Let's pretend you are not an established author, you have zero publication history or author reputation and you are trying to decide whether to start publishing (perhaps geared towards self publishing) under your real name or a pen name. What would you choose? Neither decision is right or wrong and is completely dependent on your personal circumstances. I will list a couple of pros and cons that I see in either option. Using your real name Pros -This is your real name, the real you! You are telling the whole world that you are a capable author with successful publications, hell yeah! -Your success and your reputation work in tandem with your name, your name is your brand, everything reinforces each other - If you have established publications and resources under your name you can freely use them -There is no confusion about work ownership and who gets paid for publications or royalties Cons -Your real name makes you vulnerable especially if you want to write about controversial topics, getting sued is one of the smaller potential concerns, however in this day and age consider the following potential negative consequences of your controversial publications; being black listed by groups or via social media, being online bullied, being stalked, being cancelled, becoming a target for hackers of opposite persuasion to your writings -Your author name is tied to your real name so you are stuck with any potential negative reputation Using your pen name Pros - Complete freedom, you are untethered from your style, your reputation and your history so you can start from scratch with zero expectations from the readers. You are free to experiment with a new writing style, new genre and new ideas - Your pen name is a throw away resource because it's not linked to your name, you try it out and if you see it not working, you get rid of it without any reputational loss - Your identity is more protected so you can write about more controversial topics than you would under your real name - Does you real name suck? Too bland, too boring, too hard to pronounce, too unmemorable? Well, create something unique that readers will remember. How about Stephen Sovereign or R. R. Singer or Nuck Winters or Suther Walkingstick... you're only limited by your imagination Cons - Harder to link your author reputation to your real name or to reinforce your brand, it also becomes harder to take credit for your work - If you have established links, publications and resources tied to your real name you may not be able to link them to your pen name to take advantage of them - May create identity and work ownership issues There's probably more to the above that I haven't covered, I'm happy to hear other examples
People can dig. I wouldn't count on true anonymity with any pen name or even internet handle, to be frank. It's best to try and avoid libel in general. One example is internet browser signatures, very unique fingerprints. I'm all for pen names, though. Mainly because my real name sucks: who the heck would read a book by a guy named 'Not the Territory?'
There are a couple of older discussions about this subject. Here are the ones that just turned up with a search: Help with if I need to use a pen name or not? How important is staying to one genre?
I'm going with a pen name. Not to break ties with my existing personhood, but simply because my last name is ridiculous. Letters within form an English word that would make it irresistible to any hack reviewer to make a dreadful pun about how my work is bad. Even if they enjoyed it, they won't be able to resist making the pun. And so, I will not give any of them the satisfaction. I'm not going with anything clever. Just my first name followed by my two middle names. If it ever comes up one day, maybe it will just be presented as an interesting fact. "Oh, did you know X Y Z is actually so and so?" "No, who's that?" "I dunno, that's just his real name I guess."
Wait—Theodore Von Hackenspit, is that you??! Don't worry though, I wont't breathe a word of it. It'll be our little secret.
Pen name 1) Because you get weirdos out there and I don't want a random one coming to my house (I'm on the register thingie for being able to vote, anyone can access that) 2) Even I have issues pronouncing my last name. Couldn't be something simple like Wood or Green My pen name will be either my real first name and a short version of my middle name or I'll use my first with a last name I like (and is easy to say)
I'm doing a bit of a mix. I'll have a brand name connected to my real name. Some things I will publish with my real name, other things with my brand name. But if one looks up my brand name it'll be easy for them to see my real name and find more publications from me, or vice versa. The reason I do this, is due to the internet being what it is. I don't want my real name plastered on every internet-published story. But I do want my real name published on stories that go into print. So the mix may work best for me. My brand name is one word or entity that draws inspiration from the word Storyteller.
Why waste time naming our pens? They are just disposable items. If we were still in the days of fountain pens, then maybe i could see it, as those were long term tools.
