McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Writing under a different name

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

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.

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