I appreciate everyone's responses. Scarletpeaches, that was really what I was looking for, so thanks!
I asked because I was going to pick a pseudonym now, as I wanted to try to make sure that any short stuff that might get published now or in the near future would be linked to longer stuff later with the same name. For marketing purposes, I hoped to be able to set up things like a site now and get it aging. I primarily write gay erotic fiction when I write in this genre, but if I did write male/female or multiples I'd probably use the same name just for simplicity.
I already have some fiction, poetry and non-fiction published under my real name. And I make a living as a freelancer. While I'm absolutely not embarrassed by or ashamed of writing gay erotic fiction, I do keep this removed from my name.
The first paid fiction I ever sold, I think back in 1997 or 1998, was hardcore porn, not the kind that gives a byline. And I've written various adult entertainment texts off and on through the years. I've never submitted anywhere that gives a byline, as a lot of my work was stories read by actresses, phone scripts and adult ads for websites. But since I don't really do that anymore and have a few ideas for novel-length erotic romantic fiction, I know now's a good a time as any to think about a website, marketing and all the stuff that goes with self-promotion.
I would never want a corporate client for whom I'm writing web content to be able to Google my name and find a dirty story, or a slew of them. I don't think that would help me put food on the table. Sure, a few wouldn't care. But many would. One client is so hyper-religious that if he found out I'm an atheist I'm sure I'd never hear from him again. Work is work, and then there's everything else. So yes, definitely, I understand the wisdom of a pseudonym.
I do have an acquaintance who lost her job over writing erotic fan fiction. I have nothing against fanfic-I love it. I've been writing it for fun since I was a kid (and all of mine online is under a pseudonym). And I think a company has no right to fire you on the basis of what you do in your free time (but they have ways of getting around that by using other reasons that can't be proven or disproven). But she was writing it on the clock.
She worked at a graphic design firm, and they often had a lot of free time during the day when things were slow. Since she wasn't a rainmaker, she really had nothing to do but wait for work. And so she wrote. They found out. The boss didn't care, and in fact recommended some of the stories to his brother. His brother's gay, and most of her stories were gay fiction. All was well. Until she peeved them off in another way, and they listed her "perversion" in the long list of reasons they were letting her go.
People, you know, they're funny. And by funny I mean assholes.
Shelley
