Are multiple pseudonyms a necessity?

I've just been advised by my agent to consider a 2nd penname for a new series. It's not so much a matter of being pigeonholed, but from a business standpoint, if a store sees that there are 2 books by Ima Writer coming out near each other, they might only order one. But if Ima Writer has a book, and Betty Sribbler has a book, then both are shelved.

Also if your genres are wildly divergent/have a different audience.

If you're known for sweet and fluffy romance, your readers might pick up your new dark and nasty thriller and be a tad upset. Worse if you write erotica and childrens' books....

I should have used a different pen name with my last self-published short. It's much more... porny... than my other stories, which have a plot and actual characters.

It is also more popular than my other stories, much to my vague horror, and I'm wondering what the people who like the porn are thinking when they pick up my novellas. Or worse, the reverse.

I am using a different pen name for two stories I'm finishing up - one is a lesbian story, and the other has a MTF transperson as the hero. (Kathleen stuff is all straight/MFF.)

The different pen names are no more significant than the fact that creamy peanut butter usually has a red lid, and crunchy has a blue lid - it just lets people know what to expect.

Pen name soften aren't a choice but a business necessity based on such things as sales numbers, contracts with publishers, etc.

But forget bring along your fans. This sometimes happens, but not always. When it does happen, the pen name doesn't stop it. Few writers keep their pen names secret, and fans soon learn who writes what, under which name.

I was planning to use a new pen name for m/f romance when I started writing that, but my publishers, both the m/m and m/f ones, suggested that I stick to my m/m name. They said that in those two sub-areas, there IS a fair bit of crossover (readers who like both) so the name recognition could be useful. They also pointed out that it's a total pain in the butt to maintain social media for ONE name, so imagine trying to do it for two. That was the argument that convinced me!

I do worry, a bit, about people accidentally picking up a book that they weren't expecting, but I think almost everybody reads the blurbs before buying, or at least looks at the covers, so I'm not going to get too worked up about it.

But if I ever published in a non-romance field, I'd use a different name, I think.

There's another facet to alias use. Like it or not, many genres have a following aligned by gender. For example I was doing some stat research for a DVD workshop I market called "So you want to write a novel" and I discovered that the audience for romance is about 95% female while that of SF is roughly 90% male. So what, right.

Turns our that many within a gender stereotype the ability of an author to create stories they like based on the writers gender. Its the reason four top female authors decided to cover their tracks until they were known. JK Rowling of the Potter series is an example. She was suggested by her agent to only use her initials because the genre followers were mostly male.

I cross straddle two gender specific arenas: Romantic suspense and SF. I ignored my wife's suggestion when I started to write under the alias Michele Davis because I figured it was the quality and voice that mattered, not the name. She was right, I was wrong.

I've actually had ladies at book signing question my ability to write anything in that genre given I was a guy, even had emails from females would bought my books query if I were really a man or if it was a promotional ploy. Never been asked that question for my SF.

I finally bit the bullet and did come out with a series in the romantic suspense genre under an alias for that very reason.

Downside to dual monikers is the cost and effort to promo and brand your name in two different worlds.

I have three pen names. I don't know that it's a necessity as much as it's something that becomes more difficult to avoid the longer you pursue NY publishing. If one book doesn't perform well, the publisher might ask you to do new stuff for them under a new name. Or if you move to another publisher, they might ask you to start a new name as well. It's mostly about starting a 'fresh' order sheet with the book buyers vs fooling the public. If my last "Jill Myles" book only sold 2 copies at each B&N, when my next one comes out, they'll only order 1. Or skip me. Whereas if I have a new shiny name like "Jessica Sims", Jessica has no sales history to look at, so they're willing to take more of a chance and they order more copies.

But as things become more and more digital, I don't know how it will all fall out. It'll be interesting to see.

Cyia said:

I've just been advised by my agent to consider a 2nd penname for a new series. It's not so much a matter of being pigeonholed, but from a business standpoint, if a store sees that there are 2 books by Ima Writer coming out near each other, they might only order one. But if Ima Writer has a book, and Betty Sribbler has a book, then both are shelved.

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Are you supposed to keep that underwraps? Or is it going to be obvious on your web site and just something "for the books"?

Captcha said:

They also pointed out that it's a total pain in the butt to maintain social media for ONE name, so imagine trying to do it for two. That was the argument that convinced me!

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That's one thing I worry about. I'm just now looking at what I need to do to establish a web presence so I'll have one prior to querying, and it seems pretty daunting.

I worry, though, about pennames and whether it would even help me. I want to write MG, but I would also like to write adult romance. Seems like if I were going to get into trouble for doing both, I'd get into trouble regardless of whether I had different names on them.

heza said:

I worry, though, about pennames and whether it would even help me. I want to write MG, but I would also like to write adult romance. Seems like if I were going to get into trouble for doing both, I'd get into trouble regardless of whether I had different names on them.

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I don't think you should look at pen names as 'secret identities' - if someone works hard enough to find out who you are, they'll find out. (But if you're successful enough for someone to put that kind of effort into uncovering your secrets, who the hell cares what they find?!?)

I think pen names are often more like brands. We all know that Toyota and Lexus are owned by the same company, but we go to Toyota for our reliable budget vehicles and Lexus for our luxury cars. No secrets, but also no confusion. Similar thing with pen names. Name A writes middle grade, Name B writes romance. If someone investigates, they'll find that Human X writes both A's and B's works, but there's no risk of an MG reader seeing name A on a steamy romance and being corrupted!

heza said:

Are you supposed to keep that underwraps? Or is it going to be obvious on your web site and just something "for the books"?

