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How do authors who use a pen name introduce themselves at conferences, conventions, and online? What challenges might an emerging writer not think about for marketing under a pen name? Do references to the legal name of a new author confuse or upset readers?
I want to use a pen name, yet I keep thinking of how authors these days are expected to allow readers into their lives as much as possible if their careers are to survive. In our world of weblogs, social networking sites, and nosy interviewers, does a pen name create too much distance from an author and potential fans?
Note: The intention of this thread is not to revisit the reasons why the oldies on this site do or do not use pen names, unless the reasons relate to marketing.
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I don't remember if I'd said anything in an earlier thread...but, right now, I want my own name on my stuff. Something about jonesing for ego boost and attention, I think. (I even put my Internet Fan Fiction out there under my own name, so if they ever decide to come and get me, they can find me.)
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I don't have a problem publishing with my own name but others might. I doubt anyone here could pronounce my last name correctly. ;-)
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Harlan Ellison has a quote that I've always liked. He used to use pen names when he was publishing stuff for the "gentlemen's" magazines, but he doesn't anymore. Why?
posted
I'm with Robert, I want my own name on stuff.
Regarding cross-pollenating on networking sites, that's not really a problem is it? As long as you use the pen name on the sites. Of course then if you want to also keep a personal profile with your real name, then that's two accounts to maintain when I barely maintain interest in one.
Glad you asked this question, because I've been wondering similar things. Working with a pen name can be complicated - when I think about the number of times I've had to email asking for a clarification of rules for submitting things, so I know how to indicate both my real name and my pen name to a potential publisher...! For the record, so far I've found they always require me to submit both names - one for the contract signing and one for publication name.
Unless someone insists I give my legal name, I always introduce myself by my pen name when doing something related to my fiction. It's a nickname I picked up at camp 15 years ago (gosh that's a scary thought) and it's as much a part of "me" as the name I was born with. There have been times my friends have had to shout the nickname because I'm not responding to my real name! :-)
At any rate, I digress. There are several hundred people who only know me by my nickname (though they do know it's not my real name and the kids especially like to play the "guess Kitti's real name" game). I don't feel like it creates any more distance between us than using my real name would. Some of these people know me far better than my "real-life" friends.
In terms of marketing, I'm sure my pen name will continue to cause me all sorts of headaches (see my first paragraph, above), but - for me - it's worth it. I am writing in two VERY different markets (academic non-fiction and scifi/fantasy) and I want to delineate between the two as clearly as possible. The point is not so much to "hide" my real name - the internet and search engines like worldcat mean anyone with enough determination can connect the dots - but to make it immediately obvious to my readers what type of work they are looking at.
My two cents. I'd love to hear from anyone else about what troubles/complications they've run into trying to work under a pen name.
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rich, fans of an established author start reading each story with the expectations created by the author's previous stories. Right? I'm thinking a new author must consider the expectations created by her name.
Irene S. Lockheed sets a different mood than Irene M. Spiffey. So, would readers avoid a hard-core sci-fi novel by first-time-author Spiffey?
Kitti, you reminded me that a pen name must be comfortable enough to use in regular communication. I think I'd respond poorly to another first name. People would pick up on my discomfort, making me less approachable. That's not good if signings (for novels), appearances on discussion panels, and interviews really are important in establishing a writing career. (Of course, I'm operating off the assumption that my work will be publishable in the near future.)
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The only time I can see a business justification for using a pen name is when one is writing in two different genres. Even then, it's not so much a pen name as a way to delineate the "product", i.e. Iain M Banks for science fiction, and Iain Banks for fiction. Or, even more so for people like Kitti who publish non-fiction and fiction. There's a valid reason to separate the two.
However, that doesn't mean one can't or shouldn't use a pen name. The reasons for doing so are completely up to the individual. I don't see any real need for a pen name, other than what I mentioned above, but I also don't see a need for texting on a cell phone. That's just how I roll.
