Different pen-names for erotica?

Cyath

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From random musings on another thread that I made...now resurrected as a new one!

So I'm in the process of getting my erotica out into the world, but given the...sensitive nature of the subject matter. I'm wary of putting my real name on the tin. A pen-name sounds like an obvious solution, but not all of my erotica is in the same genre or style, and I would hate for potential readers to be disappointed or mislead.

So what do you think - one pen-name to rule them all, or different pen-names for different genres? How do you guys (and girls) go about this? What are your own experiences?
 

Maryn

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This is a tough one. Thethinker42 has a handful of pen names and has said she might have done things differently, knowing what she knows now. Maybe she'll weight in with more detail.

Erotica authors could use different pen names
  • for heterosexual relationships
  • for relationships among three or more people
  • for gay male relationships
  • for lesbian relationships
  • for sweet romance with light sexual content
  • for harder content, especially hard BDSM
  • for fetish content which does not have mainstream acceptance
And that list could easily expand if, for instance, the author writes multiple fetishes, or has some sweet romances aimed at lesbian readers.

It's no doubt a lot of balls to keep in the air. Yet you don't want a reader who loves your lesbian stories to be upset when she buys your latex fetish stories based solely on your name, either.

What do you all think? How many names are manageable, and should the writer pose as if they are not all her?

Maryn, who needs to leave soon and is, of course, in her PJs
 

DancingMaenid

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First of all, using a pen name for erotica, in general, is extremely common. I think it's more common to use a pen name than not, both for privacy reasons and marketing purposes.

As for using multiple pen names for different subgenres of erotica, some people definitely do that. The benefit is that you can establish a distinct brand, which is perhaps more important in erotica than other genres since readers' tastes can be very specific. The downside is that you might end up juggling several names, and the reputation you build with one won't transfer over to the others. One thing to think about is just how different your subgenres are in terms of market appeal. For example, a lot of readers have strong preferences for particular gender-combinations (M/F, M/M, F/F, etc.), so it might be worth considering different pen names if you write both gay and straight erotica. On the other hand, it may not be so important to have separate pen names for M/F erotic fantasy and M/F erotic historical if the erotic content (the kinks, level of hotness, etc.) is similar.
 

dickson

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From random musings on another thread that I made...now resurrected as a new one!

So I'm in the process of getting my erotica out into the world, but given the...sensitive nature of the subject matter. I'm wary of putting my real name on the tin. A pen-name sounds like an obvious solution, but not all of my erotica is in the same genre or style, and I would hate for potential readers to be disappointed or mislead.

So what do you think - one pen-name to rule them all, or different pen-names for different genres? How do you guys (and girls) go about this? What are your own experiences?

This is a matter I am pondering, as I write my maiden (no pun intended) effort in this genre. I'd say one pen-name per specialty, if only for branding purposes.
 

V.J. Allison

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I write contemporary romances under a pen name, but I'd be using a different one if I were to venture into something like a fetish genre, or full blown BDSM for example.

Good luck!
 

DamienLoveshaft

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Only you can decide where to draw lines, but think about how you want to establish yourself as a brand for sure like everyone else says. Loveshaft is my first because I'm doing a gay series featuring eldritch abominations. If i were to finish that and move on to write a heavy Mpreg story, very controversial material, I'd probably make a pen name for that. People expect an author to write very similar content and might feel betrayed if one book and another clash too much.
 

Weekend_writer

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First off, I might be bit off-topic here. I apologize, couple of the posts here also seemed to apply to the question I have, hence posting here.

I have a rather different quandary and looking for advice.

I am truly new to writing in the Erotica Genre. I am presently writing a fictional story in girl first person manner, that involves consensual self-bondage and Non-Consensual sex. I am not sure if this genre encompasses something like that.
  • for heterosexual relationships
  • for relationships among three or more people
  • for gay male relationships
  • for lesbian relationships
  • for sweet romance with light sexual content
  • for harder content, especially hard BDSM
  • for fetish content which does not have mainstream acceptance
If this is true, then what I have in mind is NOT in Erotica Genre. If so, what category would it fall under ? I truly don't know and would dearly love some thoughts.

Secondly, given my very first attempt and in such a hardcore subject, I am not sure I want to publish. Having said that, I want to get reader's feedback and interest characters, quality of the subject or my writing style. I don't know if the "Share Your Work" Room would even tolerate me posting such a topic in there. Of course, given I am so new to this forum, I can't see what's there. Any suggestions and pointers there would be of help. Yes I did explore the sticki threads and resources available. But as far as I can see, I could not find answer.

