Pros & Cons of Writing Under A Pen Name 

Same! My friends and family think it's hilarious and like to rib my by insisting I'm actually the erotica author.

Ha ha! Here's a story for you: A friend of mine uses a pen name for her charming self-published romance novels. When I googled it a while back to see how her career was advancing, I was taken aback to discover that her pen name is also the pseudonym of an American porn star. There were pages and pages on the star, and I soon gave up looking for any hits about my poor friend. Moral of the story: Always research your pen name before you commit to it!

Lol

Tilby Noir Mood

I’ll probably use a pen name just because my last name is too long to put on book covers

I write Gothic Romance and Dark Fantasy. My middle names are Serenity Steadman. So, if I wanted to write historical romance I would and use that... but... I love Vampires and the paranormal to much.

I just got flashbacks to the Princess and the Frog. Not bad flashbacks, though

Evangeline Starr would be a really cute fantasy pen name though. And I personally like when the author name kinda conflicts the type of stories they write lol

AJ Fantasia Maybe just use your full middle name as well, that way your surname won’t stand out as much. Cool surname btw. :)

its quirky but its dope though. A. J. Fantasia. thats sounds awesome

That is too perfect. Though dope name though my name is mega boring

Feels like something I would pick up the shelf just for the name lol

I'm not sure whether I would skip that book for the tacky name or pick it up for the cool name. But I don't normally look at names, so you're safe.

holy fuck dude, this shocked me to my core, i've always thought S.E. Hinton was a man! and i read The Outsiders in 7th grade english class, but for some reason my teacher never said Hinton was a woman. i suspect he didn't even know the gender of the author and instead assumed S.E. Hinton was a man. crazy

becca lou what state?

I loved That Was Then, This Is Now. I knew she was a she, and very young, when first published. I never knew her real first name, though. I love it, especially Eloise. I wish she'd used her real name, in a way - with the middle name. 😃💝

One of the early legends of sci-fi did the same, C. L. Moore. Her real name was Catherine Moore, and she was married to another legendary sci-fi writer, Henry Kuttner.

I am going to read “The Outsiders” soon.

Yup. You never know what will happen to the pen name you choose AFTER you choose it. Alexa got way way more common. Have you seen the SNL version of Alexa fir seniors? Quite funny (btw, I'm a quasi senior.)

OMG. your above post made me LAUGH so hard!

Alexa, play despacito

😄

jiminy cricket!

So your pan name will become Kdnxn Hdhdbfn

That's SUCH a cool coincidence oh my gosh.

Dick Dickinson is better. Problem solved.

What if your pen-name was a knowing wink to this? Many roller derby women and some punk rock musicians have names that pun and play off of famous names of authors, characters, movies, books, actors. How much cheese can you tolerate? I dunno: "Envy Dickenson", "Renegade Dickenson" , "Belle Starr Dickenson" ...

@@karelhynekmacha6294 M.E Dix.

Nitewulf they might just be upset bc you are confused as to what gender u are. Biology is biology. I wish u the best.

@@billgoobinhoffer4705 because you said this supposedly under your real name, just having this comment possibly come up in Google is a great reason for you to use a penname unless the maga/alt right is exclusively your audience. (Even years from now when this comment makes you look dumb.) I would NEVER read a book by anyone I knew thought this way. Yes, what you post everywhere becomes part of you are as an author and bamm, years ago (or recently!) you said something that now hurts sales. Yes indeed, careful what you say online under your real name if you ever want to do something with your life that involves the rational public. And I think you are being facetious when you wish them the best or you wouldn't have said what you did. That's not pretty either. Your career.

@@horrehbarn6632 what? People like to think they are trans when they are not? Are you in high school perhaps? Real world. Um, no.

AmethystWoman no I’m not being facetious when I wish them well. I genuinely wish ppl well. Just because I disagree with someone doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I love and appreciate everyone. Also, there are many things that do come up when u google my name. Many intolerant people on the left want to smear ppl who disagree with them. I wish more ppl were as tolerant as me.

@@billgoobinhoffer4705 yeah, "tolerant" was the giveaway. When you live in Florida, you tolerate roaches, cause you will have them. We don't "tolerate" human beings and call that love. I was referring to you saying confused about their gender. Maybe time to educate yourself if you want to be who you think you are. Anyway. I love my trans friends and glad they have found true happiness. And there but for the grace of god go I. Truly, what would you do if you were born in a female body and think and feel exactly as you do. It's as simple as that. Not hard to imagine you might want surgery too to be who you feel you are.

thats so cute!