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Nothing's under wraps; it's just for marketing. I can announce any sales under the 2nd penname and list them on my page. The one I'm kicking around is intentionally similar in sound to my existing penname so they correlate.

I'd only voluntarily write under a penname if I would start to write erotica. The main reason is because I wouldn't want my family to know about this, and because it's so different from what I usually write (YA). I don't want any young adults browsing a bookstore, picking up a book by a writer they know and find out they just bougth an erotic novel.

Apart from that, I wouldn't take one for every different genre I write in. That would just be confusing, in my opinion.

A pen-name can be a useful single degree of separation that an author may deploy for any among a host of reasons. The rationale may be personal or professional. It is, and will always be, relative to the individual.

For my own part, it's simply because I value and protect my privacy.

Yeah, it's mainly a marketing tool. It's branding. Just like Old Navy and Victoria's Secret and Whitehouse Black Market. You know what kind of clothes you're getting by the label. Does that mean someone who wears Old Navy will never wear WHBM? No, but you shop different places for different reasons, just like some people read different authors for different reasons. It just helps the audience know what they're getting. It's all marketing.

And if you claim your pseudonyms like a lot of authors, there's no extra marketing to be done on your part. Maintain one website with links to each "author" and present yourself as one real person who owns them all and you're good.

@Captcha, that's good to hear! I'm thinking of writing m/f in future and would like to keep my m/m penname. I like both, personally, and I think there's an overlap of readers who like both.

Captcha said:

I don't think you should look at pen names as 'secret identities' - if someone works hard enough to find out who you are, they'll find out. (But if you're successful enough for someone to put that kind of effort into uncovering your secrets, who the hell cares what they find?!?)

I think pen names are often more like brands. We all know that Toyota and Lexus are owned by the same company, but we go to Toyota for our reliable budget vehicles and Lexus for our luxury cars. No secrets, but also no confusion. Similar thing with pen names. Name A writes middle grade, Name B writes romance. If someone investigates, they'll find that Human X writes both A's and B's works, but there's no risk of an MG reader seeing name A on a steamy romance and being corrupted!

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I think this is a very apt analogy. Most advice I've heard suggests different pseudonyms only for extremely different work. Science fiction, horror and fantasy? Fine, use one pseudonym. Horror and Christian romance? Prolly ought to go with two there.

And to extend that car analogy a bit further, each brand can have both high end and low end cars. You can have an F-150 and a Mustang with the same manufacturer's logo, but you still know you're getting Ford technology.

Cyia said:

I've just been advised by my agent to consider a 2nd penname for a new series. It's not so much a matter of being pigeonholed, but from a business standpoint, if a store sees that there are 2 books by Ima Writer coming out near each other, they might only order one. But if Ima Writer has a book, and Betty Sribbler has a book, then both are shelved.

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This.

Captcha said:

They said that in those two sub-areas, there IS a fair bit of crossover (readers who like both) so the name recognition could be useful. They also pointed out that it's a total pain in the butt to maintain social media for ONE name, so imagine trying to do it for two. That was the argument that convinced me!

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I got around this by using a joint website, blog, and Twitter for my two pseudonyms. They do have separate Facebook pages, but those are fairly easy to maintain.

It can be a pain to maintain two names, though. For me, it's not so much the promo, it's the output. Keeping two names visible. I've managed to neglect one of my names for a while, but I'm starting to increase the output on that side, so hopefully I can balance things out.

Otherwise, the biggest problem I've run into was when I wrote a book that included M/M and M/F. Ultimately, my editor and I agreed to use my hetero name since M/M readers are generally less receptive to hetero content than the reverse (yeah, shocked the hell out of me too).

If I had it to do over, would I use two pen names? Maybe, maybe not. I don't think it was necessary, per se, but it's worked all right, so I probably could have gone either way.

Though with one name, I wouldn't have been able to create this ongoing rivalry between my two pseudonyms, which my readers seem to enjoy...

I use multiple names as an extension of the fiction, as much as due to my cross-genre writing. I like that the idea of pseudonyms is steeped in history and picking a good one is like picking a good title to a story, IMO. It's a persona, too, I suppose.

I've been wondering this too, since I have my novel I'm working on now which is a post apocolyptic fantasy type novel, and then one I'm outlining a very serious drama type story dealing with heavy issues... Even though im nowhere near publishing yet, it crossed my mind that one might contradict the other and turn people off from 'said' book if they realized a fantasy writer is writing a heavy drama book or vice versa.

Also to answer your question The lonely One..... Because there is a B in both and an N in neither.

I don't think they're a necessity. I have friends who write fiction and non-fiction...and children's for that matter, all using one name. It probably is a case of their main readers being interested in whatever they write, but it works for them.

I am planning on a pseudonym (initials plus last name) for a new genre I'm going into because there are potential conflicts with what I've previously published and the work I'm moving toward now. My previous audience might not be receptive to my new work, but I'm not completely separating from my original genre so I don't want the two to overlap in people's minds. Two distinct author names for two distinct audiences.

KathleenD said:

The different pen names are no more significant than the fact that creamy peanut butter usually has a red lid, and crunchy has a blue lid - it just lets people know what to expect.

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Ha! I love this illustration. The lid color is significant because it does tell you which jar to pull out of the cabinet. I get annoyed every time someone puts the jars back with the lids switched and I pull out the turquoise lid and get crunchy PB.

I don't want my smooth-title readers to feel like they grabbed my book expecting smooth and got crunchy.