Writing Across Markets

It depends. For short fiction, it doesn't matter.

For novels, it might. In some genres and age categories, crossovers under the same name aren't uncommon (fantasy and science fiction, for example). Others tend to encourage pennames (romance and mysteries). Some really need a penname (children's picture books and erotica).

It's not so much publishers, as readers, and publishers know that readers don't like surprises, and that the marketing value of the author's name is dependent on its association with genre.

The more dedicated romance readers, for example, tend to read broadly, across genres (pop fiction, lit fic, everything), but that doesn't mean they want a particular author to write across genres. It appears that once they've decided Author A writes really good historical romance, say, then they expect the next book from Author A to be a historical romance, and if it's contemporary romantic suspense, they can be irritated, even if they were looking forward to Author B's romantic suspense novel.

Having a different pen name allows the reader to decide what she wants, no surprises. I've seen readers say that they love Jayne Ann Krentz's books (contemporary romantic suspense), but aren't interested in her Amanda Quick books (historical romantic suspense) or the Jayne Castle books (paranormal romantic suspense). Or vice versa, or some combination of them. It's no secret that JAK writes all three, but the reader can tell at a glance whether it's the genre she prefers, and can set her expectations in advance. It's all about reader expectation; don't mess with that.

Right, it's really about branding the product. Name A tells the reader they can expect an A kind of story. With Name B they get a B kind of story. It just helps signal to your consumer what exactly they're buying.