙂 So would Sue Lovecraft Smith or Sue Patterson Smith. Play around with it!
Could you use your full middle name? I did mine that way because two writers I read are like that (one with a common name like mine). My only problem is that with my middle name, people often think they’re said together and they’re not.
*snort* (You’re telling the thinly disguised story of your Uncle Charlie’s secret life as a cabaret singer named Chardonnay.) *snort* You always get at least one good laugh out of me, Anne.
This topic caught my eye because I’d been discussing pen names with a friend just this week. We were both doing the bootcamp that Platt & Truant put on and one of them made an offhanded comment about using a pen name at first until you got to be a better writer or something like that. The idea being that if you later became known you wouldn’t want your initial inferior fiction to catch up with you.
I thought that was kind of the weirdest reason I’d ever heard for using a pen name but maybe not.
I used to entertain the idea of using a pen name and mostly for privacy reasons – but as you say that age is over. With a capital O. If you dare to try to keep a secret in the Internet age, it will come after you until you confess whatever you are hiding – so, yeah so much for that idea.
I kind of like that writers aren’t doing that so much any more. They cross genres, publish themselves, in some cases even invent sub genres – to me, publishing and writing is a whole new exciting industry these days. You can just about do anything, as long as you are good enough to pull it off.
Thanks for the laugh, I truly needed that today.
Annie
Annie–I love it when people enjoy the little “Easter egg” jokes I put in my examples.
My reaction is the same as yours to the “write bad work under a fake name until you get better.” There’s another solution to that problem: Don’t publish your work until you get better! You’re right that this is an age of great opportunity for writers “as long as you are good enough to pull it off.” Well said!
good timing since I was seriously considering using one for my new efforts at women’s/literary fiction …..
Liz–“Liz Crowe” is such a great name. If Rita Mae Brown can write in all those genres, so can you!
This might be one of the Top Five Reasons I’m Failing As A Human Being.
Louis–Are you suffering from multiple pen name disorder? I can imagine it’s overwhelming. Because you have to be lots of human beings instead of one. That’s not failing. It’s just being on overload.
I wrote a technical book under a pen name at the insistence of my employer, McGraw-Hill–and it was a very bad idea as I never got any credit. And it turned out to be a very good book that made them a lot of money.
Sue–What a nightmare! I think Big Publishing has done this a lot in the past. Even if you’re getting a flat fee, they could let you have the credit and your name on the cover. It could benefit your career in so many ways! Sorry you had to go through that. Thanks for sharing your story!
I love my name and will be proud to see it on my novels–when and if they are published!!
Beth–Yes. You have a great name for an author!
I write under K.M. Carroll and do all my social media under Kessie Carroll, so ALREADY people can’t find my books. Argh! I make sure to provide them with plenty of book spam to make the books easy to find. 😀
I always think of Rachel Aaron. She wrote a sci fi series under Rachel Bach, so of course they’re on a different Amazon page and everything. I had no idea she had them until I found her blog where she lamented their poor sales because nobody ever finds them. Pen names just aren’t practical if you’re indie.
Kessie–Putting your book cover with the K.M. in front of people a lot should help. Also it’s easier to find a K.M. from “Kessie” than it is to find “Kessie” from K.M. You’re probably doing fine.
But you’re so right about Rachel Aaron/Bach. It’s so hard for readers to cross over and find you in the age of Amazon. Not just indie authors. All authors are influenced by the way Amazon is set up. We have to adapt or get invisible. .
I agree with everything you say about pen names. It always seemed nuts to me use a different name for different genres. Having said that, I am still in a quandary as to use a pen name. No one can pronounce or spell my name, Chanah Liora Wizenberg and it is long. I am considering, A. J. Clay. My sons are Aaron and Jacob and my maiden name is Clay. Any thoughts? I sure would appreciate it! Thank you!
Chanah–I don’t know. Chanah and Liora are wonderful, memorable names. You want to stand out. What about Chanah Wize? Or Chanah Liora? Stay as close to your own reality as possible. You’ll be doing some of your marketing in real life. If people know you as Chanah, keep it. It’s a great name.
I actually find myself wondering if a name if real or not these days. And if it’s not, I sometimes feel a little duped. Great post!!
Ryan–I think people do feel a little cheated. Especially kids. I remember when I found out that Caroline Keene didn’t exist and the Nancy Drew books were written by a man and his stable of writers. I was furious.
I have used a pen name but I won’t again. I’m proud of my work and so I want my name to be on it. : )
But what if you use your married name and years down the road–when your author career is established–you get a divorce? I imagine it would be very uncomfortable to continue to use your married name. But if you change it you face a re-marketing problem.
Thankfully, I’m happily married and so won’t be facing this problem. So it’s just a what-if question.
Leanne–That happened to my mom! She wrote under the name Shirley Allen and then she and my dad got a divorce. But she kept publishing as Shirley Allen. It was easier than creating a whole new career with her maiden name. She got married two more times but she kept using the name Allen for writing and teaching. She just called it her “professional name.”
Great post Anne. When I began publishing I chose to alter my name slightly as a pen name, foolishly thinking it would disguise me from some too, not realizing that my life on social media exposes both my names. I’m grateful I’m not one of those writers who write in multiple genres having to babysit all those social sites. 🙂
Debby–I think we all feel the need to “disguise” ourselves when we start out. Writing can leave you feeling so vulnerable, so a pen name can feel like protection, but it isn’t really, and it’s more hassle than it’s worth in the age of social media.
I actually started out using one of my chat room personas as a pen name, but quickly realized after an epic fail that using a chat room persona will not a serious writing people will take. So when I landed my one and only traditional contract, I decided to tweak my name (initials plus last name) and use that as a pen name.
I can easily be found on FB as I have both my pen name and my real name (listed in parenthesis) on my accounts. Makes life a lot easier.
G. B. Oh, those old chat room personas! I called myself Lavinia Parker in an early writing forum. I thought i might use it as a pen name. I’m soooo glad I didn’t. As long as you list both your names on all your social media, people can find you. 🙂
Great info, as always Anne! I’d like to see if it holds true for this situation, though. I now write (as M. Ruth Myers) a mystery series featuring a woman P.I. in the 1940s, with my website and blog reflecting those books. To my surprise, many readers have branded them “clean” just because they have no sex and only occasional very mild swear words.
In a few months I expect to start releasing some backlist titles to which I regained rights. They came out under my full name Mary Ruth Myers, were romances, feature lots of gauzy-focus sex scenes and have an average amount of swearing, including a couple of F-bombs. I fear if I release them as M. Ruth, some of the loyal readers who read anything under that name, will read them, be offended, and express that outrage in 1-star reviews. I had been planning to issue them under the original Mary Ruth Myers name and simply give them a separate tab on my website. I wouldn’t set up any separate social media for them. There’s a separate Amazon author page under that name, although all those old titles still link to my main page if you get down in the weeds enough. Thoughts?
M. Ruth–I think because these are already published under that name, and “Mary” probably has fans, it would be more trouble than it’s worth to republish under the M. Ruth brand. The fact they are very different in tone can be shown with covers, etc, but it is a factor. And mostly it would be easier to have a page on your website than change the name on the books. (Amazon is impossible about changing metatdata like that.) So I’d say go the easiest route and keep your Mary books separate from your M. Ruth books but include them on your website.
You can merge the two identities on your Amazon author page by merging your two identities through Author Central, so all the books will come up in a search for you. I’d suggest trying that, just so readers who want to cross over can find the romances. Then make sure your covers and blurbs reflect the steamy quality of the romances.
Thanks, Anne. I definitely plan to emphasize on the blurbs and and product description that these are steamy little puppies. And of course, I hope the covers reflect it too. I think the two names already are linked on Author Central, and thus the books are linked. I do appreciate your input on this.
Sounds like you’re ahead of me on all this!
As always, Anne, great advice for anyone still struggling with this question. Other than the fact that my mother insists I should be known by my maiden name, Debbie Jackson – after all, she contends she contributed to my being here at all – I’ve always felt strongly about being known by my own legal name.
I’ve now FB forwarded your post to my writer’s group, many of whom don’t believe serious writers need to be on social media (another topic for another day), so we can have a discussion at our meeting in 2 weeks.
Thank you.
Debbie–I think you made the right decision. We’re marketing all the time these days, so having the same name for all your activities really helps.
Serious writers don’t need to be on social media…as long as they have a time machine and only intend to market their books in the 20th century. 🙂 Haha. Margaret Atwood is on Twitter and so is Stephen King. Anne Rice has a huge Facebook following. If they need social media, you can bet newbie writers do too..
Good one, Anne. It’s something I’ve wanted to know more about.
