Pen names for YA

OctoberLee · Dec 30, 2009

I would love to see my name in print. But I feel my own name is unuseable because:

1. I am the only one. Definitely the only person with my name in the US, possibly in the world. And I'm a little shy...

2. My last name is perpetually mispelled and mispronounced. This could lead to poor sales...

Okay, don't laugh at me. Or do, but just don't tell me about it

I thought the pen name "October Lee" would be pretty neat. My sister thought it was silly, and sounded like an adverb (which I thought was kind of cool). I actually looked it up, but the only thing I came across was a small, possibly spanish? band with that name. I read another thread about pen names, but I wonder how people came up with them? I could use something like the "stripper name formula"--Mikey Lakeshore sounds fine, but sounds more like a romance or possibly mistery author name.....

I have three things I want in a pen name.

1. Easy to remember/spell

2. gender neutral

3. cool

When I think of pen names I like, there's Sherwood Smith, Ellis Bell, Robin Hobb, and Lemony Snicket. I write YA and Fantasy... Hey if Benjamin Franklin could get away with Silence Dogood, why can't I get away with October Lee?

alleycat · Dec 30, 2009

Dakota West

Taylor Jamison

Hayden Montgomery

Parker Whitestone

Ellis T. R. Williams

maddicharmed · Dec 30, 2009

Although you could use a pen name, why don't you use your real name and a different last name? Because if your first name is different people will remember you and your writing no matter what because your name will stand out from the others.

You might be shy, but you can't be that shy if you are giving the world a chance to read your writing. But that's my opinion.

OctoberLee · Dec 30, 2009

Sadly only my last name is unique. And not "good unique," more like "spell it out to the operator five times unique" But I appreciate your advice, I'm definitely going to think on it...

elissa · Dec 30, 2009

I think I'd like to publish under my first and middle name only--Elissa Janine. At least that's what I think right at this moment. I have a lot of arguments in my head for and against both my maiden and my married last names.

maddicharmed · Dec 30, 2009

To actually go off from what Elissa said, I would probably use my first name and middle name. I don't know why, but I think it sounds a lot better then my first and last names together. Madeline Rose.

AlishaS · Dec 30, 2009

Hey I am in the same boat as you trying to come up with something unique, fun and easy to remember and spell.

I really like October Lee

Cyia · Dec 30, 2009

I like October Lee, too. It doesn't sound silly at all and the unusual 1st name, common/short last name is a good balance.

Personally, I'm using my nickname because my given name is almost identical to a model/actress (older, but still out there) and I want something my own.

tengraceapples · Dec 30, 2009

I love October Lee!

It only sounds funny because you have not sold a million copies of your book yet.
Once you do, all of a sudden, there are babies named October by their bookish moms and dads: )

I like it. Keep it!!!

DrummerGirl · Dec 31, 2009

Another vote for October Lee

. Kinda makes me think of Harper lee, which is a cool association, and the October bit, that's just cool.

My name is easy - grateful for that. But if i had a complicated one I'd definitely come up with a pen name. I often go to look up authors on the library catalogue (which is not like google, who suggests who I really meant

when I mix up the spelling) and I get frustrated trying to recall the spelling of non-phonetic, unusual names.

Tuuli · Dec 31, 2009

I'm lucky because my name is unique (unless you live in Sweden or Iceland, I guess). October Lee is cool. You want a last name that is easy to remember when the reader walks, on impulse, into the bookstore. I hate to admit how many times I've stood in the YA section, overwhelmed with all the different choices, and can't remember the name of an author whose book I want to read.

Poetoffire · Dec 31, 2009

I have a problem with my name as well...there are already at least two well-known (among different areas) people with my name. So I won't top Google charts and it might get confusing.

I'm probably going with Helen Orli as my penname should that ever come up.

October Lee sounds fine.

herbchick · Dec 31, 2009

I'm just chiming in to say I like October Lee.

vwyler · Jan 1, 2010

Naming yourself after a month... Why not? It worked for the profound and prolific August Derleth.

jasonleeward · Jan 1, 2010

Pen Names

This article by Nathan Bransford, a literary agent with the San Francisco office of Curtis Brown has this to say about pen names

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/12/whats-in-name-all-about-pen-names.html

Shady Lane · Jan 1, 2010

October Lee is cute.

I had a lot of people tell me that my name is "too Jewish" to go on a book that isn't about latkes or the Holocaust. It just made me more determined to use my clunky, hard-to-spell last name. And I haven't suffered from it at all (though a lot of the hits on my blog do come from people looking for Hannah Moscowitz or Moskowits or Mosquesomething)

elissa · Jan 1, 2010

lol at mosquesomething. *googles to see if that will get me to shady's website*

eta: nvm, found you under "awesome" instead.

Shady Lane · Jan 1, 2010

eyeblink · Jan 1, 2010

I used a pen-name for four short stories in a romance market and have occasionally (long story) used the same name for some reviews. That pen-name is the central character in the opening short story in my collection - which "I" also appear in.

Way back when, before I had anything published, I used my initials before I decided that as a male writer writing not infrequently from female POVs I thought it was better to use my full first name and surname.

Having said that, as my published works (nearly 40 shorts, one collection, plus editing credits) are for adult markets, I did wonder if I might need to change my present first-name + surname byline if I'm writing YA - back to initials plus surname maybe? I'll stick to the present byline for the moment, but will see what is said if I get as far as an agent/publisher. It's not as if I'm famous as an adult short-fiction writer or anything...

eyeblink · Jan 1, 2010

Shady Lane said:
I had a lot of people tell me that my name is "too Jewish" to go on a book that isn't about latkes or the Holocaust. It just made me more determined to use my clunky, hard-to-spell last name. And I haven't suffered from it at all (though a lot of the hits on my blog do come from people looking for Hannah Moscowitz or Moskowits or Mosquesomething)

That reminds me of a story that SF writer Robert Silverberg told. He thought that unconscious anti-Semitism was the reason why he couldn't sell to a leading genre short story market. So he devised the most Protestant pseudonym he could come up with - Calvin M. Knox - and the first story under that name he sent to that market sold. Later, he mentioned this to the editor - the response was "Have you not noticed on our contents lists a certain Isaac Asimov?"

Shady Lane · Jan 3, 2010

eyeblink said:
That reminds me of a story that SF writer Robert Silverberg told. He thought that unconscious anti-Semitism was the reason why he couldn't sell to a leading genre short story market. So he devised the most Protestant pseudonym he could come up with - Calvin M. Knox - and the first story under that name he sent to that market sold. Later, he mentioned this to the editor - the response was "Have you not noticed on our contents lists a certain Isaac Asimov?"

That's FANTASTIC.

KC_Lynn · Jan 4, 2010

I personally like the name October Lee, but if you have any more trouble coming up with pen names, you could always use street names; that's how I came up with mine: Nancy Meadows

Pen names for YA

Destroying something beautiful

Still around

I'm not the writer I used to be.

Destroying something beautiful

holding my breath

I'm not the writer I used to be.

Is swimming with creativity frogs

Rewriting My Destiny

Capturing the Castle

Research Addict

Professional Cynic

alcohol will do that for ya

JasonLeeWard

my name is hannah

holding my breath

my name is hannah

Barbara says hi

Barbara says hi

my name is hannah

You don't need wings to fly