(Having said that, my first short story published was under the name of "Stevie Washington". I thought all great writers used a pen name so I borrowed Stevie from an MTV cartoon 'cause I thought it fit the persona I was trying to be. Little did I realize at the time that 1) I'm not a great writer, and 2) my name doesn't make my persona. Though I believe there may be an argument against 2.)
[This message has been edited by rich (edited March 19, 2009).]
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It's not that I wouldn't consider using a pen name...in fact, I have...the one and only thing I've sent out under a pen name was an attempt at a Harlequin Romance, where you pretty much have to publish under a girl's name. (It was deservedly rejected.)
But I'm not operating with the notion of publishing under another name because somebody, say, thinks what I write will "go down better" if another name appears on it. Or if somebody wants to publish something "other than" what I've written, but wants another name on it to hide that the same guy, me, wrote both. I'm just not inclined to go along, short of a massive amount of money to do it.
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>>"The only time I can see a business justification for using a pen name is when one is writing in two different genres"
Another reason--your name isn't very memorable. What if your name were Jack Smith. Even if someone picked up a story by you and liked it, would they remember it? Maybe not, because your first and last name are so common. Now, how about Yoon Ha Lee? Robert Jordan? Charles Coleman Finlay? I'm not saying those are pen names, but they do resonate in my memory much better than Jack Smith.
Another reason: searchability. I didn't consider my name very common, but if I do a google search on it, I come up with a full list of totally different people, and several on the first page are convicted felons. Again, with a more distinct name, you might be the only hit on a google search, which can make you easier to find if someone recommends your writing to someone else.
[This message has been edited by steffenwolf (edited March 19, 2009).]
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I think that pen names are usually entirely about marketability. Whether that means creating a more memorable and/or distinguishable moniker as steffenwolf points out, to create a different authorial identiy in different markets as rich notes, or to have a gendered or non-gendered name. Robert mentions writing romance novels and needing a female name, but also think of the many famous women writers who originaly had to publish under male sounding names to avoid discrimination (the Bronte sisters are the first to come to my mind). Even today many authors use their first initial (or first and middle), and achieve an ambiguity of gender that likely makes them more marketable to both sexes. Another case to think about is satire, sometimes working under a pen-name may be neccessary to shield oneself from the flak of negative reaction.
Though in recent memory the most interesting case of a pseudonym would be Lemony Snicket. Though the creation of this persona goes beyond the assumption of a new name. Daniel Handler turned a pseudonym into a full fledged character to write A Series of Unfortunate Events. Snicket is not only a narrator researching the history of the orphans, he is a character that is tied into the story. Hadler's commitment to preserving the persona of Lemony Snicket goes so far that at readings and publicity events he attends as a representative of Mr. Snicket. Examining what Hadler has done with Snicket reveals one possible way to deal with a world that wants increasing access to its authors, but a world that still loves a bit of intrigue and mystery.
Whatever the case, using a pseudonym needs to be a thought out decision, because for better or for worse it will definetly affect how you will (and can) market your work.
To answer the question, if I had a pen name because I wanted to hide my identity, I wouldn't go to a conference, except perhaps in a mask and costume, like Batman.
If I were at a Hatrack conference, I'd answer quite happily to Pat, TaleSpinner, TS or even "WannaBeer?"
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I decided some time ago to use "Alexander Apprentice Andrieu". Instead of my real name. Personally I think I prefer it, though some people know me only by this name and since I've not used it much it does seem rather impersonal. My natural reaction is to go by my real name and I have wondered if I would have difficulty responding to "Alex" in any case I think I'll stick with it and adapt to it probably. We'll see.
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IIRC, JK Rowling originally published under that name to reduce the possibility that teenage boys would avoid her books just because they were written by a woman.
Another example of a sort-of pen name is William Goldman claiming that The Princess Bride was written by S. Morganstern. This worked really well in order to give it an entertaining framing story, and gave a lot of entertainment along the way as he explains what parts of the "original" he edited out.
