picking a pen name

Discussion in 'Self-Publishing' started by makdadsb, Feb 21, 2010.

  1. IvoWriter

    IvoWriter New Member

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    Hi guys. I'm new here and i want to be a writer. I have many ideas but I can never get down to writing them down and expanding them to a book. But that is a topic i will probably discuss later on.
    I tried to think of a good pen name and I was wondering does it sound good to you guys:
    It's Ian Heros.
    What do you think ?
     
  2. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    As long as your pen name isn't completely outrageous, it's fine. I judge a book by its content, not by how appealing (or unappealing) the author's name is.
     
  3. IvoWriter

    IvoWriter New Member

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    And you think it's not completely outrageous
     
  4. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    It seems fine to me.
     
  5. IvoWriter

    IvoWriter New Member

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    Thanks buddy, appreciate it
     
  6. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    But instead of taking on that issue, you fret over a pen name. Now, that's what I call Creative Procrastination. ;)
     
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  7. IvoWriter

    IvoWriter New Member

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    That part is way easier to come up with
     
  8. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    I guess.
     
  9. Happiegrrrl

    Happiegrrrl New Member

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    But about the question.... I would think that it would be nice to have a professional name and a regular name for privacy reasons. When I was a kid, of course I dreamed of fame and fortune(for I was going to be the first female - and youngest -president of the United States), but now, the LAST thing I would want is to be bombarded with people constantly recognizing my name and assuming familiarity at any and every moment. (What...you mean that doesn't happen all the time once you get something published???? hahah)
     
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  10. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    The pen name is essential imo, just to reduce the hassle, really. I sometimes daydream about what kind of pen name my future agent will come up with for me, because I am hopeless with making up names so wouldn't know where to start on that one.
     
  11. ChaosReigns

    ChaosReigns Ov The Left Hand Path Contributor

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    ill agree on the pen name for privacy thing, i myself use a pen name (Zakira, or Zaki Xai Salem) purely because i dont want to have continual bombardment with my actual name, i can switch off and be myself for a while (cause ZXS can be a total b**** sometimes)
     
  12. IvoWriter

    IvoWriter New Member

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    Hoho. thanks you mrs President!
     
  13. sunsplash

    sunsplash Bona fide beach bum

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    I'm actually considering one for myself now that there are projects I'm thinking about self-publishing in a genre outside my norm. Not that I don't want to be associated with them because of that alone but self-publications are often substandard, and while I believe I'm good and want to dip my toe in the pool, I'm not where I'd like (or rather, need) to be. For the ones I hope to someday traditionally publish (including a memoir) that require a more elevated level of writing I'm working to achieve, I'll want to use my real name out of sheer pride of that accomplishment. :whistle:

    As for your pen name, it isn't bad but I'll admit "Heros" kind of bugs me and makes me want to change it to heroes, even though I know it's for a name and not the word. :oops:
     
  14. IvoWriter

    IvoWriter New Member

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    Too heroic but thanks
     
  15. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    imo, it's only a good idea if you have a good reason for needing to use one...
     
  16. The95Writer

    The95Writer Active Member

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    I have continued with my blog, but I do not refer any posts or the set-up to any name apart from the initials of the 'company'.

    I am also wondering, being that my book writing will be both non-fiction and fiction that if I need to use a pseudonym for that.
     
  17. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    I've noticed that some authors would often write under a different name then their own for a variety of reasons, so I was curious if any of you did the same. If you do, why? How did you pick your 'author'-name (for want of better word)? Do you find it easier or harder to write under a different name?

    Thoughts?
     
  18. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    I write under a pseudonym. I like my real name, I think it's pretty. But it sounds like the offspring of two romance authors and I generally don't write romance stories. And though I don't think you should judge a book by it's cover or author I think subconsciously people do.

    I also like the element of privacy. It's not because I write things that I don't want to be linked to, I just like keeping two identities. I'm a bit of a loner so I like the idea of having a bit of a barrier.

    I chose Edi Marchen for now. The name goes back to the early 90s. In my first novel ( in early outlines ) a district in one of the cities was called Edamarchen when this was dropped, I renamed a character - Edimarchen and dropped it again. ( I'm a sucker for Ed names - Edgar, Edmund, Redmund, Ned, Edwin. ) It's kind of a homage thing. I don't know if I'll stick with it or not. I took a lot of flack from my family for not seeing my name on my self-published book cover. Everyone was like - who the hell is Edi Marchen?
     
  19. thewordsmith

    thewordsmith Contributor Contributor

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    Sometimes I write under the name "Central Park". Other times, it's "Mid-City Mall". Still another time, I wrote under the name "Precinct 5". Most of the time, depending upon the genre, I use any one of four names. Each one is a variant on my name or family names. None of them is my legal name.

    As peachalulu pointed out, privacy is a very big issue and it's easier to hold onto it if your name is not splashed all over the place. No getting calls from total strangers at 3:17 a.m.!

    And, too, in some publishing houses that regularly market things like monthly romances and 'paperback of the month' type fluff, they will often take the cover name on a particularly popular series and basically have any number of people writing for that same series and under that same name. So, if you are marketing to such and audience, you especially do not want to give away your name along with your work! You definitely want to use a pseudonym.
     
