I share the same name as another author.

The same thing happens to actors. (50s actor Stewart Granger's real name was James Stewart, but that name was already taken, so he had to change his.)

Could you use your middle initial to differentiate yourself from the other Russ King? If not, you may need to consider a pseudonym.

What different twist do you think? Are you concerned from a legal standpoint (not sure if there is one, many people have the same name) or from a confusing-the-reader standpoint?

Readers won't know who published first. They're not going to check every book's date of publication.

All you have to worry about is differentiating yourself from the other guy enough so that you won't get mixed up.

If I were you, and worried, I'd go the Russell (middle initial) King route. Less chance of a mixup when even another Russ King shows up and really putting things into a wringer.

Or choose a really odd pseudonym, which has little chance of duplication.

Well, there *is* another author who has my name. She has only one book out there that I know of, but she has a website with the name as domain. The book was published in 2004 by WW Norton and reviewed in Publishers Weekly, and still available on Amazon.

I found her while I was trying to decide on a name to write under. So I'll use another name. And I write in a couple of different genres, so if I ever get published, then I'll probably have two names.

I'm a private kind of person, so not having my name on the cover doesn't bother me.

There's another Gary James out there - a writer of soccer books, no less - and I have no intention of using a pseudonym. There's zero overlap in our works, and I can't imagine any confusion would exist if people took two seconds to look at what we each do. He doesn't ramble on endlessly about pop culture, and I don't have the slightest clue as to what an offside rule is.

There is an actress with my very common name... actually I live in a town with someone with my very common name (we used to work together. Both teachers. That wasn't confusing at all ) We still go to inservices and get 'Kelly .... No the other one'.

That said, I'd LOVE to have my real name on my books. For some reason, that seems the TOP of my list. BUT, I don't know if it's plausible. I'm thinking of taking my husband's middle name as my last name (for writing purposes). I don't know. Using your real name seems much more 'normal', but I don't know.

I'm no help.

When I received the pre-press cover art for River Bottom Blues, my the artist used my nickname, "Ricky", instead of the more formal "Richard". I had thought about using "Ricky", but thought that "Richard" might seem more professional. My publishers said that it could be easily changed before printing. When I received my pre-press galleys, my title page had "Richard", but my page headings had "Ricky". So, I had to make a decision as to which way to go. I had already searched Amazon and B&N for Richard Bush and found authors of non-fiction books by Richard Bush. The authors used a middle initial. Didn't see a problem, since our genres were so different and I could forgo a middle initial. A search turned up no Ricky Bush. So, I went with my nickname.

When I signed up for Goodreads, I found out there's an author with my name. Or I have his, depending on who you ask. Anyway, I figured it was easy to separate the two based on subject matter, so I'm not worried: I write m/m romance and he writes economic and business guides.

There's a moderately famous person with the same name as me, and it's unusual enough that on the Internet, I'm often asked if I am that _______. I expect if I get published, there will be some occasional confusion between us, but eh. I don't really see it as something to worry about.

I have a New York Times Bestselling author's name. My friends all like to tease me when they see NYTB author with a new book out that I never told them "I" wrote a new book Kidding of course. When I spoke with an agent on the phone about whether or not this would be an issue (we write in different genres, but I was still a little nervous), I was told it wouldn't be a problem at all. I really think you don't need to worry about it.

AdakBoy said:

Am I in trouble? Did I screw up by not thinking I could use my very own name? Will he try to use my name and fame to get free drinks? Can I use his? Should I try to buy his name from him? Should I change my name to X@#RE%&* or is that taken too? Has anyone ever encountered this? What would you do if another author "stole" your name?

Click to expand...

I think we need to look at this from a distance. Okay, you have the same name as another author. It happens. Chances are, unless you hit it HUGE, your readers aren't going to know or care. If you write in different genres etc this is even less of a problem.

My married name is the same as another author - quite a successful author of children's non-fic. The only issue I've ever had has been to email Amazon and Goodreads to tell them that we are not the same person, and to list which books were mine and which were hers so they could be kept on their own pages.

Zeddo said:

The same thing happens to actors. (50s actor Stewart Granger's real name was James Stewart, but that name was already taken, so he had to change his.)

Click to expand...

A former president of Equity (the Actors Equity Association - the circles I mix with ) explained this to me once - in the past you could only have one person registered with one name on the books. An Equity card allowed you to do professional work, without it, tough tit. So you got a lot of folk who had to change their names, some, like Harry H Corbett, just inserted an initial, which solved the problem. Others gave themselves a whole new name.

AFAIK this is no longer a requirement, just a suggestion in order to make you more identifiable.

Could you use your middle initial to differentiate yourself from the other Russ King? If not, you may need to consider a pseudonym.

Click to expand...

exactly. If it's really a problem then why can't you be Russell King, or Rusty King, or Russ J. King or whatever?

Alessandra Kelley said:

Also, there are usually ways to separate whose books from whose, if you contact book sites. I am intimately acquainted with Goodreads' system for it, having recently untangled the books of Don Simpson the satirical comic book artist from Don Simpson the Australian surgeon from Don Simpson the inspirational religious writer from Don Simpson the Royal Library Historian. Or something like that.

Click to expand...

Agreed. When it happened to me all I had to do was email them and they put it right the same day.

ohthatmomagain said:

There is an actress with my very common name... actually I live in a town with someone with my very common name (we used to work together. Both teachers. That wasn't confusing at all ) We still go to inservices and get 'Kelly .... No the other one'.

Click to expand...

When I was at school there were a lot of Claires, and we were all known by our initials - like rappers - So there was Claire R, and Claire C, and Clare with no I. etc.

There are eleven people with the exact name as me on Facebook. That comes with the territory of very common first and last names. While I don't know whether any of them has gone into writing yet, one of them at least has a business website in her name and I sometimes get asked if she is me by people trying to look me up on the internet. (I suspect she may have been asked about my fantasy drawings once in a while too.)

I think I'll go with a pen name when the time comes.

Zeddo said:

The same thing happens to actors. (50s actor Stewart Granger's real name was James Stewart, but that name was already taken, so he had to change his.)

Click to expand...

Katy Perry was Kate Hudson.

It really only matters if you need to differentiate yourself for some reason. Writers use pseudonyms for various reasons, I have a friend who does romance novels in different lines. One is rather steamy. She uses a different name for each line, none are her own.

On the other hand, I have a friend named Thomas Kincaid. He still gets requests for paintings, even though the painter's name was spelled Kinkade. If you Google my friend, you only get the painter. If he were a writer, he would probably benefit from writing under a pseudonym.

I guess it depends on how famous the other author is, could his work be confused with yours and how bad would you suffer if it was. If he's the porn king of the East coast, you may want to change your name.

Jeff

There are a couple of authors with the same name as me. I use my real name and have never gone by any variation. I can honestly say if I was emailed by another author and asked to change, I would politely say no.

I just finished a book by Jennifer L Armentrout. I was reading over the FAQ on her webpage and saw this -

Are you the author of adult vampire romances?

No. That would be Jennifer Armintrout and she can be found HERE. Contrary to popular belief, we are not the same person.

If you have your own webpage, you could perhaps do the same thing?