Separating Author-self from Personal-self

I totally get that, I really don't get publicly voicing political opinions. More aggravating, people trying to guess what your politics are when they don't even really know you.

Personally how I view the local MacDonalds down the street is my business.

Choose a pen name and worry about the rest later

i call mine luther.

You could be the next Thomas Pynchon.

I do know one romance writer who has never had an online presence, or a pic in her books or even a brief bio. She doesn't do signings or appear at cons. One of her friends told me that she doesn't sell as many books as other people who do those things -- but that's really hard to know.

I also know someone in a different genre who did all the right things and still only sold a few thousand books.

I think it's easier for people to find your books if you do all those things, but I don't think you have to. Unless your publisher makes it a part of your contract -- I've known people who had some blogging as a requirement, for example. But yeah, a pen name will help preserve your privacy -- if you don't go registering the domain name without making the owner name private, etc.

Tell your agent up front. I strongly suspect it will not be an issue. (Heck, my agent once said "You wanna write a dystopian YA under a pen name? It'll be great. I'll tell everybody you're a recluse who doesn't do interviews."*)

As long as your agent knows, it's their problem, not yours.

*I did not actually follow this suggestion, partly because I would be the only person writing dystopian YA with hamster protagonists.

I strongly believe my social media and networking presence helped my career a lot.

RedWombat said:

Tell your agent up front. I strongly suspect it will not be an issue. (Heck, my agent once said "You wanna write a dystopian YA under a pen name? It'll be great. I'll tell everybody you're a recluse who doesn't do interviews."*)

As long as your agent knows, it's their problem, not yours.

*I did not actually follow this suggestion, partly because I would be the only person writing dystopian YA with hamster protagonists.

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This has always been my secret plan. I'm not particularly social offline, and I have some health issues that make public schmoozing at cons and such very uncomfortable for me. I'm fine having a blog, and maybe a more official author blog/website if I ever get published, and I have a Twitter and Facebook although I rarely use them, but doing signings and official con visits would be way beyond me.


Also, I think hamsters would make a refreshing change from the fairly cliche revolutionary style "dystopian" which has been the main version published lately.

phantasy said:

If the publisher/editor wants me to put a picture of myself on the back cover, would I have to?

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No

Will I have to attend conferences, book signings, etc.?

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No

Can I just live behind my pen name and be private?

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Yes

Will it really hurt sales?

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Depends. Ask KJ Parker (No one except editors/agent even know if KJ is male or female... s/he has a rabid following)

I wouldn't mind maintaining an online presence, but I've also noticing on twitter that a lot of authors give their political and social opinions on things. They also talk about their days, etc. I'm a pretty private person and don't want anyone to know any of this. Not to mention how easy it is, it seems, to piss people off online. And sometimes I have a real problem of speaking without thinking.

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And plenty of authors don't talk about any of that. And online presence is...a bonus, not a requirement anyway (heard this from a UK editor who had just signed someone who "doesn't do" online. He cared about the book. Not what social media the author does)

Write a damned good book. Everything else is negotiable.

phantasy said:

Now, one day I hope to be published, so I have some questions. I know the following will sound like I'm getting ahead of the game, but for it me could be the difference between deciding to take on regular publishing or self-publishing.

If the publisher/editor wants me to put a picture of myself on the back cover, would I have to?

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I haven't seen this so much in recent years to be honest. Do many publishers still do this?

Will I have to attend conferences, book signings, etc.?

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It depends on your contract. My current contract says that I have to participate in 'reasonable' promotional activities. It's something you would need to discuss with your publisher when the time comes.

I know that there will be people out there who will make political and social assumptions about me just by the picture. I'd rather they give my books a chance.

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I've never encountered this problem and I'm from one of the most politically complicated countries and cities in Europe. I don't feel the need to discuss my political opinions in public or with strangers and to be honest I've never been asked.

People will always make judgements on you based on your appearance and the things that you say or write and there is nothing you can do to stop that.

In terms of social judgements - I have a lot of tattoos and a lot of piercings and so people tend to judge on that, assuming that I'm some sort of uneducated scum. Then when I talk to them they are surprised by my accent and my vocabulary. I find it funny.

Can I just live behind my pen name and be private? Will it really hurt sales?

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I wouldn't think so. Lots of authors do this.

I wouldn't mind maintaining an online presence, but I've also noticing on twitter that a lot of authors give their political and social opinions on things. They also talk about their days, etc. I'm a pretty private person and don't want anyone to know any of this. Not to mention how easy it is, it seems, to piss people off online. And sometimes I have a real problem of speaking without thinking.

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So don't talk about those things. It's really no more complicated than that.

Like Shaldna, my contracts say I have to participate in "reasonable" promotion. In practice, however, this means I really don't have to do anything I don't want to do.

But, in a nutshell, it goes like this. If your books sell reasonably well, the publisher will pressure you to do all sorts of promotion. Because your books are selling well, however, they won't make you do anything. You have the final say.

From my experience, trouble only comes if your books are not selling well. Poor sales mean a publisher can and will drop you, if things do not improve. So poor sales means you will probably need to do whatever a publisher asks you to do.

"Reasonable" promotion can mean many things though -- you can do lots online for example, not just twitter but blog tours, interviews etc. Book signings frex don't (afaia) sell loads of books, unless you are already popular.

So you can offer what you feel comfortable doing, and negotiate something both you and the publisher are happy with. My own publishers are always careful to make sure I'm happy to do something.

I sympathise. I was once offered the chance to do a reader's review of a history book for BBC History magazine, but they wanted to publish my photograph, and so I declined. I just can't do that. Sigh.