Self-Publishing Under a Pen Name While Trade Published Under Your Real Name

Fantomas

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Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge of writers who first self-published books under a pen name but had completely different books trade published under their real name? I know there are a few authors whose self-published books were picked up after selling well, but I was wondering if there are/were writers who maintained a self-publishing/trade publishing persona.

Thanks for any responses.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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I'm sort of in that position. My first book (Outland) was completely self-pubbed. My second book (Legion) got an agent and a contract with Audible. No pen name, though. What information are you looking for?
 

Fantomas

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Thanks Dennis. I am thinking about self-publishing one series of books under a pen name while querying a different book. I like the idea of using a pen name since I am sort of a private person by nature.

I was just wondering if there was any prejudice against taking on an author who has previously self-published. Times are changing but I was wondering if anyone has had any first hand experience with this.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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I have not seen any indication of prejudice. Agents want a client that produces books that sell. Publishers want books that sell.

Keep in mind, though, that an offer from an agent might be for all your work until the agreement is terminated. Under those circumstances, you won't be able to continue to self-pub anything. And a publisher may offer you a multi-book deal. Same problem.
 

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I don't think there's any prejudice. The only problem I can see is if your self published books don't sell well, and agents and publishers check on their sales to see how well your writing has done. (And yes, you'd have to be open about your pen name with your new agent.)

Note that pseudonyms are very easily broken. If someone wants to discover the real person behind a pseudonym it's not usually difficult to do that. So don't rely on this to give you anonymity. It's a useful way to separate different books, but it's not a guaranteed protection.