Does my name call for a pseudonym/pen name?

You name reminds me of Indiana 'Indie' Jones. I like your name a lot but I don't know how to advise you about a pen name. Our name is one of the few things we have that is truly ours. I lean toward, if you want to use your name then do it. You might have some explaining to do but then, it is a conversation opener.

I agree with CindyGirl that your name made me think of Indiana Jones. "Indie books" and "indie authors" never once crossed my mind until you mentioned it, and even then that's a bit of a stretch.

IMO, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

I might suggest some folks might think it is a pen name already. But I'd tend to stick to the real thing. Of course, I have an ordinary name. I had two older brothers that were handed "girly" names at birth but I got a dudeworthy one.

I'd change that - it does sound vaguely like an ill-chosen pen name already, heh. I'm not at all opposed to changing names though, so if you feel a connection to it and want it on a book, I don't think it'd like, hurt you to keep it.

It's memorable, and it rolls easily off the tongue -- both very good attributes for an author name, I think.

I think it's a perfectly good name. But you're getting your authorial cart before your horse: it's not an issue for you right now. Work on getting your book as good as it can be: has it gone out to beta readers? Have you revised it, left it alone for a few weeks, then revised it again? Work on getting your query and synopsis as good as they can be, too: have you read up on how to write great queries and synopses? Work on putting together a list of great agents, and finding out what their submission requirements are.

Once you find an agent you can have the pseudonym discussion with her. But for now, you've got other things to do.

Why would agents or publishers look you up?

If it's because you want them to represent or publish you, then you're going to have to consider what sort of relationship you want with them. For example, agents have to know the truth about their clients' writing lives, and you shouldn't hide things from them. If you're making a living out of writing and editing, why pretend you're not?

I've seen many pseudonyms broken by a bit of careful research. They do not provide failsafe protection.

Further, your writing and editing might be encouraging to agents and publishers, who would (I assume!) be impressed by your professionalism.

I just don't quite understand why you want to do this.

I wondered why we had two such similar threads in such a short time, and then I realised both were from you, OP. I've merged your two new threads: one thread per topic only, please.

Have you considered "N.D. James" as an alternative? It has the same sound as your real name, but it won't have the instant-recognition as Indiana Jones (or "indie author"). That way you get a pen name while basically keeping the name you already have.

I've been doing research on pen names and looking up videos and articles on names in publishing (be it for books, characters, etc). One rationale for pen names that you might find pertinent is that it is also meant to establish uniqueness and an identity. You wouldn't want to sound like an already established celebrity, or you'd be in his/her shadow forever. In search engines, for example, you might always end up at the bottom of the search results.

So yes, if people search for Indie James, they might end up with Indiana Jones (It's a stretch, but still), or they might confuse one for the other. Worse yet, they might think you're trying to leech off the popularity of a pop cultural icon. It's unfortunate, but that's how the majority of human beings think.

Another possibility for confusion is that people might end up with results for anything 'indie', independently published books, games, music, you name it...

So yes, a pen name, I believe, is in order. You can always choose to put your original first name into an initial. Well, at least you'll get to have fun naming yourself with not one, but two names so you'd have a pen first name and an initial with two letters. Or you could just have initials plus a last name, like J. R. R. Tolkien.

If your sports writing pen name is also Indie James, then yes you should change your pen name. Basically, if you gained moderate success in both, both names would show up in a search. If your sports name is something else, I see no issues. Sure, it might confuse search engines initially, but this is another thing that could be different depending on success. Also, I just searched the term and all this stuff for "Indie Games" popped up lol. I think you're safe when it comes to books.

Cyia said:

Have you considered "N.D. James" as an alternative? It has the same sound as your real name, but it won't have the instant-recognition as Indiana Jones (or "indie author"). That way you get a pen name while basically keeping the name you already have.

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I think this is a great idea.