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A few years back I was at a writer's conference in San Diego and had the pleasure of having a critique by Bob Mayer. He has written over 30 books and has sold in the 6,000,000 copies range. Under his real name (Bob Mayer) he has written some nonfiction--the most notable is A Novel Writer's Toolkit:A Guide to Writing Novels and Getting Published. He writes his fiction under 4 different pen names--Joe Dalton, Robert Doherty, Greg Donegan, and Bob McGuire. He writes SciFi and techno-thrillers. I asked him why he wrote under different pen names and he told me it is mostly because of the readers and publishers. For example if you start out writing SciFi and after 7 books change to write mysteries, readers get upset halfway into the mystery and can't figure out why the space ship hasn't shown up. Also publishers are skeptical that an author can change genre and mantain an audience under the same name. Mayer's Area 51 books are under The Robert Doherty name and the Atlantis books under Greg Donegan.
Just one reason why an author uses a pen name. At writer's conferences he is Bob Mayer.
[This message has been edited by DB (edited March 19, 2009).]
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Come to think of it, what does the "JK" in "JK Rowling" stand for?
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Thanks to the spelling of my last name, I have a unique name---or almost unique, because when I do an ego-Google-search, there's a couple of references to one who's definitely not me. But the vast majority of references are to me.
This at least is handy---or would be if I could ever sell something.
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Another reason for a pen name is to conceal one's identity for other than literary reasons---say, one wants to write an inside-job book on some subject, but one does not want anybody else on the inside to know who wrote it. The anonymity of a pen name would be valuable to this kind of writer.
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It's JoAnn, I believe, though most just call her Jo.
I use my initials as a pseudonym, some of them for marketability reasons (Like Rowling, I used my initials to hide my gender when I thought such things truly mattered) but also for privacy reasons. I don't want fans to be able to easily look up my home address on the internet. But I've found it has it's downsides now. For instance, I don't like that sometimes readers think I'm a man, something that didn't bother me at all when I was younger (though in my own mind almost all people who use initials default to female, because most of the ones I know are female), and quite honestly I don't like being called TL in informal conversation. I went to my first big conventions last year and within the first day of WorldCon, I wished I had my first name on my badge somewhere. I quickly got into the habit of saying "You can call me Traci" as soon as they'd look at my badge. Some could remember, others couldn't and I got called some rather interesting permutations of Traci.
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Protip: If you are picking a pen name, research the heck out of it first. A comical instance of this not being done properly is this season's American Idol. Final-13er Megan Joy had her name abbreviated for the stage -- in fact, the show referred to her by her real name (Megan Joy Corkrey) prior to the finals. The comical part of their choice of stage name for Miss "Joy" is that there is already a Megan Joy in the entertainment business -- the adult entertainment business, who has starred in films with classically awful adult film names... and if you google her stage name, the AI contestant isn't the first one that comes up (unless they've fixed that by now using appropriate google-bombing).
So... yeah. I don't think I'd go with a pen name, but if I did I'd need a lengthy review process of that name using the full powers of the internets to avoid accidentally publishing as a modern equivalent of John Holmes (the first one on wikipedia's disambiguation page of that name). Not being a connoisseur of the adult film genre, I'd probably miss something like that if I wasn't careful.
[This message has been edited by micmcd (edited March 20, 2009).]
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One other reason you might want to pick a name that popped into my head... some people's names don't go well in print, particularly in different languages. I'll never forget the day that a man was baptized at my church, and his name was printed in the program (and I felt awful laughing, but how could I not?)..... "My-anus."
Really. Pronounced "myanoo," all together, very quickly. It was an Arabic gentleman, and the back row of teenagers was trying their hardest not to spend the whole service snickering at the programs.
Anyhow, you might want to make sure the name under which you want to publish (real or pen) isn't a homophone for something awful in another language... you won't sell too many books in Quebec if your name is Jonathan Merde, even though they speak English too. Coca Cola had a fun time with that when they went to China, in one of the more famous "comically lost in translation" instances of modern business.
On second thought, if you are writing comedy, a name like Mr. Merde might be a big leg up!