I’ve been a person where different nicknames have been prominent in different chapters of life.
I began writing online in a different field from my professional presence, so I started with a nickname as a pen name. That name took on a life of it’s own, becoming the #1 search term used to find the site. It became my domain name, etc.
When I started publishing magazine articles, I wanted to use my real name, so I “came out” on the blog with my real name and background. The pen name continues but regular readers know my real name and its obvious on background pages.
When it came time to publish my first book, I debated this further. My last name isn’t very common but I discovered there were 6 other authors with the same first-last combo on Amazon. A middle initial was possible but something more distinctive was better. I decided to use “first, ‘pen name,’ last name” as it tied it together.
But I do get where that choice of pen name can have long-term unintended consequences. Especially if you write across genres.
David–I’m hearing from lots of writers who have used different pen names over the years. I think you’re handling it the right way. If you make it clear on your website that all these names are yours, and you don’t try to have different social media accounts for each name, it should work fine. Especially if you choose one main name for your books.
Sometimes people MUST use several names–say if they write erotica and kids’ books. But that does double your workload. But it sounds as if you’re consolidating all the personae, so that should work.
OK–so I am going to be the fly in the ointment because that’s what I do. I work with a lot of authors that write with pen names due to privacy concerns and I don’t see anything wrong with that if they want to do the extra work. I totally disagree that it’s a conundrum in the social media age. It may be on some channels but you don’t need to be everywhere. Since Facebook changed their group policy this summer, authors can now set up groups as their business page name (pen name) and interact as that name–no more requiring people to have a group under their profile name. And no offense, but why would it matter that your profile is your real name? You shouldn’t be using your profile to promote your books anyway–it’s not set up for that. There is no need to have any connection between your profile and your business page. Pen names are a personal choice and require extra work but authors that want to write genres that would put their real life name at risk should have at it. I agree that there’s no need any more to use pen names for multiple genre writers, but there will be some brand confusion you’ll have to deal with if you do that. And some people have awkward and clunky real names that aren’t real marketable. It’s your Facebook business page name that counts when it comes to promoting your books. Just sayin’
Wow. Clearly it’s a hot topic. Ever since I knew I wanted to write, age 4. I dreamed about having a pen name. No idea why. It was just part of the growing up to be a writer fantasy. I published my first novel under my real name, my second under my pen name. I like having one. It gives me distance. A chance to not take comments too personally. It also presents problems, like whether I need to create a whole other persona. (I didn’t.) And it makes it hard to to do in-person readings (didn’t want to do them anyway). But overall, I’m enjoying it. Definitely an introvert thing. Now that I’ve been using one for a few months, I agree that having multiple names would be crazy making. Two twitter accounts is about as much as I can handle.
Caro–I spent much of my young life thinking up pen names too. I once wrote in a journal for a whole year as “Carissa Blake”. So I totally relate. We want a fantasy persona that’s totally different from ourselves. If the new pen name sells better than your real name, then you may want to consolidate them sometime. The truth is that “distance” you feel is only a mental construct. I do get that it’s helping you build the soul callouses you need, We all have to build those callouses whether we use our real names or not. The more successful you are, the more people will say mean things about you. So whether that “you” is called Carissa or Anne, it’s still you, and you still have to learn to take the abuse with detachment. Most of us are introverts. I get more introverted by the year. But those in person events do sell books and get you on the local radar. I’ve often wished I could have Anne Tyler’s career and just write books and never interact with readers, but alas, she’s been famous a long time. Not sure she could do it starting from scratch right now.
Thanks, Anne. As always your comments offer a great take on one more writer’s dilemma. This pen name is still new to me. For now it fits. If it starts to feel uncomfortable, I’ll probably ditch it.
I’m still with my day job as a small town newspaper editor and for a time wrote a column that was a bit of Southern rural life memoir that was well received by many of our subscribers. But the author career I’m working on in hopes of moving beyond my newspaper life will be filled with stories and characters that will be a far, far cry from the tone of those columns. I’m considering using the shortened version of my first name and my real last name to separate the old from the new – Rhonda Allen. It’s not exciting but, maybe easy to remember.
Rhonee–I happen to think ‘Allen” is a fabulous name. But unless you plan to write erotica, why wouldn’t you want your already established fans to read your new stuff? When you want to have a book signing, you can get it in the newspaper and everybody will be rooting for you. Don’t throw away your established platform unless you need to. Look at what I said about Neil Gaiman and Rita Mae Brown.
Jewel is not my real name so I guess you could say it is my “pen name”. 🙂 But it has always been my nickname and what I have gone by. Two things I did right with my publishing name: 1) nabbed my name dot com URL — jewelallen dot com — long before I was a published author and b) married an Allen which is a lot simpler than my maiden name, is short for covers and usually gets me alphabetized ahead of everyone else! 🙂 I have stopped trying to do a pen name per genre and instead will focus on my brand. Plus, I can’t even imagine the work involved of finding a unique name.
Jewel–As I said to Rhonee above, I happen to think “Allen” is a great name. Being A. Allen has got me at the head of the line all my life. 🙂 You were smart to buy your domain name early on, because Allen is a popular name. But “Jewel” is unusual enough that it’s memorable.
I write science fiction and am soon to break into archaeological thrillers. The reason I am going to use a pen name is because I want to keep their mailing lists separate, so I can target one set of fans or the other with my newsletters. I don’t feel like I’m big enough to have a “brand”, so that doesn’t matter anyway.
WhatLifeis–You can have separate mailing lists without using different names. I do. Separate names will double your marketing workload. If you’re an Energizer Bunny who loves marketing, that may work for you, but most of us prefer to spend our time writing.
You could be marketing right now if you changed your Gravatar ID that shows up here from whatlifeislike to your author name. Commenting on blogs with your author name builds platform, because it gets you into search engines. I’m all for making life easier for authors, and that’s a simple fix that can do a lot to get your name recognition with very little effort.
I tried to insert my name into Twitter and WordPress but it seems the half of the equation they let you change isn’t the half that shows up with comments! I don’t want to lose all my followers…Maybe technology will evolve to give me more flexibility on these sites. Because like so many others I was nowhere near considering myself brandable when I started out.
Or maybe I can migrate WordPress over one more time. It’s a tiny little blog right now.
(Thanks for the continued advice! Writing a post is only half the work, Anne, when you’re kind enough to answer each comment.)
–Gabriella
Gabriella–I think that’s right about Twitter. Your first choice of handle is forever. I know a lot of writers who have two accounts–the original one and the author one. So they have to post tweets on both of them.
I think WordPress allows changes of name, but I’m too much of a cybermoron to tell you how. Maybe somebody will come up with a suggestion. Best of luck!
thanks for pointing out that as times change so does the “rules”. When I started I too had a penname. But it was only used for my non-fiction feature stories (the topic area was male-dominated.) A few short stories have been published under the penname but it was not a secret name, but an open “writing as.” Since then, “brand” trumps genre.
loved the post.
Helen–Things have definitely changed, and some changes are for the better. Women can write about sports these days, and only a short time ago, they would have been ghettoized into the recipes and diet stories. Yes. These days, brand trumps genre and your name is your brand.
I thoroughly enjoy reading and following you blog, though this is the first time I have commented. I am new to the writing game. I dabbled at writing for a number of years, but I am finally taking my writing seriously and working on my first novel. I agree with most of what you said in this blog, but still choose to use a pen name. My reasons are not typical and ultimately not covered by the reasons not you that you list.
In my current profession, I work in a state prison (as an officer not an inmate….just to be clear 😛 ) There are a lot of complicated and specific rules within the prison system dealing with any kind of established relationship with the inmate population, especially regarding business transactions. Although, I have no doubt it would be found out that I am who I am writing under the pen name (my pen name M B Warren is actually my name rearranged….First Initial, Last Initial, Middle Name) it would be a lot more noticeable if an inmate were reading a book with my last name (which is fairly uncommon and unique) boldly displayed on the front cover. Someone in the department might cry “foul” and it could cause unwanted and undue scrutiny.
My use of a pen name is not so much for anonymity, but more for subtlety. It may not work, but I think it is best, at least until I sell enough books to where working in the prison is no longer necessary! 😀
One can and should dream!
Thanks for the great blog and I look forward to more tips and tricks on the writing process!
MB
MB–I realize that I listed reasons for pen names in two places and I should probably consolidate them. You’re like the youth pastor I mentioned who needs a pen name because he writes erotica.
If using your real name would interfere with your job, you definitely need a pen name. You can’t count on it staying safe forever, and if you get to be a big seller, you’ll probably be outed like Elena Ferrante, but that’s a first world problem you can worry about later. Best of luck with the writing!
