Pen Names

Yesterday someone asked me about pen names, so I decided to write this post. A pen name is a name that a author uses for many reasons. In the case of writer's like Stephan King it's because he's releasing so many books at once. In cases like the one with J.K. Rowling, it's because you want to distance yourself from the other work you've done, not because that work is bad, but because you're writing something different. Some writers are told to adopt a pen name if they decide to write a different genre. I can understand because many authors are known for writing within a certain genre like romance, horror, or mystery and anything they write will be assumed to fall into that genre. A lot of authors use pen names for privacy, and that's why I wanted to adopt a pen name. It's harder to pick a name for myself than I thought it would be, so I ended up not picking one. I hope readers will respect my privacy anyway. I plan to write urban fantasy and science fiction, so hopefully I won't have too much trouble marketing my books. Another reason a write could use a pen name is to appeal to a certain audience, which is why J.K. Rowling used her initials when writing Harry Potter. Her literary agent thought boys wouldn't read the Harry Potter books if they knew a woman wrote them, so she had to use her initials. A lot of female authors used male pen names before women were allowed to write, or if they were writing things like horror, which were usually written by men.

Pen Name?

I've thought about pen names for a long time. I know a lot of authors have them. Probably most authors at this point. There are many reasons authors chose to have pen names, privacy being one of the top reasons. I wondered for a long time if I should have a pen name. The idea of a pen name seemed promising enough. I don't really share much about myself with people I do know, it would feel funny sharing myself things about myself with people I didn't know. There was also the fact that my last name is unspellable (yes, I know that's not a word, but it sounds trendy) to most people, which would make it harder for me to sell books. I bounced around a lot of names, but in the end I couldn't imagine being called anything else. I wondered if maybe I should just change the last name. I couldn't think of anything I wanted for a last name. The characters I write about seem to name themselves and I can't even think of a name to go by so I can still have my privacy. In the end I decided to go with my first name and only the first few letters of my last name. Maybe someday I'll change my mind. Maybe someday I'll think of something I want to be called, maybe before I publish my first ebook, but for now I can't think of anything that fits me.