I understand that. I just want to avoid situations like this: "Have you read the latest L.B. Smith book?" "Yes! He or she is a great writer!" "I loved his or her last book - it was great!" "I can hardly wait until he or she writes another one!" "I wish I could meet him or her!" Etc.
Yeah that would be annoying. In all honesty they'd probably just start saying he after a while which doesn't bother me but you're right. I'll keep that in mind if and when it ever comes up.
"Have you read the latest L.B. Smith book?" "Yes! L.B. Smith is a great writer!" "I loved L.B. Smith's last book - it was great!" "I can hardly wait until L.B. Smith writes another one!" "I wish I could meet L.B. Smith!" But... at first I was sure J. K. Rowling is a guy
There is a direct correlation between an authors gender (or perceived gender) and his or her book sales. http://io9.com/handy-charts-reveal-why-youve-never-heard-of-most-fema-478627713 As you might imagine a specifically female name will not sell as many books.
Maybe I'm sexist (I like to think I'm not), but I dislike not knowing the author's gender when looking at a book's cover. I don't have a preference of one sex over another when it comes to authors. I just find 'hiding' one's identity to that degree off-putting. Since I have so far written two books that are wildly different, I feel at least one should be published under a pseudonym. I think readers that like a book will seek out others by the same author, but they expect them to be in the same basic genre. My two are not; aside from romantic interests and taking place on earth they are completely dissimilar. I'm hoping the second one will develop into a series. Additionally, the second one is also decidedly NC-17 and probably won't delight some members of my extended family (explicit sex, graphic language and violence). A level of anonymity may simply be wise for both family and my day job. As to the name(s), I have one created by my wife's and my own middle names. The risque book will be written by a name combined from my middle name and my family surname on my sperm donor's side (I was adopted, and the sperm donor was a bit of a scoundrel and would probably have been a character in my racier novel). My family tree research has given me endless ideas for pseudonyms as well as a way to honor those in my past. If I ever write a 'female' book, one of my great grandmothers who emigrated from Ireland as a young girl, by herself, will be the name I use. Combinations of names from your family tree is a fun way to pay tribute while coming up with some great ideas.
I'm not published, so it's not an official pseudonym, but I think it would either be Thomas K James or T K James. I like both my first and last name, but it doesn't seem like it would do well in a publishing market at all - maybe it would seem like I specialise in cookbooks?
My first name is almost identical to the British version and my last name isn't that hard to pronounce for English speakers, so while it looks a bit foreign it definitely works on a book cover. So I think I'll use it, if I get that far. Though, if I would resort to use a pen name for one reason or another, I'd either do something with one of my nicknames ("Helmet") or take a name that has no association with me whatsoever.
This is one of the considerations I've made myself. If I found out my favorite children's author also published erotica, I think it would change my perception of them as a writer and possibly my reception of their books, not in a prudish sort of way but a definite knee-jerk or double take...that may be a completely unfair reaction but an honest one.
It's a normal reaction. Imagine the 5th grade teacher at your school is the best one ever. She bakes for the events, organizes outings, kids love her, everyone in the community calls her a model citizen. Wonderful right? Then, you find a picture of her and her husband doing the nasty while wearing D&D inspired helmets. It really shows you a 180 of what you expected of a person and automatically makes you reluctant as it's far too different from what you normally think about her. The difference is, would you treat her or think any less of her for the worse or just accept what she does on her own time is perfectly acceptable (Cause you know you do it too ) Unless she does something beyond inappropriate, it shouldn't affect you all that much or rethink where to send your children. However, there are those kind of people that simply can't handle knowing that everyone poops.
Yup, this is my point. The latter audience does in fact exist so I would think there is risk of losing them (in the scenario I presented) for all future genre-1 because they dislike or don't approve of past or present genre-2. Using a pseudonym, assuming the anonymity is kept, keeps both sets of readers happy and hopefully avoids having a controversial reputation just because of various creative avenues. Although it didn't seem to hurt Anne Rice so that sort of caution may be unnecessary.
I'll be T.C. something or other, as yet undecided. I'll probably just settle on something that rolls off the tongue. The 'C' stands for Clarke, so if I wanted to hide the fact I'm female, I could just settle for that, rather than going for double initials. It's not something I've spent a lot of thought on. I'd need to get my ass into gear and produce something I wouldn't be embarrassed to put my name on first.
As a reader I don't let the ambiguity of gender detract from the story though to be fair I've only read books by ambiguous authors that were in the 3rd person. Would it change the game if it were in 1st? I'd like to think not, but you never know. Would it be a good reason for a pen name? What's in a name anyway? Alex, for example, can be male or female, but it's the writing that counts to me. I use a pen-name that's actually my real name. In my writing I've never used my actual first name. That's reserved for friends and family. I was blessed (cursed as a kid) to have a few names, so I've been able to do mash-ups to get a pen-name such as Frank Wallace, which I'm very comfortable with (but if you shouted "Frank Wallace" to me in the street I'd probably just keep walking!)
I'm interested in writing fantasy and hard sci-fi. These are not so far from each other (like children books and erotica) but still a sci-fi fan who doesn't like fantasy can get hurt by accidentally buying a book full of magic and dragons I think I need to consider choosing two separate pseudonym.