I technically write under a pen name. Patricia Lynne is my first and middle name and I picked it because when I started looking into publishing, I was also going to be married soon and my last name was going to change, so I wanted something that would stay the same.
I also picked another pen name for more adult fiction, but keep both in the same place as a way for people to know what books are YA and what books are adult and that way if they like one over the other, they don’t accidentally pick up the other.
I think versions of your own name aren’t quite the same as a “pen name.” Lots of writers have names that are too long for a book cover, so they use initials or pick two out of three names. It is important that YA readers don’t confuse teen books with steamy adult ones. Although I remember picking up a Mary Renault book after reading her historicals and it was a lesbian love story. I was about 15. I don’t think I was scarred. Although I thought it was a little boring. Haha.
Anne, I investigated this option over a year ago. My first two novels are Fantasy, my next two (second one now in publisher editing phase) are Adult Fiction, and the one I just finished is Paranormal Romance/thriller. But while publisher-hunting for the Adult Fiction book, Just Lucky, romance author Sable Hunter advised me to not use a different pen name and commented that she now regrets using one. So I use my own dull old name for everything.
One note of correction: Isaac Asimov did use one pen name. He wrote the Lucky Starr juvenile adventure series under the name Paul French.
Fred–I think you made a good decision. Less marketing work is usually better for most writers.
Thanks for the fun fact about Asimov! I did not know he wrote boys’ adventure under the name Paul French!
Here’s a fun fact: When he was starting out in 1939-1941, Robert Heinlein used a couple of pen names: Anson MacDonald and Lyle Monroe as well as his own. The use of pen names was John Campbell’s (editor of Astounding) idea for stories that did not fit into the “future history” milieu published under Heinlein’s name. At one point, Astounding held a readers’ survey to see who was their favorite author. Heinlein came in first. MacDonald and Monroe were second and third.
Fred–I did NOT know that! It’s hilarious. All that work and it turned out the stories had the same readership. 🙂 Thanks!
My agent gently suggested that I consider using my nickname, Ellie, for fiction and keep Eldonna for my NF, but use my real last name. I’m glad I listened to my gut. I’d already established a Facebook author page, Goodreads profile, and twitter account under my real name. I didn’t like the idea of wondering if my friends and followers would find me. Also, because I have an unusual first name, it’s unlikely when people hunt for me I’ll be hard to find. 😉 More great (validating) advice, Anne!
Eldonna–You have good instincts. You’ve got a great platform for Eldonna. Why put all the energy into building another one? And you’re absolutely right about your name. It’s memorable. There are millions of Ellies out there. Almost as many as Annes. Your agent is doing some old-school thinking.
Writing in diverse genres using my real name was the kiss of death for my writing career. Only when I got smart and used a pen name for my Western romance series was I able to break out as a best-selling author. And I’m using another pen name for my new dark comedy because it would be disastrous for me to use the other names due to the very different readership. Sure, some people, if they care, will uncover who I really am and put it together, but I know see why so many hugely successful romance writers use multiple pen names, one for each subgenre. It makes it clear to readers what each brand is. I think each situation is unique and writers need to determine what will work best for them.
C. S. –Wow! If you do as much to promote your other pen names as you do to promote C. S. Lakin, you make the Energizer Bunny look like a slacker. In the age of social media, most of us put in many hours a day to promote just one brand, but you do it with three! I’m surprised you have time to sleep, much less write books. You are one hard worker. Good for you!!
Well I’m a firm believer in marketing smarter, not harder. I wasted a ton of years doing marketing that goes nowhere. So now I focus on mailing lists and a free lead magnet (free book) to get people on my lists. It takes time to write and schedule all the workflow emails, but once they’re in place, they work on their own.
It’s also not hard to put up a few websites for the pen names (see http://www.charlenewhitman.com) to grab emails from fans. I hired someone to do all my Pinterest, and I also automate tweets. So while you could spend hours a day for each pen name, if you set these things up, you actually do little. I work full-time as an editor and blogger and writing coach as well as write and publish a few books a year, so my thing is “market smarter, not harder.’” Hope that helps writers who decide on multiple pen names.
C. S. Thanks for the tips! It sure helps to hire some help for all that social media!
Your comments make good sense. However, what should you do when you find out an author with an identical name to yours is writing books in various genres?
Maroma–As I say in section #3, if your name is Stephen King, you’ll need a pen name. You may be able to call yourself S. Middlename King, or S. M. King, but yes, you need to play around with it. You don’t want to build a platform for the other Stephen King. 🙂
What are you thoughts on a pen name for writing nonfiction and another for fiction? Here, were not blending genres.
Dean–If you write under two names, you’ll have twice the work. It doesn’t matter if you write fiction or nonfiction or both.
Isaac Asimov seemed to do okay writing both under the same name, and that was before writers had to put in so much time in social media. Can you imagine what his life would have been like if he’d had to have a Facebook and Twitter account for every genre he wrote in?
A most informative post, a whole lotta good info contained therein. Thank you. But what if the statute of limitations has not yet passed, or if the goons that put a price of your head are still alive? What then? Never mind all the people I owe money to.
Andrew–Haha! Yup, and what if them revenooers are gonna tear your stillhouse down? I’m afraid in the Internet age people have a harder time disappearing into another identity, even if they don’t write books.
I have once or twice considered it. But in the end I decided that it was probably a little pointless because you probably end up taking no credit for the work yourself. The best time to probably use it in my opinion would be if you were writing your autobiography and you were worried that you might liable someone.
Feel free to look out my book ‘The Hartnetts’, which is available at Amazon.com
Tom–Actually, using a pen name doesn’t keep you safe from libel suits. There was a famous case in Portugal a few years ago where a woman used a pen name to self-publish a book that said scathing things about her (thinly disguised) in-laws. The in-laws sued and she lost, big time.
If you write negative things about real people, make sure you disguise THEM, so they won’t recognize themselves. And make sure you call it fiction and use a disclaimer. I wrote all about that in a post on memoir in August. http://bit.ly/2ySQvbQ
I have to disagree. I use a pen name to cut through all the static if someone wants to find my books or sites online. I decided on this after I googled my real name and found I’d be in competition with other people. I didn’t want that. I wanted people to find me as easily as they could find my books. I am not hiding, what you see online is me (swearing and all), as for different genres I don’t think it matters anymore if an author writes more than one genre. IMO, I think it’s almost necessary.
Anyhoo . . . that’s my two Canadian cents.
Darke–That’s a perfectly good reason to use a pen name. In fact it’s pretty much required. I say that in my third section. “Your name is Harry Potter…somebody else is using your name.” I wish the other Anne Allen who writes women’s fiction had Googled her name before she published…about a decade after I did. It makes for lots of confusion. I’ve had people interview me and prepare by reading one of her books. Haha. She might at least have used a middle initial.
Anne…I now know why I hung on to this blog post to read when I had time. I write middle-grade fiction under my name, but have been enjoying deciding on a pen name for the next genre I’m writing in. Think I’ll use the possible pen name for a character instead. Even holding a domain name as the pen name…hmmm? Thanks for posting!
Brenda–Great idea! We do get attached to our “alternate personas”” don’t we? I actually gave one of my fantasy pen names to a villain in one of my stories. It was fun to have “me” playing a villain. Like playing the bad guy on stage.
I use my middle name as my writing name, but since it’s part of my legal name it seems like it wouldn’t be considered a pen name.
Robert–That’s right. I’m only talking about fake names that you don’t use in your everyday social media. I always use my middle initial, so people can tell me from other Anne Allens. But I’m Anne R. Allen everywhere online.
I like this, and I agree! I tend to move sideways with genre… the family sagas become darker, the darker gets to include a possible murder, the murder becomes a serial killer… and my latest books are post apocalyptic. If I had been trying to sell them as a new author, it would have been much harder than it is now, when I have lots of reviews saying ‘I’ve never read this genre before but I’m a fan of this author so I thought I’d try it, and whaddya know? I liked it!’. Also, people don’t only READ one genre.
My surname is pen, simply because I do not have my real surname anywhere on the internet that isn’t absolutely vital. Not even in an email address. That’s just a security thing.
Terry–That’s a great author name. Very memorable. Fits nicely on a cover, too. 🙂 You’ve discovered that brand trumps genre in the digital age. Most authors say the same thing. The point I’m making here is not that you have to use your birth name, but that you use one author name as your brand whenever you’re online. Obviously that’s working for you.
Great advice Anne on the cons of using a pen name (especially if it’s for the reasons stated above). I’ve been toying with the idea of using a pen name myself for my upcoming works, but have recently decided to stick with my real name as it’s a lot easier to deal with long term.
