I use a pen name because my married surname is quite rare and a bit tricky to pronounce and it's also a privacy issue as it makes it easy to track us down. I use my maiden name it's simple almost boring (Jane Sharp) I like the look of it and also I got my love of reading & writing from My Dad he didn't have any sons so I see it as a way of honouring him. It's a part of who I am so it's still me, if that makes any sense.
Well, one of the biggest things of using a pseudonym is the fact that you have to have material to publish. When I get a novel out, I doubt I'd ever use my real, clunky, foreign and hard-to-pronounce last name (Not Griffin, obviously). Besides that, there's this veil of secrecy that can give a writer security. It just gives a sense of true freedom, being able to write whatever you feel necessary. Personally, I couldn't care less if I'm front-and-center or bottom-right corner; if my writing's good enough, then I'll have my own display table. My family's not one to embrace a writing career, so I'd rather not have my name attached to people that don't support the book. They're good people, don't get me wrong, but they see me in a science field, not one in writing.
I believe my actual real name being Niall Buckley sounds much too forgettable, I'd probably use my Irish version of Niall O' Buachalla (Pronounced Book-Ella)
Hoo boy, pen names. I've got pseudonyms for each genre and form of media, and different personalities and quirks under each name to match. I'm not sure where it originated, but I continue to use them because I have a reputation built under each one; a reputation that I'd prefer not to tarnish. And because I dabble in a wide variety of works ranging from poetry to webcomics to songwriting to vlogs to photograpy to novels and back again, I prefer for people to associate one specific form of work with one specific personality facet of its creator. It's gotten to the point where I have trouble remembering my own birth name on occasion, heh.
Giaquolina Cacciatore is a) a godawful mouthful, b) unfamiliar and possibly unpronouncable to a vast majority of your English speaking readership. In my opinion, that makes it both a bad marketing move and somewhat pretentious. Well, you asked...
why oh why oh dear lord WHY would you try to confound readers trying to find you on Amazon with a name people can a) not pronounce (without phonetic explanation, as you aptly demonstrated) and b) not spell?? Authorial suicide by pseudonym
Exactly. This is why I would use a pseudonym. My real name isn't as hard to figure out as O'Buachalla, but I've had to spell it for everyone I've ever talked to in my business career, and after fifteen years of living with my roommate, he STILL doesn't pronounce it right. (Neither do I, come to think of it - my German isn't really good enough.)
I intend to use a pen name for two reasons: I don't want my gender identified, and people ALWAYS spell my first and last names wrong. Neither are unusual names, but people either add letters, or remove them. I don't want that inconvenience, so the name I use here is my pen name. It would be hard to screw it up!
Pen name sounds good for that situation, V.B. Also, remember that if they disown you or something based on what you write, that's not you giving them up. That's them giving you up. As long as you treat them with respect and aren't hurting anyone, just live your life, and if they have problems with it, it's their problem, not yours.
I'm grappling with this question as well. The main reason for me trying to publish under a pen name is that I seem to be writing two distinctly different styles, both of which I'd love to have published at some stage. One style is always written as a male narrator, the other as a female. (I'm a woman!) I have a manuscript that i consider ready to submit, but it's written from the male perspective, which to me isn't the main issue, I'm more worried that I'll eventually finish and publish one in the other style and that this would lead to confusion. And in reply to some of the earlier posts: I would consider V.R. Blade and Violet blade to be too obvious, just my opinion! And Gia Cacciatore sounds better than the extended version! Peace, AMJ
I don't understand, do you write two different genres? Because being a woman doesn't mean everything you write need to be from a female pov or else the reader would get confused. If that is your only worry I'd say it's nothing to worry about. I have thought about a pen name too, or at least a pen Surname because my real one is too unoriginal. If I would, I'd probably try using a name that a part of my family uses, it's not very common, I think they're actually the only ones in the country with that name. But it's not an issue until I'll have my ms accepted anyway.
If I was going to use a pseudonym, which I probably wouldn't because I like my name just fine, I would make it an obvious pseudonym, like "Abcissa Asymptote" or "Mantissa Matrix." You get the idea.
I decided that most of my fantasy and sci-fi works will be under my real name, but anything else (such as YA fiction) will be published under a pseudonym just to avoid confusion with readers.
I never really thought of Pen names all that much... maybe i would just stick with Peter. R Hamilton. But the problem is i don;'t want people confused between me and the british Sc-fi author Peter. F Hamilton... What would be a great name for me? I wonder...