I think if a writer writes different genres and wants to keep their works separate.
Donald E. Westlake and Alistair Maclean had done this exact category.
For the OP question, I have made a name for myself in other areas, in particular Alternate History Fiction. Hence I am using a Pseudonym for my Erotic endeavor.
 

James Ryan

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I have always used a pen name for one writing or another. There is a level of safety in not being known to everyone.
 

dennisreynolds

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Do you think your pen names reflect your genre? Is there a different "feeling" or "floweriness" (stupid word I know) to a name by genre? So like if you're weriting sci fi and the surname was Moonbeam, would that work better than say, Anne?
 

Maryn

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I chose a semi-flowery pen name when I started publishing erotica that was often the sex lives of loving couples. In my earliest sales, I used a male pen name with the same surname and often used it for "harder" material. (And nobody seems to have suspected I wasn't James.) So yeah, I believe the pen name needs to bend to flow with the genre. If you're writing hardcore BDSM and erotic romance, the names you use for each should guide the reader to the right assumptions.

Maryn, whose name isn't Maryn, either
 

CaliforniaMelanie

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I'll be using a pen name but I plan on it being a very realistic name, not something geared toward erotica or a subgenre of erotica.

I won't be Jane Smith or anything but it will be a non-invented-sounding name (even though it will be invented...hashtag irony).

I suppose if I go REALLY crazy and decide to go full-blown BDSM or something (I've considered it) on an isolated piece I might produce a different name simply because I won't want it connected with a rather different type of writing that (hopefully) my readers will have come to expect to be attached to the author they know.

But otherwise I think it would be tough (for me - I may be less organized than some) to work hard on building individual reputations for multiple names.

My reasoning on the natural-sounding name is that the brand, if you will, that I'm aiming for is just a regular person who could be you or I, or someone else, who just loves a really really great spank book every so often. Relatable, if you will. My brand communicates that anybody, including your neighbor, your mom or a Hollywood celebrity, is as likely as not to get very horny every once in a while, that that's a normal thing, and normal people think and write about it. :)

So, no Victora LaRue or Ravynn Gavotte or Getchuer Roxoff or Darknyte Luciferus for me. :D (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)
 
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thethinker42

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This is a tough one. Thethinker42 has a handful of pen names and has said she might have done things differently, knowing what she knows now. Maybe she'll weight in with more detail.

I have five pen names, and I honestly go back and forth about whether I would have done things differently. On the one hand, branding is important. On the other, maintaining and promoting multiple names is a pain in the ass. At the end of the day, I'm pretty sure I still would have gone with multiple names, but if my current hindsight had been foresight, I might have branded slightly differently.

As it stands right now:

L.A. Witt writes gay male romance.
Lauren Gallagher writes lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual romance.
Lori A. Witt writes sci-fi fantasy with or without queer characters.
Ann Gallagher writes queer romance without sex.
Diana Fyre writes horror.

I added Ann Gallagher late in the game when I decided to write a gay Christian romance, and really couldn't brand it as L.A. Witt. The consensus among my readers was that that book needed to go under another name. And it's usually "L.A. Witt writing as Ann Gallagher," which my readers quickly learn means "L.A. Witt but without the smut." I added Diana Fyre because I'm starting to write horror that would definitely not be compatible with my romances.

If I had it to do over, I... hell, I don't know. I really don't. Sometimes I think I made things too complicated for myself, and sometimes I think the branding works out nicely. It got a little complicated when I started writing bisexual menage romances ("do I put these under L.A. or Lauren?"), and again when I started writing lesbian romances. L.A. Witt's audience can be outright hostile toward women in their romances, while Lauren's is somewhat less opinionated about male/male sex in theirs. So Lauren got the bisexual and lesbian romances. But then where do I put trans romances? And do I put a queer sci-fi with moderate amounts of sex/romance under L.A. or Lori?

I'm also 100% open about being the same person. I have one website, one twitter account, and my bios connect all my names. If you're trying to keep it a secret that your pen names are the same person, you're going to have to do a lot more work in terms of creating an online presence. You'll need to consistently put out books under each name in order to keep the name visible (because I'm open about my pen names, I can get away with releasing 10-15 books a year as L.A. Witt, but maybe 1 or 2 under any of the other names). You also have to decide who you'll be if you come to a convention. My badges basically all say "L.A. Witt" (which is my best known name) with my other names written underneath in smaller font. I've seen some authors with business cards that have one pen name on the front, one on the back. Obviously not an option if you're not open about being all one person.