My only remaining issue however is that there is another author with the exact same name as me, based in the UK like myself AND already has an Amazon author profile page and some books published. So when it comes to publishing myself, I want to avoid the potential confusion of people finding more than one author of the same name who both happen to be writers. Any suggestions? Thanks!
P.S. And no, I have no middle name or initials to use either. And plus, I don’t really want to make one up to add in to my name anyway. I just want to be me! ???? I’m tempted to dive in and accept the risk here…
Ade–You definitely fall under the “your name is Harry Potter” category. But what would happen if a Harry Potter decided to publish under his own name? It might not be a bad thing at all. If he put all his soc. med under “Harry Potter, Author” or something like that, ti might work. Or “@theotherharrypotter.”
Personally I’d go with making up a middle initial, just because I don’t like hassles, but hassles do happen anyway. Recently when I gave an interview to a radio show, the host had read a book by the other Anne Allen (no middle initial) so it didn’t help that much.
Go for your real name and maybe contact the other person with your name. Catherine Ryan Hyde did that when another author came out with a book with the same title as hers. They even did some publicity together.
Thanks Anne,
I am leaning toward going with my actual name, regardless of the potential clash. Interesting points you made there too. Something to think about a little more I think.
It’s funny you mention contacting the other author who shares my name. I did that a while ago and he was happy to dicuss the matter and while he said he did not object to me using my real name on Amazon, he suggested using a pen name (as he has done at times) in order to truly stand out. But that’s where I have the inner conflict going on in that I want to be able to stand out as me, not a made up name.
I have thought of a few variations on my name which might help…
– A.M.Middleton (The M could actually stand for Matthew which is the name I was originally close to having apparently)
– Adrian M. Middleton
– Ade Middleton (Ade is my nickname / shortform for some people)
Other than that, I’m still very tempted just to stick with my real name…
I vote for the “Ade Middleton” name. “Ade” is unusual–it will stand out by itself as well as identify you as different from the other Adrian Middleton.
Off the subject, but I can’t resist asking: any relation to one of the most beautiful women in the world– Kate?
Thanks Fred. It seems to be a decision between that one and A.M. Middleton at the moment. If you say Ade out loud, how do you pronounce it – “Aid” or “Addy”? The former is how people pronounce it to me in person (work colleages etc).
I did find on google however a 1st page result for an “Ade Middleton” however, but he is a photographer so I should be OK 🙂
And no, no relation :-p
Ade–That’s amazing that there’s another Ade Middleton! I do agree that’s a memorable name, although the pronunciation would always be in question. I first thought “Ah-de” thinking it might be an African name. But there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, people have trouble deciding between J. K. Row-ling (like what you do with a boat.) and J. K. Rau-ling, (rhyming with what you say when you hurt yourself) and that hasn’t hurt her sales all that much. 🙂
It might depend on your genre. A. M. Middleton sounds more “serious” and literary. A thriller writer might go with Ade. I think either one would work fine.
I assumed Ade would be pronounced like Aid. Two “d”s would be “Addy,” which sounds more like a female’s name.
If you write adventure fiction or articles on herpetology, maybe Adder Middleton would work.
Well, it’s definitely down to those two names now anyway, so thank you both for your feedback.
I like Ade as well, but I plan on writing both fiction and non-fiction about paranormal subjects. The fiction will involve stories that would fit nicely into the horror/paranormal genre. So based on that maybe I am better off with A.M. Middleton? What do you think?
I think Ade is more memorable, but A. M. Middleton is good too.
What would be your advice for someone who has a name that’s famous or already used by another author? Obviously, they’ll have to use a pseudonym, but what happens to the copyright? If your real name is, say, Stephen King and you put that on the copyright page, isn’t it going to cause problems? Is adding a middle initial enough to prevent legal hassles?
Sarah–As I said above, there are some very good reasons to use a pen name. #2 in my list above is “2) Your real name is Harry Potter. Or Stephen King or Kim Kardashian. (Or anyone else, famous or not, is already using your name.)”
Using your middle initial or putting your own name in a different configuration is the best choice. Call yourself Henry S. Potter or S. D. King, or Kimberly Rose Kardashian. And that means your books will be copyrighted to your name, not the other Stephen King or Kim Kardashian..
Hi, Anne.. I’ve been looking at getting into writing for a long time, but I’ve never been able to imagine my first name on a book and I’m honestly not terribly happy with it ether. My middle name seems better with my last name but since I was hoping to start writing soon I wanted some advice.. Should I commit to this name or go for my first and last name?
Elizabeth–Using a version of your own name isn’t really a pen name, and it doesn’t have the legal problems. In this post, I’m mostly warning against multiple pen names, because they increase your marketing work exponentially. You need social media accounts for all the names.
I first published as Anne Allen, but found that Anne R. Allen sold much better. (Anne Allen is too generic.) But I could call myself A. R. Allen or A. Rogers Allen and those would all be my real name.
So if your middle name is Honeybunch, you can be Honeybunch Ice or E. Honeybunch Ice. Just make sure all your social media reflects that.
But I’d like to say I thing Elizabeth Ice is an awesome name. It’s memorable and classy. If I had to choose a pen name, that would be high on my list!
Not only did I enjoy your post, I really enjoyed the comments section on it! Your engagement with your audience is superb!
I was ended up on your post thanks to the Google rabbit hole, ha! I was looking up the proper way to disclose your pen name when querying and submitting pieces for publication and stumbled across your post here. As you can see, Brittany Spears is a horrible marketing idea! Even though the first name is spelled differently, Google brings up the spam accounts for the “real” Britney even with my spelling. Not only that, but Facebook wouldn’t even let me update my personal name after getting married until I scanned a photo of my updated driver’s license! That hassle kind of sealed the deal on the pen name, haha!
I do not want to use my maiden name, so I came up with a real-pseudo hybrid. I chose Chelle Royal and just sent my first poetry submission to The New Yorker! No idea what’ll come of it, but I have fully adopted this pen name now and I kinda love it. Chelle (pronounced like the word “shell”) comes from my middle name and Royal is a name that stands out and it has a personal connection for me. I compete in pageants and so it brought all these important aspects of my life together. Also, this name didn’t have much competition on the Google search test.
Hopefully you’ll be seeing my pen name in print one day! 😀 Thank you again for you excellent advice here.
What about using a maiden name? I’m considering publishing under my maiden name because it is shorter, more unique and the name of a sword: Rapier. Otherwise it will be my married name: Zimmerman, which is as common in German as Smith is in English, not to mention extremely long when you combine it with my first name: Leanna.
Leanna–Leanna Rapier is a fabulous name, and I agree it will look great on a book cover!
Just change the name you use on all your social media and you’re golden. The problems arise when you use different names when you’re platform building. Then the platform is useless. Choosing a pen name BEFORE you publish–especially if it happens to be your own–is a great idea.
The problems come when you use multiple names on your books and social media. it confuses people. In the age of social media, you want to be consistent.
Thank you that is good advice. Also another reason I wanted to avoid my married name is my husband is also authoring a book, and I was afraid that would be confusing.
Minds are like swords, I do fear. The old ones go to rust.
Mecca–Not my mind. Not yet, anyway. 🙂
I have a birth name and a legal name (I was adopted as a child and my full name, first, middle, and last, was changed), could I use my birth name instead of my legal?
Curiously–Use any name you like. Just make sure it’s consistent across all your social media. If you use your birth name (or any pen name) when you comment here, then Google will pick that up and your chosen author name will show up in a search, just because of your comment. So change your social media to your name of choice, and you’ve got a handle on it all. It doesn’t matter which name it is. Just be consistent.
Interesting input as this is a subject I’m struggling with. Some years back I took an unexpected route in LGBT romance, but have also written some Steampunk and Doctor Who related fiction. However, I’m constantly drawn back to where I started, which was horror, what I now call my brand of Dark Fiction. Horror can be a gender bias category, although a few women are now slowly pushing their way into horror, breaking the perception that women ‘hold back’. Balancing these readerships is far from easy. My eclectic love of books has led to the muse pulling me into being a multi-genre author, which I can only describe as painful. It’s much easier for a writer to have one focus and then whatever name the writer uses at least there’s no need for more than one.
SM–There are wildly successful authors who write in multiple genres. Think of Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood. They write in multiple genres using their own names. They write “Neil Gaiman” or “Margaret Atwood” novels, no matter what the genre. And many authors traditionally wrote in multiple genres. Mary Renault, and Isak Asimov are two that come to mind.
The need to change names if you change genres was a convention of 1980s-1990s mass market fiction. The this is the 21st century. You can write whatever you want and still use the same name for social media and your website. Just make sure your cover art suits the genre and you use the right categories in your metadata.
