Writing under a different name

[Qualapec]

A question about writing under a different name. What are the pros of writing under a different name? And if you choose to use an alias for writing would you get to choose it?

~She-Wolf

[blue moon]

I know a few people online who write on the racy end of romance.  They use pseudonyms so that 1. the neighbors don't find out, and 2. the pervs have a harder time tracking them down.  #2 is also an issue for someone I know who writes mystery/thrillers with disturbing content.

It used to be that certain romance lines would force you to use a pseudonym and then retain the rights to your name.  So if you wanted to work for another house you were stuck starting over.  While they could have someone else write under your name.  That, fortunately, has changed.

The choice to write under a different name seems to be yours these days.  As for picking the name, I'd discuss it with your agent and/or editor.  They should be able to help with considerations like how the name will look on the cover and where it would be shelved.  If you're choosing your name, you might as well choose for maximum sales.

[LoVeBoOkS]

I know a few people online who write on the racy end of romance. They use pseudonyms so that 1. the neighbors don't find out, and 2. the pervs have a harder time tracking them down. #2 is also an issue for someone I know who writes mystery/thrillers with disturbing content.

It used to be that certain romance lines would force you to use a pseudonym and then retain the rights to your name. So if you wanted to work for another house you were stuck starting over. While they could have someone else write under your name. That, fortunately, has changed.

The choice to write under a different name seems to be yours these days. As for picking the name, I'd discuss it with your agent and/or editor. They should be able to help with considerations like how the name will look on the cover and where it would be shelved. If you're choosing your name, you might as well choose for maximum sales.

Very true

Or you could just remain anonymous

Ive seen that before as well

[Richelle Mead]

A big thing also is that they recommend using different names for different genres.  All of my currently contracted books will be under Richelle Mead because they're all urban fantasy.  I do, however, have a sci-fi novel I'm tossing around with my agent.  If that sold, it's recommended that I pick a different name for it to keep my fanbases (when I have them) differentiated.  I don't entirely follow all of the reasoning, but apparently you can confuse your fans if you're a fresh author and have too many genres.  Once you've got a reputation, you can publish any genre under whatever name you want (ahem, John Grisham).  So, I would also have the choice to wait on the sci-fi novel until I was established and then publish it under my own name--if I wanted to wait that long.

Fantasy author Robin Hobb did the name thing.  Her high fantasies are under that name; her urban fantasies are under Megan Lindholm.

[Mickey Finn]

Richelle, I don't think you need to change your name for genres. Hell, you may get more readers that way.
I use a pen name because my birth name is too long to fit on a bookcover.

[Richelle Mead]

I'd definitely prefer to use my own name, but my Publishing Posse in New York wields much influence.   

[Opalescence]

I'm with you Mickey on the birth name too friggen long thing. 26 letters. And that's without a middle name!

[fjeastman]

I've "always" operated under a bit of a nom de plume.

My first name is Frank, I go by Frank, everybody calls me Frank (or Big Frank, as it were). 

I've just never liked seeing it in print.  So I shortened to F.J. Eastman for all of my official written transactions and the like.

As a pen name it has the bonus of being gender-free, recognizable, and falls well in the racks.

If your works are VERY different, to the point that a reader who enjoys one may not like the other, it's probably a good idea.  If you write, say, standard 3-part epic fantasy and then decide to write racy bodice rippers, you may turn off some of your other audience who then buys NONE of your books.  If you write nondescript contemporary crime action and then write, say, a very political sci-fi piece based on your passionate love or hate for the current regime.  Etc.  If I, for instance, decided to write some erotica ... I'd do so under a different name.  1) I don't want anybody in my family to connect me to it.  2)  I don't want to know that the people who connected me to it read erotica. 

I live in the south.    That I wrote smut would be the talk of my hometown.

--fje

[Kali]

I've always had a sneaking admiration for Tanya Huff.  The woman writes everything, and I'll read it all.  Her Victory Nelson books were more serious, the Keeper books were goofball (I love Hell getting into arguments with itself), then there's the Valor sci-fi books...

Rachel Caine, on the other hand, makes liberal use of psuedonyms.  She's published under Roxanne Conrad, Rachel Caine, and Julie Fortune.  I'm not sure what prompted the change from one RC to the other RC, but I know Julie Fortune was the name she used to write fanfic under.  Then she got a piece of Stargate fiction published through Fandemonium (I believe) and kept with the Julie Fortune name for that, presumably to encourage readers of her Stargate fanfic to pick up the book.

I tend to follow writers more than genres.  I had no idea Robin Hobb had a psuedonym.  Had I seen any other books by her, I'd have picked them up where I haven't picked up anything by Megan Lindholm because I haven't been in the mood to "risk" a new author.

[smoorman]

According to a website run by a friend of hers (who is also an author, God what is her name?? CRS attack!) Megan Lindholm changed her name not because of the genre shift, but because the books under that name didn't sell that well, and the publishers were unwilling to try her again. A new name apparently gave her a new start. If I can find that site again, I'll post it here, if you like.

[Mickey Finn]

And then there's Caine original name...Roxanne Longstreet, before she met Kat Conrad. (Her husband.)

I didn't know the Keeper series was goofball...I'll have to check it out.

[terroja]

My real name sucks. So I write under TL Kincaid.

[Guardian 452]

I read an interview with Rachel Caine/Roxanne Longstreet Conrad online last year.  She was asked specifically why she chose to go with a pseudonym.

Her answer had to do with her previous books.  She apparently did a lot of conventions and was getting tired of being asked to chair panels on the future of vampire fiction. 

Apparently she's best known for her own vampire novels, and it seemed writing anything non-vampire (like the Weather Warden series) would work against her, hence the name change.

Keith

[Danielle/Evie]

My real name sucks. So I write under TL Kincaid.

Kincaid? Like on purpose!?!

My name's ridiculously long, and I've never been uber comfortable with my first name, so my plan was to use my mother's maiden name. Then my initails would be E.G. rather then D.D. (which is a plus)

[casualimp]

Well my last name is always mis-pronounced as flesh so I'm often teased of having a prono star name. I still go by it as I like my name.