So it's really up to the individual as far as how much work you want to (and can) do in terms of marketing, online presence, visibility, etc. It also depends on how different your various works are. Some people divide based on heat or kink. Some divide based on pairing (hetero, gay, etc). Or you can divide it based on subgenre, like contemporaries under one name and paranormal suspense under another (see also: Nora Roberts/JD Robb).

I'm sure that's not terribly helpful, but that's my experience with multiple pen names.
 

Maryn

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I'm only recently making sales in some of my branching-out subgenres. I decided I'd just use Maryn Blackburn for all of it. I can barely make myself promote as it is, you know? So Maryn writes BDSM, erotic romance, FemDom, and all pairings. (Just sold my first F/F!)

Maryn, working on a historical
 

13ookI)ragon

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Personally I have spent a lot of time thinking about pen names, I go into meanings and everything. but I think if you had a blog for all your writings, creating a blog for each name and connecting them all as "friends" ya know, linking the books on each of the separate blogs. I know it would be more work, but if you did go with multiple names, it could be an easier way to keep people looking for more writing like your other stuff, then knowing more about what the writing is, because it has its own blog and they don't have to rely on guessing.
:) That is what i will be doing anyways.
 

Lizzy Grey

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I write under a pen name and Facebook have just deactivated my pen name account. Is there any point in setting up a new one or will they just deactivate that one, too? I use various Facebook groups for promotion, so it would be a big loss to me if my pen name has no Facebook account.
 

JakeSTamer

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I write under a pen name and Facebook have just deactivated my pen name account. Is there any point in setting up a new one or will they just deactivate that one, too? I use various Facebook groups for promotion, so it would be a big loss to me if my pen name has no Facebook account.

Having multiple accounts on Facebook can get tricky since it's against their rules to have more than one account per person. I don't know if this is why they shut your account down but one thing that can bring up a red flag for multiple accounts is photos. Something you can do to help prevent them from shutting down another account is to make sure you do not upload a photo of you that's been tagged as you in your real name account to your pen name account, and try to keep photos of the two accounts separate. So yes I would try to make a new account for your pen name. If you want to share the same photos to both accounts create a page for your pen name, upload the photos to your page, then share the photo to your pen name account, that way you're not linking your two accounts you're simply sharing the photo. Like I said I don't know if this is your problem or not but I hope it helps. For myself I also have an account for my pen name with a page to go with it, and an account for my real name, sometimes it is difficult to keep the two of them separate.

I'm planning on self-publishing so I made Jake S Tamer for everything erotica that I write.

I use the name Strangetamer to submit stories to a free storysite. Since I'm going to try my hand at publishing I probably won't be using him anymore.

When I write something other than erotica I will probably do what others have done and pick a different name to keep the two separate.
 

Lizzy Grey

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Thanks for your reply. My pen name account is completely separate from my real name account, including photos etc. They have been flagging all my posts as spam lately, even when I only post a promo in one or two groups, so Facebook clearly doesn't like what I'm doing even though I keep my posts pretty tame.
 

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This relates to a pen-name issue I have.
My current WIP is decidedly erotic. But other stories I'm working on is set in the same universe/setting, but not of an erotic nature (hard sci-fi).
I can understand that readers may expext the same genre from one author, or even same world from that same author. But what if that's ot what I want to tell from that world? Add in some sex to satisfy those readers? Add a warning on the front page "Bevare, no sex inside!", Or maybe just write it all under one name, and warn for heavy sex in those titles it will occur in, and stay true to the world and characters? Or am I missing something here?
 
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lizmonster

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This relates to a pen-name issue I have.
My current WIP is decidedly erotic. But other stories I'm working on is set in the same universe/setting, but not of an erotic nature (hard sci-fi).
I can understand that readers may expext the same genre from one author, or even same world from that same author. But what if that's ot what I want to tell from that world? Add in some sex to satisfy those readers? Add a warning on the front page "Bevare, no sex inside!", Or maybe just write it all under one name, and warn for heavy sex in those titles it will occur in, and stay true to the world and characters? Or am I missing something here?

Do you have a series title? Are your hard SF stories SFR?

I'm wondering if you could do something like "Silhouette Special Editions" (to use an old example). Same series, but with slightly different branding.