I’ve been going back and forth with using or not using pen names. I have a very unique combination of first and last name and I don’t believe there is anyone else in the world with the same name, which makes it very easy for stalkers, bullies or anyone else to find me. If you type my full name on Google, you’ll get only me and you can find everything about me, including my phone and address (which I keep trying to keep off listing sites, but they keep popping up like weeds). I’ve had some pretty bad experiences in the past with people finding relative’s phone numbers online and calling them to get information about me. I also had a what I believed to be a psychopath that “feel in love with me” and started to stalk me in real life. All that would have been preventable if I had used a pen name from the beginning. I agree that it is difficult to manage that kind of thing in an era where everything is transparent and people might want to find you and talk to you for legitimate reasons (media, interviews, etc.), but when you have a very unique and odd name, that becomes more complicated, because you’re completely exposed to anyone who’s “curious” about you, or doesn’t like you or whatever. I would love to be called Jane Smith!
Carol–The problem isn’t having a unique name–which would be a huge plus for a writer establishing a brand. Your name is your brand and you WANT to get your unique brand name as much publicity as possible.
Your problem isn’t the name. It’s the stalker. When stalkers are involved, then you do need to establish a new identity as your brand. If the psychopath is still harassing you, I’d suggest you do it right away.
But don’t choose a generic name like Jane Smith, or it will be hard to establish it as a brand. The goal of establishing an online platform is to have your name come up on that Search Engine results page–hopefully as the ONLY name that comes up on that SERP.
That’s why McDonald’s sues any business that uses the name McDonald, even if it happens to be the real name of the owner. Any business wants sole ownership of their brand name.
Good luck and I hope you get rid of that stalker. I had one for decades and when I finally saw his obituary a couple of years ago, I felt as if a huge dark weight had been lifted from my chest. I’ve slept better ever since.
Hi Anne,
Thanks for the reply! This situation with the stalker happened many years ago. We got the police involved and eventually moved to a different state (not just because of that, but it was one reason).
I never thought about the exclusivity of the name, that’s a good point. However, I’m still afraid of using my real name again. I write in the self-help niche, which attracts a lot of “needy” people who want to “talk”, want your help, want to know more about you, want to be your friend, you get the picture. It’s ok when the “fan” is a normal person, who respects boundaries. The problem I came to realize is that there’s a lot of crazy people in this world, or just clueless folks who don’t have any sense of how to deal with people they admire. These people will look you up on social media, want to befriend you, call your relatives to get your phone number (a few people found my grandparents phone in the Yellow Pages!), and may even show up at your doorstep, since today it’s not that hard to find out someone’s address (especially if you own your home, since this information is public record).
So, I’m more inclined to start over with a pen name. I had thought about the very generic name because I thought it would be diluted in the middle of millions of other people with the same name, but you do have a strong point. I’ll think about a unique name to use, just not my own!
Thanks for your input!
Hi Anne!
I am considering using ONE pen name for a novel I will publish (and if this goes well, for the sequel(s)).
I thought of using a pen name, since I submit research articles under my (real) name,
and I want to keep my “work name” and “hobby name” separated – what do you think about this?
Wouldn’t you say it’s a good idea to use ONE pen name in this case?
Sincerely, Natalie
Natalie–Yes, I think a pen name would probably be a good choice in this case, since the reputation you’ve built as a researcher wouldn’t help build platform for your novel career, and might confuse people. You should start using that name online as soon as possible, to start building an online presence for that persona.
Thanks for this great post! I’m just starting to get short story publications, and have a book I’m self-publishing this summer, and I’m at that point of needing to really decide what version of my name to use. It’s not as easy a decision as I would’ve thought! 😀
One major factor for me is just that there are apparently at least several other people with my name, and as a result with similar social media handles etc (one of them doesn’t know her own email address and I constantly get emails that are meant for her bc she’s giving everyone MY email address :D). So I feel like there could be some confusion there. The first result that comes up if you google my name is a Twitter account whose name is the reverse of my own and profile image is a girl in much better shape than me wearing a bikini. Whereas if I used my initials or something like that, that’s not such a crowded space. I’m not even concerned about authors with too similar a name (there are other Kincaids who write, but not with my initials), but just people in general. One thing that also comes to mind as a consideration, since I’m a designer as well, is that long names don’t fit as neatly on book covers. ;D
I’ve definitely heard the advice the maintain separate pen names for different genres and from a marketing standpoint it’s just bonkers. The exception for me I think is if I’m writing more young reader like middle grade stuff under my name, I don’t think I’d also want to publish something super adult (like erotica) with that same name. I wouldn’t want prospective employers to google me and come up with something racy, for sure. 😀
Anyway, I’m still mulling it over, but thanks, this was really helpful!
Mac–The first thing I thought when I saw your comment was “what a cool name!” so it would be a shame to have to give it up. Especially because of a dingbat who doesn’t know her own email address.
But if you’re writing kids books, Mac Kincaid would be very cool and look good on a cover. or you could go with Kenzie. I have a character named Kenzie in my latest novel. not that she’s much of a role model. 🙂 But Kenzie Kincaid has some highly memorable alliteration going on.
Yes, as I said in the post, if you write kidlit and erotica, you gotta have different monikers for each. More work, but absolutely necessary.
I feel like writing under more than one name would just get super confusing!! I’m just beginning my forray into the world of writing but I’ve been seriously contemplating names with my first novel nearly complete.
For me I have an unusual surname that while not particularly difficult to say or spell is constantly misspelled and mis-heard. Even people I’ve known for YEARS still get it wrong because my more unusual surname is one letter off from a extremely popular surname. I’ve struggled with jobs, college loans, mailing and every some government paperwork! So for me I think when I publish I will use my given first name and a new surname, perhaps an older family name, one that isn’t so difficult for people to get right!
Miranda–One pen name is fine. There’s a little paperwork involved, but since you’re obviously on social media using your first name of your “pen name’ already, that’s a big start. A difficult last name can be a problem, especially if people are likely to misspell it, since they wouldn’t be able to find you with a Google search. Good plan to use a different one.
First of all my compliments for this post that I found while searching on Google. And especially my comments for commenting on all those replies. That is not something I saw a lot before on other blogs.
Like many before me, I also struggled with this question. And I am still in the experimental phase of my writing. My issue is that my name is more common than I expected, even in the US. My first name is of course English, my middle name is a Dutch name, my last name is more common in Germany than it is in the Netherlands where I am from.
But I do want to write in English. I too dream to become a success and there are simply many more English readers than there are Dutch.
Therefore I do think an English sounding name would be better. If I anglicize my name, I still find loads of people. I also tried to use the first names of my sons to construct a name and even those, after anglicizing, are also too common in my opinion.
I even have some old gaming name from the nineties that I can split in two to make up a first and last name of four letters each. But – also like many before me – that just doesn’t feel right.
So, if you have any suggestions on what you would do in my situation, I would really appreciate it.
Michael–I have two words for you: Stieg Larsson. 🙂 One of the biggest author names of the 21st century. And his name really sounds “foreign” to parochial English-speakers. Michael C. Albers sounds a little unusual, but not necessarily un-English.
And many Americans have Germanic names anyway. Kurt Vonnegut comes to mind. Germans are all over the US. My mom’s maiden name was Seifried.
If there’s another author named Michael Albers, you could be Mike Albers or Mick Albers, or M. C. Albers. There’s a UK author named Anne Allen, and we get confused sometimes, but we write in different genres, and my middle “R” usually keeps people from confusing us.
Be yourself! It’s so much easier!
Typo: Richard Galbraith (you got it right the second time)
influent 1–Many thanks! It’s amazing how thousands can read a piece over a year and a half and there are still typos everybody has skipped over.
Hi Anne! I came across your post in my search to find out if I should use a pen name and if so, how to decide on one. Somehow this seems to be one of the most difficult things for me to figure out. Elicea Frances Christensen is my legal name – and that is definitely a mouthful – even if I omit the middle name. But even my maiden name (Krizman) is a lot. And on top of that, I think people have a hard time saying my name (uh-lee-see-uh), let alone spelling it out. So I am all sorts of conflicted. I feel like my name is definitely unique enough to be found (it’s pretty easy to find me by Elicea Webber or Elicea Krizman (previous married name and maiden name, respectively). But I wonder if perhaps using Elicea Christensen might hinder my sales as I work towards finally being published.
In other research I found, people have boasted about using variations of your name. So since people call me Leece, I thought maybe Lee Franks (as a variation of my middle name). Leece Franks would be too….. you know…. Lisa Frank – hahaa!
I also thought about going further back in my family line and using something like JF Berry or J. Berry (to represent my grandmother, Julia Frances Berriochoa).
You post was so helpful. Anything additional I can get from you would be incredibly appreciated!