That's a legitimate concern. Maybe you can use a variation on your real name that you don't use as often, and may not be as recognisable to their friends? For example, your whole first name if you usually use a nickname in real life. Or including your middle name, if not many people in your personal life know your middle name. Or your maiden name as your author "middle name" instead of your real one.

But just don’t expect! Hehehe

But people will know you regardless, it’s just a matter of time that someone or company gives out your real name right…

That's sad, actually.

Sad and completely true. I know a woman who for years VOLUNTEERED and was hired to sing at charity events for Catholic charities. When the found out years later she was married to a woman, they fired her from raising money for them. So bizarre. At least they are consistent. And I guess proud to discriminate.

So sad

Optics

Yaoi much?

Ronnie Williford there's a Mercedes Lackey book of that title. But you'd do better to start at the start with her Valdemar stories.

That's a really cool name!

Really interesting! Guess it would be the same for mysteries and bookstores who alphabetize

Oh wow I never even thought of this! That's an amazing concept. Though, I do wonder how many people are simply blind to anything they aren't looking for, like, say Cassandra Claire's books will 'jump off the shelf' at them because it's familiar, and as a result, skim past the surrounding books 🤔 (I know I've been guilty of this)

I hadn't thought of that at all; it's true I often check out books next to my favourite authors

Well if the market is fast moving or your book become popular enough to stay awhile the books around your name could change!

Wow, I never thought of that, but it’s super smart!

I think you've got an awesome real name.

Chetachi is a really cool name! There's a million Chelseas in the US anyway

My father is an asshole and I don't want ti be affiliated with him. It's perfectly okay to choose not to use your name, no one should tell you otherwise ;-)

Same here. I'm from a toxic family and gaslight is my father's favorite. He has attacked my writing and everything I wanted to do, since I was seven. He excepted me to be cutting up trees instead. Yeah, at seven.

Honey, write a Memoir. I'd read it.

It sounds like you wdre the problem

@Kranky. K! You must live in the city. 😂

It worked for her. She's a billionaire now

That's why I'm using J.S Taylor. It's easier than using my first name or my own middle names, which sound to romantic.

I think she made it clear that with traditional publishing, the publisher has to know your real name. With self-publishing, I'm not sure of the mechanics of it. I asked the same question.

I don't know about other self publishing platforms, but I believe that in Amazon's KDP dashboard there is a place where you specify whether your by line is a pen name, and requires you to enter your legal name and info for paying you.

my book will have pretty explicit/romantic sex scenes. my mother is religious but i won't publish a book without her knowledge because we are very close so i'm basically just gonna have to be like, "mom, i'm sorry...but you need to read this." kinda fearing that day 😬

Exactly! The last thing I need is Aunt Hilda screaming at me for something new at Easter dinner 😂😂

@@beck242 how old are you? I wouldn't be afraid. Just talk it over with her.

Same here. My book's not even in the romance genre. But my parents are VERY religious, and they're like: "you can't write fiction bcs you are actually telling a lie." I'm trying to understand if I can really keep it a secret. Like if I have a hardcover copy and a paperback of the same book, they're gonna suspect, right?

I relate! I write fantasy, and I really want to use my name. My name, though, while being pretty uncommon, is shared with Brandon Sanderson, one of the most famous sci-fi/fantasy authors out there. I'm really struggling with that because long before I even heard of him, I was imagining my name on the cover of my books. Ouch.

Ugh. Yup. I'd almost change it irl.

Mimiki203 >>> I *HATE* to admit this, but I am *clueless.* But if you knew me personally, you WOULD NOT be SURPRISED...LOL

@Kranky. K! LMFAO!

There was a writer named "Rob Dyke". He changed his name.

In spanish that is pronounced basically "aunt Mae". I love it.

@@victoriagarciacolombo9678 lol I'm actually puerto Rican so it works

Molly Rosen I think that is totally reasonable... by the way, memoirs are a highly popular genre... it’s all in how they’re written...!

Do you ever fear that your real identity gets exposed after publishing?

I plan to do the same thing.

I think that's a good idea, especially since some people who get bored and facebook stalk as a hobby.

Damn, I'm french and see where you're coming from! I see you wrote this comment 3 years ago, have you made a decision since ?