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Sometimes a pen name conceals a joke. Edgar Rice Burroughs submitted his first Martian novel under the name "Normal Bean." (There was no science fiction in those days---the name wouldn't be invented for another, oh, seventeen or eighteen years---and he wanted to emphasize that his bean was normal.) The editor didn't get it, though, and put it out as "Norman Bean."
Back in the 1970s, this guy published some SF stories, mostly in Analog, under the name "Tak Hallus." "Takhallus" is, I believe, Turkish, for "pen name." (He went by the name Stephen Robinette later. I wonder whatever happened to him? I thought he was pretty good.)
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One of the reasons I return to Hatrack is the range of experiences of y'all. There are some excellent comments here.
Traci's comments got me to thinking that a tentative pen name should be heard as well as read before used in a submission. I'm going to ask my husband to say variations of the pen name I'm considering.
At the moment, I'm considering a fraction of my maiden name. No one's ever told me it's a porn star's name, which coworkers have said about my legal (married) name.
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You could run it past Google and see if anybody turns up who's already using it. (I was once pondering using my first and middle names as a pen name, but found that a British writer was already using that. Boy was I surprised when I saw that book in the store...not surprised enough to buy one and read it, though...)
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I feel the urge to point out today that nearly everbody here is kinda alread using a pen name, after a fashion. I worry that you'll get something published...but I won't know it's you because I don't know your name, only your handle...
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I don't know if I'd consider an internet handle to be all that similar to a pen name. When logging in to a new service, many people have aliases they've been using for a while, including for many services that, for instance, don't allow spaces, or don't consider capital letters different than lower case... or don't allow repeats, and if the name was taken in AIM back in high school, it might have stuck around as myname1998. Okay - I haven't held on to any of them that long.
In any case, I didn't enter under an alias for any desire for anonymity or because I think micmcd sounds better than Michael McDuffee... just because I use micmcd to log in to other stuff (with other passwords, of course). When prompted for a login ID, my first thought is never my full name.
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Robert, I wanted to disagree with you on the relationship between pen names and screen names, but I actually agree.
What's the point of pen names? They exist for convenience (often, to avoid intrusions into privacy) or for marketing. When we choose screen names, we're choosing whether or not to market ourselves. Some names were chosen purely for convenience; for example, " micmcd". (Right?) However, most express how we'd wanted to be seen.
A strong desire to be seen as honest might lead someone to choose their real name for Web communication and publication. Pride in one's own cleverness might lead to a screen name like "Shoulders of Giants" and a pen name like "Robbie F. Jet". Someone who prefers to hide behind a veil of mystery might go with "shimmersinglass" and just about anything for a pen name. (By the way, I'm assuming I'm not using an existing Hatracker name in my examples.)
Screen names and pen names may give readers a different impression than the owners intended. We might also move away from what our chosen name initially meant to us. Yet, names affect how we see each other. They hint at our histories and mindsets.
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I have to relate it to the ultimate effect: whether handle or pen name, one's identity is concealed by it.
I also think the use of handles here at this kind of site, in particular, is kinda counterproductive. After all, us would-be writers want to promote our own work---but how will us other denizens of this site (or at least the more casual denizens) know that that book that turned up last Tuesday at the front table of Books-a-Million was written by the guy who posted that reply in the thread about such-and-such?
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A name is not an identity; rather, it's a marker for an identity. You'd see the same aspects of our personalities on these forums regardless of the screen names we use.
Anyway, the Publications & Reviews forum allows us to promote our work to fellow Hatrackers.
*Edited for spelling.
[This message has been edited by aspirit (edited March 31, 2009).]
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There's a certain time factor involved...say you start a novel today, that takes a year to write and two or three more to get published...the guys you chatted with today about it may be godknowswhere by then...they might not be here, but somewhere else...and the book-by-an-online-acquaintance they might have been disposed to buy back then is now just one of the many...but if they remember whatever name you're writing under, they might pick it up...
posted
I tend to remember the people who annoy me more clearly than the people who don't, so the scenario you provided didn't occur to me as a possibility.
Although, a screen name helping in offline marketing is an interesting thought. Potential new members might consider the long-term effects of their favorite screen names if they were to read your post.
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