picking a pen name

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

  1. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    A trunk is a suitcase. I refuse to muddle those terms. Goddamn American language invades us enough as it is.:mad::p
     
  2. Michaelhall2007

    Michaelhall2007 New Member

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    No, a suitcase is a suitcase. A trunk is the long thing in front of an elephant (hehehe)
     
  3. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    Aaron Aaronson?
     
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  4. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    The perfect pen name to get all the moneys. :supercheeky::supercheeky: I'd better get writing so I can fill the top shelves. :supercheeky: :write:
     
  5. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    I don't much like my first name, but I do like my middle name, which is Anthony. That would be my first "pseudonym" name. My surname is German, but when I was growing up in Canada everyone assumed it was French and misspelled it ALL THE TIME. It got so bad that my uncle legally changed his surname to use the French spelling. Argh. I hate it when people misspell my name.

    So I'll pick a pseudonym that's easy to spell and pronounce, and reflects my Canadian roots. My pseudonym surname will probably be something that reminds me of Canada. Something like "Winter" or "North" or "Snow" or "Frost" - something like that. "Anthony Winter" sounds pretty good. Maybe I'll use that. :)
     
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  6. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Anthony Winter sounds really cool.
     
  7. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Pun intended? :D
     
  8. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Oh no, I totally missed that. I have betrayed our wonderful church of puns. I am not worthy!!!:superfrown:
     
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  9. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    I was going to use my initials and married name (E. L. Farmer), but that's too close to E. L. James for my liking. I love my maiden name (Pembrook) and think it's pretty unique here in the states. But I really want to use my married name. And my first and middle names are too boring to use, so I'm trying to come up with alternatives. lol
     
  10. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    @Lea`Brooks Elle Farmer?
     
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  11. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    Thought about that one.. lol I was just worried it was too simple for a fantasy writer. Most of them have one unique name. Dean Koontz, Cate Tiernan, Christopher Paolini, Rick Riordan... I'll probably end up going with that though. :p Either Elle Farmer or Lea Farmer.
     
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  12. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    What about Lea Brooks? Why not that?
     
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  13. Rob40

    Rob40 Active Member

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    I wrote a short piece of flash about pen names up on my blog. I'll put it at the end here for fun.

    Due to a career that might not work well with the style of writing I do and being a junior to a published name in regional history/news, I think I'm gong to use an older family history French protestant name that was purified by fire in the middle 17th century. Oh yeah! The only issue I have with that is the name sounds kind of 'weak' or not as masculine as I would like for the fiction styles I find myself writing. I shouldn't really worry about that as the top adventure/action sellers in history have names like Patterson, Child, Christie, Sheldon, Robbins. Not exctly a tough sounding crowd like Thor, Brown, Hitchcock, etc. I could lead it with a short
    and up front first name like Max, Biff, John, etc. Were I to go over the top, I would fit Magnus in there somewhere :)

    (Thisis still a rough piece, keep that in mind)

    Awaking to a green flashing icon, especially this one, felt like a holiday. The search engine finished. My publisher and I tasked it with matching up name combinations that had never been used before. Two-hundred-trillion people are on this planet. Every writer’s name conceivable had been registered and utilized by this point. A fresh and new authorship pen-name can bring untold sales. Why not use my real name? My real name is presently under litigation to decide who gets to publish under it. It happens to be the last original name on Earth that hasn't been published under, so obviously anyone trying to get an edge in sales needs it; I didn’t get my paperwork registered in time. Those lucky eight litigants get to fight it out. The only future hope I have left to write and actually sell what my publisher says is promising break-out work, lies in creating a name from long dead centuries-old authors. Expired to public domain and copyright free of course. From these names of the past, the blinking icon came up with a solution mashing up the leftovers. Sipping my coffee, I tapped the icon. The world had better prepare itself for a dramatic onslaught of amazing romance novels from: Jodi Lovecraft Clive-Riceking.

    Aw damn it.

    Have fun picking out your names!
     
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  14. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    It was (obviously) my first choice. But after having it as a screen name for three years, I realize how much I hate it. lol I wish I could change my screen name, I hate it so much. :p I even thought about making a brand new screen name and getting rid of this one, just so I wouldn't have to look at that stupid name anymore. But I'm proud of my post numbers, so I don't want to lose it. lol I'll just have to deal.
     
  15. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    You could be Pembrook Farmer - first name unique, PLUS gender neutral, which might be an advantage, depending on what sort of fantasy you want to write.
     
  16. KokoN

    KokoN Active Member

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    I was actually thinking about this recently! To try to get back into writing I've been working on some stories/novels that are really different than what I would normally write (or possibly what anyone would normally write, lol). So I was thinking that it might be a good idea if I ever decide to publish to use two different names, at least one being a pseudonym, obviously. I know Agatha Christie, which was a pseudonym, also published romance novels under a different pseudonym, because the styles are so different so people wouldn't pick up a romance novel and be expecting a mystery. I'm pretty sure she's not the only one that did that, either. So I was going to ask if anyone else had used pseudonyms before, which clearly at least some of you have. :) Are there any complications with using one or not really? Do publishers care at all?
     
  17. Michaelhall2007

    Michaelhall2007 New Member

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    I thought you meant your surname was "German" which I did actually laugh out loud...
    A German
    Priceless
     
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  18. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Publishers don't care. They're used to it.

    Using more than one is minor pain because you have to maintain more than one website/social media presence, but it's not the end of the world. And other than that I really don't see a downside.
     
  19. KokoN

    KokoN Active Member

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    Thanks for the perspective. Interesting point about multiple media presences, I hadn't thought of that. However as you said that's not much of a downside.
     
  20. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    That's... actually pretty brilliant. lol I've never thought of using my last name as a first name, since I've never met anyone with it before. I'll have to try it out and see how it feels. :p Thank you!
     
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  21. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Why do you hate it?:(
     
  22. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    Robert Hall is out of question too?
     
  23. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Hmm. I like "Angus Aberdeen" better. Just sayin'.
     
  24. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Pembrook Farmer?
     
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  25. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Well, Aberdeen is technically a surname, so yeah.
     

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