I have similar issues

One thing about the United States is that it's a melting pot of many cultures. So if you have an non-English last name, that's okay. Just so long as your first name sounds American, that makes you sound American. So if you see a person with a Polish last name and an English sounding first name like Thomas Wiśniewski, people tend to assume that person is a native English speaker, NOT a Polish person (even if perchance Thomas is a common name in Poland - Tomasz is the Polish version actually.) If your first name isn't English, you might make it English either by finding out the English equivalent (like Jorge in Spanish is George in English) or simply pick a first name that's popular in English speaking countries that sounds similar to your real first name (even if they are completely different names). So maybe your first name is Ansgar (a Danish man's first name) and you decide to use the first name "Garth" or "Ansel" or "Anthony" because they vaguely resemble Ansgar. By the way, lots of popular first names in English speaking countries that people ASSUME are English actually aren't. What matters in this case is the PERCEPTION that they are English, not the reality. Like Marcus is a Latin name originally or Agnes is Greek, but most English speakers just think they're "English".

That is an interesting point. If I'm honest, Shane Doyle sounds like a really cool name and I personally wouldn't associate that with Shame Dawson. I think those mean people at your school are only a small fraction of (putting it nicely) annoying pests who diliberatly do that to provoke you. Not that you should change your mind or anything but I think Shane Doyle is a great name.

Maybe s. Doyle? I love the name Doyle, it’s very recognizable.

I think Shane Doyle is an excellent name to use. Perfect, actually.

This comment aged well haha

*_HAL9000_* sang a song about you...😉😉😉

Haha that's how I get you! I hit you with so much content you don't notice how long winded I am :P

I didn't notice either 😂

LMAO so glad you googled it first 😂😂

How about _"Tara Firma"?_ 😊😊😊

Just don't call yourself Tara Rist.

How about Fara Toxx?

That's a great question, and it's slightly tricky to pin down... but generally I'd say YA names are "approachable" and catchy. Neutral names with initials do work, but I find the most successful names use full first names (so we feel like friends/real people), and the last names that work best are short, sweet and unique in some way. Longer names (especially when they are your real name) aren't a problem, per se, especially paired with a shorter first name, but if you're purposely designing a pen name, I'd go with short and unique-ish. Essentially, you're designing a commercial name that readers will remember, and you want to feel young/fresh/friendly. It's hard to pin down sometimes, honestly! My IRL name just felt like a "business" name, but I knew I was in a good spot with my first name--no other commercial YA writer is named Alexa, and it's very "hip" right now (top 100 baby name, which it definitely wasn't when I was born!).

This helps so much, thank you!

i’m aware this sounds creepy but perhaps i could borrow it?

Same :D my name is technically so perfect for being put on a book, there's even a book award with the same name but I use a pen name anyway.

I queried signing with my real name but noting my pen name in my signature. It wasn't a big deal!

Same :,)

Army! 💜

It might alienate some of your readers. Now you might think, "I don't want those readers! They're not my kind of people!" But a name like that might actually cost you half or more of your income from writing. You might also assume, "Yeah, but people who would object to the name Lucifer aren't going to be reading my extremely non-Christian novels anyhow.", but you might be surprised.

Good question. Yeah, always check the URL is available as .com and that the words don't mean something bad in any language.

Lmao I'm from america and that is true 💀

I'd like to hear someone from southeast Asia consistently pronounce it correctly. The question is, does it fucking matter?

@@animemusicyui Lmao I'm Indian and used to spell as Raowling too. Guess because in India we learn British English.

Hi MJ! So sorry I hadn't gotten the chance to respond to your email yet! Glad this video helped answer some of your questions! Re: keeping pen names private... it really depends? Some authors are VERY good at it--they set up their pen name and accounts associated with it (I've heard creating an LLC for your writing adds a shield layer), and they basically keep the writer life totally secret from IRL in order to keep the streams separated. It's doable but is a lot of work. Generally they're not public as long as you do things like protect your URL/website owner information (you can pay for privacy shielding), and are careful. Your publisher won't tell people your "real name," for instance. When people ask me what I do, I have an easy fall back because of my day job, so I typically answer with that. But now I do sometimes say I'm an author. I didn't really share that I was a writer/aspiring author until I was pretty far into the process, ie: already had an agent, was on submission etc. Since I've never done it full time, it's kind of a sticky area.