What about E. Frances Christensen? Or even better Fran Krizman.
Thanks for the input! I hadn’t thought about using “Fran”!
Elicea–I think you’re overthinking. I don’t see anything wrong with Elicea Christensen. That would fit nicely on a cover.
Some people really do have to use pen names. I have a friend named Dennis Miller. Not only is it generic, but it’s also the name of a (not very funny) comedian. Steven King and Jo Rowling would have the same problem. But yours is fine.
If you want your name shorter, Elicea Webber or Krizman would be okay. But you want to be memorable, not to fade into the woodwork. Lee Franks sounds generic to me.
I suggest you keep the name close as possible to the name you already use with the IRS and your bank. You’ll save yourself so much trouble.
The way you show your name can reflect your genre. If you’re writing mysteries, you might want to use E F Christensen. If you’re writing romance you might rather use Elicea.
Or if you’re writing thrillers, Leece packs a punch.
In fact, Leece is very cool. Memorable. And not gender specific. If you write thrillers, having a Danish surname will work in your favor. Scandinavian thrillers are so popular. Best of luck!
You’re probably right. I tend to get caught in a thought loop, so to speak. I have been thinking about this for weeks and want to rip my hair out.
I’m leaning towards thrillers, for sure. Although I’m not at all opposed to romance – I just tend to enjoy writing about murder and suspense. Romance is the extreme opposite – what a shift in thinking that would take (ha!).
So I’ll play around with:
EF Christensen
Leece Christensen
and maybe just caving and using my whole name – Elicea Christensen.
Thanks for that fast input! I really appreciate it!
<3
How about this situation: I’m a job search coach and will be continuing that business alongside my fantasy author career. An agent or fantasy fan who googles my name will find lots of (to them) boring-ass stuff about resumes and interview prep. Is that a good reason to pick a pen name?
Thea–Not necessarily. There’s a stockbroker in San Jose named Anne R. Allen. I only know of one time we were confused. And that was by one of my readers who was terribly impressed by my “versatility.” You could use your initials or add or drop a middle name if you want things very clear. But Thea Kelly is a great name and it’s nice and short so it can be big on a book cover. Best of luck!
Patricia–I agree that Patricia Han has a great look and sound and would be a perfect name for a mystery author. I’m not sure Patty has the same gravitas. Have you thought of making up a middle name? An out of work actor named Andrew Clay did that several decades ago. He had a boring middle name, but instead decided to use the word “Dice”. Even if you don’t remember why he’s famous, you’re probably aware of the name Andrew Dice Clay.
Is there a family name, like maybe your mom’s maiden name that might work? The rhythm of Patricia (one syllable name) Han would be awesome. (Like Patricia Lynn Han. To bad that’s taken.) Play around with it. I’ll bet you can come up with something fun that doesn’t sound too unlike *you*,
Brilliant – thank you so much! I think I’ve got it… PatriciaLynHan. The domain and twitter were available. I still have time to think about maybe using a fun middle name, too. I really appreciate your advice!
Patricia Lyn Han–Perfect. Such a simple change, but “Lyn” is memorable. The “y” can give your cover designer a fun thing to play with. Best of luck! I’ll be looking for your book!
Hi Anne! Great article, though I do find myself in a slightly different situation with the whole pen name issue. I’ve been writing and publishing for over a decade now under a pen name. Nowadays I feel like I need to rebrand and leave that pen name behind while launching new books under my real name (or a variation of it). The shift in my stories’ focus won’t be massive, but under my current pen name, I feel like I’ve long peaked and really can’t do much more with plots that are now starting to sound alike.
I suspect that rebranding under a new name and focusing on a fresh new genre will help my well of inspiration and keep it from stagnating or going stale and predictable. If I do move forward with it, I’m not going to add another social media account, etc., to help with my marketing efforts. I’ll just update my current blog / site to reflect both names and the books associated with each.
I’m not worried about the wrong readers getting a hold of the wrong books since the shift in focus won’t be so jarring as to make the difference problematic. But I’m doing this largely to let go of the old pen name and any kind of “baggage” comes with it in order to start over with something different, regardless of the nature of the change I need to keep my creative juices alive.
Is a situation like mine fairly common among indie writers who’ve been around for a while now?
Hayden–Many, many writers change course in their careers and write differently from the way they did earlier. Mary Stewart wrote young adult mysteries and changed to epic fantasy. Neil Gaiman wrote children’s books and switched to dark satire. So you certainly don’t have to change your name to change course.
Starting from scratch with a new name in today’s competitive world will require much more work getting traction than it did a decade ago.
But it sounds as if you’re not proud of what you did writing under that pen name, in which case, a clean slate might be just the ticket.
Thanks so much for your response, Anne. I totally get what you’re saying. In my case, it’s really not a situation in which I’m not proud of what I’ve produced. I *am* proud, very much so. Sadly I can’t help but think that I’m running out of ideas in the genre I write for, and I’m afraid it might be showing itself in the books I’ve been publishing as of late. Oh, I hate saying that. It’s scary.
But the more I consider things, the more I also suspect that it’s probably high time for me to step back and take a break for a bit. Recharge the batteries and all that since I haven’t really stopped writing and publishing since I dove into it back in 2008.
I’ll definitely keep options open as I’ve been going back and forth over this issue and hashing it out (with myself) over at my blog. The chance of me sticking to my pen name is stronger than abandoning it, as I’m also aware of what you’ve noted regarding marketing for the new identity and all that.
I’ve got a lot of great things to think about, also thanks to your readers and their responses to your post. I appreciate your time, and I look forward to future posts from you.
Hayden–Sometimes we all need a break. It’s not a bad idea. You may find that you can rebrand your pen name without having to change it.
One of the advantages of being indie is you can control your covers and keywords and metadata. By changing the look of your covers and website, you may be able to change, but keep the name.
One advantage to keeping the name is that Amazon favors authors with more books. So even though the books may be wildly different, you can have the same name on them.
I decided to use one pen name, because there are three other writers with my real name. I registered the dot.com domain name for Rebecca Rylane, and I was about to use it, but then I found out that there is an artist named Rebecca Ryland. Our domain names are only one letter different. I’m concerned this is too close, especially since I do some art, too. What’s your take on this?
Rebecca–Since you’re looking for a name that will stand out, if you haven’t done anything else with the Ryland name, you might want to look for something more unique. I guess there’s a reason Daniel Handler took the name Lemony Snicket. 🙂 But I don’t think you have to go that far.
So I have a super common first name and if you search for Stephanie Whitson there are lots of authors that come up. I’m trying to decide if I want to create a pen name or publish with my entire real name.
Stephanie–I guarantee your name isn’t as common as Anne Allen 🙂 But adding my middle initial has allowed me a unique brand. It saves a world of hassle.
I have a very unique name. I’m sure there’s not another person in the world with the combination of first and last name that I have. From the point of view of an author’s marketing, this sounds perfect, but I worry about my privacy in this age of Google and “white pages”. I don’t have anything to hide. I want to publish non-fiction and academic related books, so using a pen name will not be easy or even recommended. However, I don’t want curious people Googling my name and finding out my home address, phone number, names of my relatives, and all these stuff that is readily available on these “people search” websites.
I had some scary experiences in the past. About 5 years ago, I had an article published on a famous website that was very controversial (criticized religion). I had people looking up my name online, finding where I lived and showing up on my doorstep. I had people finding the phone number of relatives and calling them to ask for my number. On another occasion, I published an op-ed on another popular media website and had a man become “obsessed” with me because he liked my picture. He found out a lot of information about me and harassed me for a while. All that just because I published some articles. I don’t even have my own website yet. I wonder how bad it can get if I publish an actual book.
Do you have any advice for me?
Kat–Unfortunately, I don’t think a pen name is likely to protect you from the lack of privacy in 21st century life. You’d need a time machine. And even that’s not a guarantee. I had a stalker back in the 1980s who made my life hell with no technology but the telephone (even though my number was unlisted.) I had to sell my house and move 400 miles away.
There are insurance companies that help deal with identity theft and harassment. The one that comes to mind is Lifelock, although that’s more about financial protection. There are others that protect your identity and reputation. Hiring them might be cheaper than establishing a whole new fake persona, which will probably be hacked anyway.
Publishers do expect you to be on social media to promote your books. Even if you’re on social media with a pen name, it would be easy for a stalker to find your IP address and discover your real identity. If you do write on controversial topics, you might consider getting a home security system as well.
We live in an era when extremism is encouraged and armed thuggery is becoming the norm. I fear nobody is safe, no matter what name we use. I wish I had more optimistic advice. Maybe move to a safer country, preferably near a police station.