Yeah, same. If I ever were to publish, I'd probably go with a pen name too. My name is Greek so it's long. Worse, I'm from Crete, so it's even longer. It's about 20 whole characters long. And the fact that nobody will be able to pronounce it just makes it worse. I've yet to have someone here in the UK pronounce it right. Some people just give up entirely. Although I have no idea what pen name I'd choose. But there's no such prospect right now so I don't worry about it
Honestly though, think about this—we got used to Arnold Schwartzenegger, as a movie tough-guy even! Of course in his case his name was already famous from the bodybuilding circuit, otherwise it might have got changed to Schwarz or something. But hey, in the writing world, I stumbled pretty hard at first over Paulo Bacigalupe's name, but after a while it no longer seemed strange or awkward. It's weird how even the strangest words, once they become familiar to us, don't feel strange anymore, and we associate them with the person immediately. Chuck Palahniuk for one. So maybe having a long or strange or hard-to-pronounce name isn't a deal breaker. For one, people would immediately associate you with Greece (if it's a Greek sounding name). Or hey, maybe change it to El Greco!
Well hey, El Greco AKA Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos was from Crete like me! Try pronouncing his real name first try. I triple dare you
Unless there's a trick to it, it really isn't that hard of a name, if you've heard a few other Greek names. Of course I went to school for a few years with a girl named Angelica Anagnostopoulis (not sure of the placement of the U). If anybody who went to school where I did at the same time ever heard that name, they knew exactly who was being talked about. The names we stumble over at first, once they become familiar, are the more memorable ones. But of course, once somebody becames famous, that's also true for a Joe Perry or a Kieth Richards. I'd rather be an Archibald Anagnostopoulis than a John Smith. But it makes sense in another way to use a name that's less of a tongue twister. I just wanted to point out the other side of the coin.
How I wish everyone in the UK had that mindset. It'd make my life easier and less awkward. I'd be a billionare if I had a penny everytime someone froze upon reading my name. It's worse how I have to give it letter by letter every single time. So yeah um, needless to say, pen name! Do pen names have to be legit sounding names or can I use dumb Internet tags like ps102? But that'd be weird too I guess.
I don't know, but my guess would be that if you're self-publishing you can probably use any pen name you want (not sure). But I think if you're getting published through a traditional publishing house they'll want it to sound like, you know, an actual human name.
In the classic literary world, yes, definitely. All the more reason to do it. Shake up the establishment! Make PTAs across the country call emergency meetings. Give some crusty librarians a heart attack (sorry @J.T. Woody)! Make the President's wife launch a crazy national program to combat the impropriety, like D.A.R.E. or the PMRC.
Literally read an interview with an author whos pen name was an internet screen name. Author (identity and gender still unknown), is very famous abroad and had one of their books released in english for the first time (its doing really well in the library). They said in the interview that they have work published under their real name. And queried agents under their real name, too. But somewhere along the way, they [publishers] got ahold of their [author's] screen name and published THAT as their name. Author was irritated and still doesnt like it, but they've gotten used to it now. So its whatever Also adding, there are a series of books published by an author that uses the name "A. American" I cannot take it seriously for the life of me!
This is one of my concerns as well. Not so much of strangers showing up, but internet can be a magnet for hackers, identity thieves and cyber stalkers. I think the less opportunities we provide of our real identities to be stolen the better.
Doing both could be a good way to keep controversial material antonymous under a pen name and keeping legitimacy and name recognition for less controversial work. I guess, the real downside is it will take double the effort to build your reputation and audience for your work.
A good writer must use every opportunity to exercise their creativity and word smithing. Also, Geoffrey the pen took offence to your penphobic comments and Geoffrey's friend Stella the keyboard is not too happy about what you wrote either. (I wouldn't mess with Stella, she can get pretty cranky)
I think I may not have been clear in my text. I mean that my brand name is connected to my real name. If one finds one of my names, they will easily find my others, since they're all connected. I opted to write some stories under a internet or brand name because it is what's expected in some places where I publish for free. While I will publish my major paid stories under my real name since that's what's expected. I don't really write controversial stuff, unless one finds life controversial. Sorry if I was unclear.
