Pseudonyms and Submissions

In the circumstances you describe, I'd use the same name for the self-published works as I planned to use for the commercial works. Publishers and agents don't seem to care much if someone has self-published, as long as the writer doesn't include self-pubbed works as 'publishing credits'. If your self-pubbed works do well, that will begin to establish your name and would be an asset for commercial works; if they don't do well, it won't really have much bearing on commercial works.

Caveat: This opinion is based on slightly older wisdom, and with the explosion of self-pubbed e-books that started last November, things might be a wee bit different. But my understanding has been that the commercial/trade world didn't consider self-pubbed works when labeling a first-time commercial author as 'debut'. As a matter of fact, 'debut' has been a slippery term for a long time; a friend of mine who had had 12 books published over the course of 20 years before his first children's book came out was labeled as a 'debut author', not even 'debut children's author'.

All in all, I wouldn't worry about it much. It's good that you're thinking along these lines, because in the end, it might happen that a publisher will want you to use a different name from your self-pubbed works. So it's good to have some names and the possibility in mind. But honestly, I think it's not terribly likely.

You don't think publishers and agents look up potential author's names? From what I have seen they almost certainly do because, in the modern publishing world, they aren't just buying your novel they are buying you and, by extension, you entire social networking structure. This means that many agents and publishers, on seeing a novel they may want to publish, go on a trawl through the internet for that person's name and e-mail address to see what comes up including your facebook, twitter, live journal, myspace and so on. Chances are they will almost certainly find your self published ebooks (especially if, as many self publishers do, you have been using your social networks to market them).

Now, as stated above, this is unlikely to make much of a difference to your chances. Unless you have claimed them as credits, of course. This trawl is more about seeing how well you communicate and whether you are likely to say anything controversial rather than past publications. But the point is that they will find them...

areteus said:

You don't think publishers and agents look up potential author's names?

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Of course they will. I didn't say that they don't, nor did I imply it.

The point is that they don't care if they find self-pubbed books. It's irrelevant to the business proposition at hand, unless the self-pubbed book(s) did well, in which case, they're an asset. It's never a detriment to have self-pubbed books out there; it's only a detriment if a writer claims their self-pubbed books as 'publishing credits'. Publishers and agents don't count low-selling self-pubbed books as a black mark, so it doesn't matter whether someone uses the same name they want to use for commercial books or a different one.

I certainly went the pseudonym way exactly because my stuff is super icky and weirdo and I don't want that to put off 'the man' when I submit my more commercial projects.

I think one can juggle with a dozen pseudonyms if one has the energy to keep them all alive, and if one of the identities has become really successful, then the others are reissued with the successful name and the successful identity suddenly has a serious backlog for the fans and critics to ponder.

In 1980 Dean Koontz published his first three paperback bestsellers, by three different identities. He chose to bet on his real name from then on and consolidate the other identities under it.

Some people like Jack Higgins have forever remained pen-name identities. His real name is Harry Patterson, he used to be also 'Graham James', 'Martin Fallon', 'Justin Richards' and in 1975 he published, as 'Jack Higgins' a thriller which sold 50mln, and he writes as 'Higgins' to this day.

Publishing is like that. Sometimes there's twenty people pretending to be one person (a 'house name' author), sometimes there's one person pretending to be twenty. A question of the situation's requirements I'd say.

FWIW, I write SFF under my real name, and don't plan to self-pub it at this time. My current cover/query letter says that under another name, I have contracts for three erotic/contemporary romances with Carina Press, as well as one self-published title. I also briefly touch on my non-fiction credits ("I have sold pieces to outlets that include").

I think of it like job hunting - they're eventually going to find everything via Google, so I might as well lay it out there. No one likes surprises.

Now, I haven't yet SOLD any SFF. I just started trying, though, so I think I'm just starting my year plus in slush and not scaring the fragile, delicate, easily shocked*** SFF editors away with my self-published smut.


***Sarcasm. A lot of it.

Edit to add: The cover letter says one self pub because that's what I had out when I subbed. Now it is two titles. I still think I'm okay

Terie said:

Of course they will. I didn't say that they don't, nor did I imply it.

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I never said that you did say that (or say anything). I was not responding to your post at all but the OP who said:

It seems unlikely that anyone doing slush pile reading would look up my name, but I think it is a consideration.

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Generally, unless I specifically name a poster or quote a specific section of someone's post, I am referring to the original poster rather than any other posts in the thread. My point being that yes, there is still a chance that a slush pile reader would do the research if they have selected a manuscript for possible further steps in the process.

And the OP has since responded to clarify their position:

My assumption was more along the lines that the people who are paid to read hundreds of manuscripts won't bother looking up any of the authors. Later people, certainly, but that would be a different point in the game.

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I would not assume anything. Yes, they are reading 100s a day (and I know from talking to people who do that job how awful a job it is) but if they find one which they think has promise (and, surely, you are expecting yours to eventually be one of those considered promising, otherwise why bother sending it? Though if more considered this maybe the slush pile wouldn't be so big ) they are more likely to do a little poking around before they commit further. I have known agents contact an author who has submitted to them asking for details of thier internet presence before they make any official offer. OK, it may become more relevant later in the process (but again, you want your book to get that far, right?) but as soon as you submit your name to any publisher or agent, assume cyber stalking is imminent

Ian, personally, I wouldn't self-publish anything that I think might have commercial value until I'd exhausted all commercial venues. Then I might think about it. This is because I really don't have any interest in doing everything one has to do to self-publish well.

If you're interested in self-publishing for its own sake, there's nothing wrong with trying it. There's no harm and a slim possibility of benefit. The most likely outcome is neutral.

So, if you have an interest in self-publishing and have the time, creativity, energy, and financial resources to attack the project properly (and it really does require a lot of time, and time is money!), go for it.

The only risk here is that if you self-pub a book or series and later get a commercial deal for another book or series, they might not be interested in the self-pubbed stuff whereas they might've been interested if the stuff hadn't been self-pubbed. But even this is changing. Agents and publishers who take on fresh work seem to be a wee bit more willing to look at self-pubbed stuff by the writer to evaluate whether it might have commercial prospects.

So, since self-publishing is fairly neutral (unless you publish complete rubbish, which it doesn't sound like you're going to do...after all, your posts here are quite literate, which will put you ahead of a substantial majority -- probably 90% or more -- of self-pubbed stuff!), it comes down to what you want to do. If you want to self-publish, do it....and do it well.

Forgive me for saying this, Ian, but it sounds as if you're not very proud of those first books you intent to self-publish, so why publish them at all? If they're not good, someone down the road will make a connection between pseudonym and real name. You can read on this thread how others have been identified.

Anything you intend to publish should be something you are proud of having your name on the cover. If you are ashamed of them, shred them. Far too much garbage is being self-published - some of it not even spell checked, so do everyone a favour and publish (whichever way) only those books you can display with pride.

Carmy

Thanks for explaining that, Ian. I appreciate it and I'm sorry if I came across a wee bit rude. It wasn't my intention.

Starting with a series would probably be a good idea, if you tell an agent or publisher about the others in the series. Which name to use could be a problem, if you think your real name wouldn't be a "seller". If you go with a pseudonym, I think you should use the same one whether you publish the traditional way or self publish. Reader who loves your writing would search for your name on places like Amazon, and it's doubtful they'd notice how you published.

Sometimes it's just as bad having too many ideas as too few. Ideas need time to write, and that isn't always possible when life intrudes.

Good luck with your writing.