I am using two different pen names, because both of my books (one that’s finished but being revised, and the other is in it’s infancy) contain controversial subject matter, and everything I’m publishing under my real name must remain detached from those two stories.
One pen name is used for a story that’s my true life story with only names changed and then some fiction is blended in to create an interesting “future” for the story to end on. It is a Christian-based book but would be considered taboo to many church officials. The book is equally intriguing and eye popping for secular readers as well.
The second pen name I’m using is for a book that is also “Christian-based” but it is MUCH more controversial than the first. It is a romance novel that’s part-erotica, and it is intended for Christian couples to use to learn lots of advanced and kinky “techniques/acts” to use in their marriage, since the spiritually-reasoned avoidance of pornography tends to lead to a lot of Christians having dissatisfying sex lives due to not knowing a lot of the “tips and tricks” that secular people typically learn about during their teens and twenties. This inadequate sexual knowledge and timidity to discussing it with their potential spouses causes A LOT of problems in Christians’ lives, and that book is meant to be sort of like a loving, genuine and respectful Christian-friendly alternative to the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy that lacks the abusive behavior found in 50 Shades.
So yes… the second book is SO graphic and bold and raw and in your face with the descriptions of the sex scenes that I have to keep it separated from the less controversial first book I wrote. The first book I plan to promote widely and build a big following for. The second book, I have no idea yet how much effort I’ll put into it, but I can’t have it directly connected to the first book and it’s brand.
Joshua–As I say in the article, if you write erotica, you definitely want to use a pen name. And I guess if some is more likely to offend than others, using two names might make sense. I don’t know much about marketing hard core porn, so I’m probably not the person to advise you.
Thanks Anne… I just want to clarify though, I don’t consider anything I wrote to be “hard core porn” or even porn at all, and I am not involved with anything like that. Being a “mature Christian”, I understand intricacies about our spiritual teachings, what is ok and not ok, in what situations and why, etc.
I absolutely see a difference between erotica and actual porn… being the visual aspect. What I was referring to is that in Christianity, porn itself is considered a sin because it has to do with the visual aspect of watching two real life people doing what they do. However, while some Christians won’t even touch erotica, I believe that many would agree with me that fictional erotica, especially if it’s constructed as part of a healthy marriage story line, would probably be considered acceptable and appropriate as long as there’s no sexual images included in the book, and it is fictional characters, not real people’s experiences.
My plan is to market it as a well rounded romance novel for Christian couples to read as a guide for their own relationship, which can hopefully make up for any knowledge gaps that many Christians may have because of them avoiding most types of adult material in general… because let’s face it, most people don’t learn the specifics of sex from parents, pastors or teachers… they’re just expected to figure it out on their own some how. I just meant that, like in 50 Shades of Grey, this book depicts the sex scenes literally and verbatim regarding every technique, words said and the order of each… that and the degree of kink described sometimes is where some people may have issue with it and thus the controversy exceeding that of my first book.
The first book which I want to keep separated is an underdog comeback story that has romantic moments spread throughout but in almost all parts simply alludes to/infers sex or briefly uses artistic liberty to describe how good the experience was but doesn’t give the specific details of the acts involved. Then the only one little section that is blatant has a warning before hand with the option to skip over it, and the graphic words only last about 1-2 paragraphs, while the context and prior statements make it clear that it’s for brief pre-marital educational purposes and not meant to be an erotic story. That story, while it does have controversial topics as a whole, will probably be accepted much more easily and widely by all types of adults and late-teens.
I just figured I’d clarify the difference there… and also I didn’t want people thinking I made porn. I consider my writings useful and helpful for couples to expand their intimate horizons or learn to stretch their comfort zones. I’ll leave it at that.
Hey Anne – thought it would be interesting to know what a native speaker who actually works in the field thinks about my real name. It’s not a secret, I have been using it forever, but I am not an author: Nils Jeppe.
I am quite fond of it, but not one anglophone person I have met has pronounced it correctly. (“Nils” rhymes with “meals”, it’s usually mis-pronounced as rhyming with “hills” or as “Niles”, and I am not even sure how best to transliterate my last name’s pronounciation. The “e”‘s are prounced as in yes, I guess.
I figure it’s easy enough to spell that it wouldn’t be a huge problem; and it is quite unique (as in, the best I can estimate is that fewer than a handful of people world-wide have this exact name, at most).
What sayeth you?
(As an aside, my first name is generic Scandinavian (mainly Swedish) and my last name is Danish; I am German.)
Nils–I think you’ve got a great name for an author. It would fit nicely on a book cover. Pronunciation doesn’t matter that much in book marketing. After all, we all called her J. K. Rau
-ling instead of J. K. Roh-ling and her Harry Potter books didn’t do too badly.
And I didn’t know Lawrence Durrell pronounced his name like “squirrel” not Dur-el until I saw “The Durrells of Corfu” a couple of years ago. And I’ve read the entire Alexandria Quartet.
Final “e’s” are always problematic. Half the people call me “Annie” when my “e” is silent. “Like the Princess,” I like to say.
The short “i” in American English is a problem, too. People who come from central California, Oklahoma, and Texas pronounce many more vowels as short “i’s” than most people. They say “tin cints” for “ten cents.” So if they call you Nils, that’s because of how they talk, not your name.
When you get famous enough, your Wikipedia entry will give a phonetic spelling of your name. Until then, you’ll have to contend with a variety of pronunciations like the rest of us. 🙂
Thanks for your (impressively fast) reply, and the reassurances. I guess my worry wasn’t so much being pronounced correctly, but rather that someone who doesn’t pronounce it right may not be able to type it into a search engine correctly, things along that line. But now that I read your reply, I think I was approaching it from a very 20th Century POV – nowadays people are more likely to know the spelling than the pronunciation, if they know the name at all from a third party.
And yeah the spelling is mercifully easy. And the uniqueness probably goes a long way.
Just not holding my breath on being relevant enough for a Wikipedia entry, ever. 😀
This is an excellent post and I couldn’t have come across it at a better time. I currently publish a mystery series under this pen. However, once my third book is finished, I’m planning to finally get together years of love poetry and release several books with my husband (he will do illustrations). The premise will be a journey of love, heartbreak, and then love that lasts. I have the poems, the book titles, all I need is a name.
A lot of my current readership, which is not huge yet, knows who I am. This is because my pen name was created for those who don’t know me. My actual name is Eda Maria Roggeman. Nice right! People have as hard a time now pronouncing my last name as they do the first. Ugh. I was considering using my birth name, Eda Maria Handly, but I’m getting hung up on the last name. I would really like to use my actual first and middle name but I’m stuck. My husband and I have been brainstorming ideas but I don’t want to be fake. And, I won’t republish my mysteries under a different name due to the investment in covers.
Years ago I wrote a love advice column for the local paper under “Ask Eda” as well as a relationship website that no longer exists, but I finally realize there is a market for poetry and I believe I can do well. I’m about to begin Instagram and get things moving up to the release of my first collection of poetry but I can’t even pin down what name I want to use! I understand Eda Maria is unique and could be a great brand (if people could pronounce Eda with a long E!), then again, is it too different?
Three years ago I finally met a lady with the name Eda. She was an older, little Italian woman. Even pronounced it the same. It’s very European and some countries pronounce it differently, so I was ecstatic! I’ve yet to see my name on a coffee cup or key chain, but you take what you can get. 🙂
Any advice for someone who loves their name but for some reason is having issues with the thought of releasing her heart and soul to the world through it? Also, do I keep them separate? Mystery novels to poetry is quite a leap and I’m not sure there’s much cross over but the thought of maintaining two different names is overwhelming. My first thought was to use my name, keep K.C. Turner separate, but place it under the umbrella of my real name. Self publishing is quite enough work! I’m so torn…
KC–Eda Maria is a great name for a poet. I can see wanting to keep your mysteries and poetry separate, but it will require some extra work. Maybe you can promote the poetry on Instagram and promote the mysteries more on Facebook or Twitter. You’lll have to decide if you want the expense of two websites, or whether you might like to give Eda a page on the KC Turner website. You don’t have to keep it a secret that Turner and Maria are the same person. Just say “Eda Marie writing as KC Turner”.