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  20. ddavidv

    ddavidv Senior Member

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    With the ease of searching people on Google these days I chose to use a pseudonym to keep a distance between my fiction and my reality. If a potential employer is searching my name and finds out I write erotica or a book containing references to a religion they may not like it could be a detriment. People have their biases and you never know when your writing may be a negative.

    As for the name, I chose a surname from my family tree coupled to my middle name.
     
  21. stevesh

    stevesh Banned Contributor

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    I use a nom de guerre for erotica (a female name, since I mostly write erotica for women), but my real name for everything else.
     
  22. AlannaHart

    AlannaHart Senior Member

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    Yes, because I hate for people to know anything about me before I tell them. I picked it using my initials and my favourite kind of car. It's much easier for me. I can't imagine seeing my ugly surname on a book cover.
     
  23. Bjørnar Munkerud

    Bjørnar Munkerud Senior Member

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    I use a pen name, mostly because I have a foreign language name, which amongst other things would make it hard for people to pronounce and write. English is actually my "main language" (in lack of a better term) anyway, so in a way you could say my real name is misrepresentative.

    Because I'm not hiding anything, I decided to be quite practical about the name decision making. I ended up choosing "Blaine Munday" as my nom de plume. Firstly the initials are the same, and the two subsequent letters of my surname are the same as well etc. It's also short and easy to understand, but not into John Smith territory either, so it's nice and balanced like that. Being a perfectionist I tried different variations and combinations before settling on this name. There were many reasons involved, such as which names I like, which are already taken, how many letters they have, how common they are, what connotations they might have and how they work in parallel with my actual name.

    There were four people/characters who were particularly important, however:

    1. My brother's given name translates into English as "Day", so I put that in there because he's basically my favourite person in the world, plus, as his surname is the same as mine, "Munday" is essentially my brother's name reversed and squashed into one name.

    2. Jason Munday from my favourite wizard rock (music inspired by Harry Potter, which I'm a huge fan of) band, Ministry of Magic.

    3. Blaine Anderson from Glee, played by Darren Criss (who also has a couple of interesting connections to Harry Potter); since Darren is straight and Blaine is gay, I feel like this fits, as I'm bisexual.

    4. Blake Myhee (which you can see is a similar name, and he also looks like me and has the same birthday and accent) is the adoptive father of one of the MCs in my first novel, and, although he doesn't himself appear in the book, he's very important to it, and is amongst other things in my universe's canon the narrator of most of the book in the same way you could say that in real life I am the narrator.

    To answer your last question: I don't think about the name at all when I write. I have found, though, that I have become very attached to the name, and I'm sure I would react just the same if someone shouted my pen name in the street as my real name. And if I ever go to a Starbucks abroad I'm sure I'll just say me name is Blaine ("I don't care if I'm a sell-out, I just want my coffee NOW!").
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2016
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  24. Sifunkle

    Sifunkle Dis Member

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    I like the style of one of my favourite poets, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who sometimes signed as 'Esteesee' (variably spelt). Like a phonetically spelt out initialism (?). I'm not sure if there's a specific term for this type of word; perhaps someone else knows. I guess it's only a semi-pseudonym, as there's still a large clue to the writer's identity for anyone bothered to look.

    My own version of this has a fortunate ring to it, so I'm attracted to using it for at least some of my works. The spelling I've selected also happens to be a verb from a non-English language, which, while not entirely relevant, wouldn't give the wrong connotation altogether.

    I'd have two reasons to use a pen name (both of which others have mentioned): "pro-privacy" and "prevent preconceptions" (yay for alliteration!). A pseudonym generally can't fully address either of these, but might minimise damage. I like the gender-neutrality of my selected name, although some might (falsely) assume my ethnicity as matching the non-English language in which it's a verb. Not yet sure how to feel about that: I'd love to be an entirely blank slate (probably impossible, given the prevalence/strength of preconceptions), but I also like sneakily misleading people.

    Having said all this, I'm mindful that an exotic pen name might deter many, so I'm not 100% committed - it's something I'll investigate before implementing, as I'd prefer to maximise my audience. My desire for a pseudonym isn't strong enough to discount publishing under my real name (my surname is actually appropriate for a writer).

    I don't think a pen-name affects my ability to write at all, as the ultimate decision would be made when the work was finished (for me anyway). I'd potentially use different pen-names for lines of work in different genres/styles (I like to explore) - I've done this with music - but I suppose they'd only reflect different aspects of my overall identity, all of which I'm comfortable with (well... as comfortable as I ever am with myself).

    That raises the issue of current works being compared to previous works under the same name. You could use a new pseudonym to avoid that, but I like the idea that you could use pseudonyms to manipulate such preconceptions (perhaps even to deliberately create dissonance - The Casual Vacancy is quite jarring if you've just finished Harry Potter).

    This post makes me feel very self-inflated. I actually don't care heaps about my public image (as long as people don't spit on me in the streets - that was a depressing phase :whistle:); it's more just the fun of exploring language use that attracted me to writing in the first place :)
     
  25. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I love the name, Edi Marchen. It's made me want to find a better pseudonym than my real name.

    I don't care if people find me. That would be fine with me. I'm debating if I want to hide my gender strictly for the issues attached to new female writers.
     
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