I have a few different pen names. I’m not a big selling author and don’t expect to ever be so having people try to link the three into my real life is unlikely. I just write for the fun of writing. I don’t want people to assume I’m only an erotica author and so do not take anything else I write seriously. The second name is more to do with lesbian romance and a bit of other. As there is stuff in those books that my family wouldn’t like, that is why I write those under a different name. I was told that if I write les romance and then throw in straight romance that my readers would feel betrayed and would likely stop reading any of my books. Therefore, I came up with a third name when a story revealed itself to me that had straight romance in it. I still don’t want my family to read that book as they wouldn’t like what I’m putting in it hence not writing under my own name even for that one. I have not yet published under the third name but between both of the others I’ve (self) published a total of 7. I have different profiles for those 2 names and have developed back stories and personalities for both “authors.” So, when commenting or posting I am sticking to the right person with how they would talk I guess. I haven’t yet made a profile for the third, but I have the back story and personality thought out for them too. (One certain way to possibly trigger a multiple personality disorder… ????) So I don’t necessarily think pen names are bad; it depends on the situation and how they are used. Maybe one day if one of the author names becomes big I’d reveal myself, but for now I prefer the anonymity.
Ami–As I said, erotica is the exception to the rule. You’ll definitely want a pen name to write erotica and I hear you that if you’re writing for different audiences, you need to have different pen names. I have a friend who writes erotica who says she sells better if she doesn’t write too many books under the same name, so she adds names all the time. She’s not doing what you do–inventing personas for each name–but I think that’s a clever touch that will probably help readers bond with that pen name. Sounds as if you’re doing a great job!
Great article. You give a strong argument against pen names, and I am sure I will use may own real name now.
Al–Life is so much easier with only one name and persona to contend with!
There is one situation I’ve found where a pen name makes sense, and that’s if you self-published books that you’re embarrassed about later, as using a pen name often keeps them un-merged on your Goodreads profile and Amazon account.
Goodreads knows no context. It’s simply a database for readers, and it will group in everything with your name on it that’s ever been imported to the website. If you submitted a bad fanfiction to Kindle when you were twelve years old, and it was ever assigned an ISBN, it’s going to be on Goodreads. If you wrote an erotic novel with a cover image hand-drawn on Microsoft Paint, and it has an ISBN, it’s going to be on Goodreads, and Goodreads rarely, if ever, deletes records of published books. In an age where marketing is so important, and Goodreads is often the first website people see for a self-published author in an internet search, you don’t want any embarrassing or unprofessional-looking materials on your profile, unless they were intended as a novelty.
If you use a pen name, Goodreads often won’t put the two together, even if it becomes public knowledge. The merging of pen names with an author’s real name typically only happens by special request, or for classic authors. J.K. Rowling, for example, is able to keep Gailbraith separate from her own author profile. If you ever wrote anything that you’re now ashamed of as an author, and it has a permanent record, sometimes a pen name is the best way to start over. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a pen name. It could be a married name or maiden name, an alternate spelling of your name, a traditional cultural name you were born with, or any other name that distinguishes your more professional writing from any amateur or embarrassing books from long ago.
There is the caveat that if you published a book you care about and value under your old name along with the embarrassing titles, and you wish to re-publish it under your new name while excluding the embarrassing titles, Goodreads will often merge the books, as they’re essentially the same book, just under a different author name; this will link both author profiles together. There’s also the issue that author profiles are often lumped together posthumously. Still, by that point, the embarrassing books would probably be so far-removed from the author’s fanbase that fans wouldn’t consider them worth looking for.
Loupe–Oh, my goodness. I’m hearing more and more stories from writers who rushed to publish in the heady early days of the “Kindle Revolution”. You’re offering reason #57 for not self-publishing until you’ve got some solid writing skills. Using a pen name to escape from your former self is a special circumstance no one would have thought of 30 years ago.
Goodreads policy of merging titles is a separate issue, but a biggie, so I’m glad you brought it up. After my mother, Dr. Shirley S. Allen, died, I found her books had been merged with a romance writer named Shirley Allen. It took lots of chasing after librarians to get them separated. My mother would have been furious to see her academic books merged with Romance titles.
Great article. I currently write multiple genres under my real name. Just curious though, I’ve heard a lot of talk lately that cross genre writing can affect Amazon ‘also boughts’, which can taint how Amazon algorithms serve ads on your books. Is there any truth to it?
Fiona–Amazon also-bought algorithms have changed drastically in the last few months, so trying to predict their activity can be an exercise in futility. Changing names on all your books could be a nightmare, and you’d lose all your reviews. And it might not affect the latest algos anyway. Keep going with your own name. Maybe some weird also-boughts might show up, but who knows–it might get you some cross-genre readers. Best of luck
That’s a tough one, but you do bring up some great points on why you don’t need one while adding reasons some should have a pen name.
My issue is more about marketing and branding. It would be nice (no, awesome), but most of us indies do not have brands under power names like James Patterson, Stephen King, or J. K. Rowling. If someone is starting out or they don’t have a strong enough following where they can make a living with self-publishing, then I highly advise against publishing multiple genres under one name.
I feel an author would have to build a solid following before even considering doing another genre or even another sub-genre under their name. But even then, I would use caution. Take romance for example. LJ Shen writes new adult dark bully romances with shock value. The writing duo Max Monroe writes fun, yet steamy romantic comedies and have a funny newsletter. Both are very successful, but if either of them tried to write in the other’s sub-genre, it would probably ruin their brand and cost them some fans. Another indie romance author, Elena Johnson, makes seven-figures a year and believes strongly in separating her pen names even under the same genre of clean Christian romance. Her pen name Liz Isaacson focuses on Christian cowboy romance only. Elena Johnson always has a beach theme under that name. It works great for her.
I feel having a clear author brand that caters specifically to their target reader is more important than trying to cater to multiple readers in multiple genres under one name. Especially if they are trying to build a name/brand in such a competitive market where no one really knows who they are. I say master a sub-genre to the point where an author becomes the “go-to” author for that sub-genre because their name is attached and branded to that sub-genre.
Having multiple genres under one name still requires more work than if writing in one genre. Separate mailing lists, ads, how you market each genre is going to be different and targeted to different readers. And social media would be messy under one name. The cool stuff an author could post for her psychological thrillers could turn off fans who read her chick lit rom coms (and vise versa.)
At the end of the day it’s about what works for the author. If they built a successful brand as a hybrid author, awesome! Keep with it. But if someone is still struggling to make it, I’d consider rebranding their current name or starting over with a pen name that clearly represents a brand in one sub-genre.
Sorry for the long comment, but I’ve been studying extensively on this very subject lately for my own rebranding project I’m working on, so I had a lot on my mind. 🙂
Oh, and I had a pen name right out of the gate because my real name is hard to spell, remember, or pronounce. They even mispronounced both my first and last name at both my graduations lol.
Leila–A single pen name isn’t much of a hassle, and I see why you’d want to use a simpler one if yours is hard to remember or pronounce. But multiple pen names means multiple marketing plans. I agree that authors who stick to one genre usually make more money. But if you feel drawn to another genre, you can brand the book differently with covers and advertising and still have the same name on the cover. I have a friend who makes a good living writing both Regency and Contemporary. She has them both on her website, with different pages for each genre. The covers are wildly different, and she hasn’t had anybody complain that the Contemporary isn’t Regency or vice versa.
Now that would change if she was writing clean Christian Contemporary and steamy Regency. Any time there’s steam, you want to keep it separate from “clean” books. But if you can keep the same name, do. My advice here is meant to save authors time, so there’s less hassle with marketing and more writing time.
Thanks for the reply!
I write contemporary romance and chick lit rom coms (published). I also write YA contemporary fantasy (currently unpublished) and dabble in psychological thrillers on the side (also unpublished). I did combine the two romances under one name, but it didn’t work out for me because the steam levels were different. One is more like a Bridget Jones rom com with sexual thoughts and language but no sex, the other steamy and emotional. I even lost a few super fans when I decided to write steam. They could handle some language or thoughts, but were that much against steamy romance.
I figured that maybe those who don’t mind steam wouldn’t mind reading my rom coms, but it didn’t do well. I did better when my rom coms were separate. And if I market to new readers who enjoy chick lit rom coms, but find I write steamy books, they may assume there is sex in all and not buy (despite the cartoon cover.) With all the genres I write, I definitely have some thinking and planning to do on where I go from here.
I suppose it depends on the situation. And if an author can do it successfully under one name, great! I’m happy to hear that it works for your friend.
Out of curiosity, does your friend publish more heavily in one sub-genre, meaning is one her main money maker?
Leila–Sounds like you’ve got some readers who are really old-school. They can’t tell chick lit from steamy romance by the cover. So yeah, I guess you have to use a different name. But I wouldn’t make it too different, so you don’t need a different bank account. Use your initials or something. My friend does make the most money from her Regencies. But everybody should be able to spot a Regency by the cover. Regency fans don’t tend to buy contemporary romance.
A writer in the 50’s from Europe had a first name of “Lynne”. What is her last name?
Dan–Lynne was a popular name in the 1950s. I think it’s of Celtic origin. The French would probably be Lynette. I don’t know of any authors with the name off the top of my head.