Pen Name or Actual Name?

Don't knock common--people can spell it! You could pick an unusual first name to go with it, like, I don't know, Easter or something. That just popped in my head; feel free to use it if it strikes your fancy.

My last name is very common too, Shaw. I like it, though, and it's short and easy to remember. I usually go by Katherine Shaw (my actual name, and exceedingly common) in bylines, but in a project I'm shopping now that's told first person with a male MC, I'm going by K.C. Shaw to obfuscate my sex. I like that name so much (it sort of trips off the tongue) that I'm thinking of using it for all my bylines. The C doesn't stand for anything, incidentally.

My pen name is much more "boring" than my real name. My real name is LeAnn Sagmeister. My pen name has been E.A. Blackwell since age 9. No idea why I picked that, but it took me about a month of going through names until I decided on it. LoL.

I guess I clearly went for weird but distinctive with Emily Veinglory. It wasn't really deliberate as it was my fanfiction name, then small press, then I was kinda stuck with it.

On the upside the .com was available and most people hit it after googling 'veinglory' so it must be reasonably memorable.

Saanen said:

You could pick an unusual first name to go with it, like, I don't know, Easter or something.

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I love it.

On this idea, any suggestions for the recently married & name-changed? My new last name, Avila, is much more common than my maiden, Hooyenga. If (big IF) I ever get published I can't help but wonder if people will know it's me!

My given name is James, but I grew up as Jamie. That's who I am, that's the name I write under.

Speaking of names, a friend thought I should just re-title my book "STEPHEN KING"--in ginormous type, with "by Jamie Ford" in small letters. He seemed to think that would help it sell...

I want to make people try to pronounce my last name.

My first and last names, John Robison, are somewhat common, but my full name, John Elder Robison, is rare. And that's what my family called me as a child, John Elder.

As far as I know, I'm the only one in the book world.

And that's what I used.

I'm thinking of using DD Foy or JJ Whalen; both are my kids initials and last names. My real name is rather bland; Sandra Marie Whalen-Foy. I'm not scheduled to go to print until November 08, so, I've got plenty of time to come up with something...

I'll make that decision if I ever get a publishing contract.

My pen names bear no relation to my name whatsoever. I don't want my 'real' life mixed up with my writing life (which, to me, is an unrealized 'dream life' so far). I just want privacy.

I won't have much choice should I get published. Only four people in a city of 3 million people have my surname...and they're all family. Nine outa ten people can't say/spell/remember it. It's ten letters long.

"Oh, but it's so unusual!" Yeah, whatever. You try living with it, then.

Methinks I'll use my mother's maiden name: O'Brien.

I plan on using a fella's name as my pen name. It's been suggested that fellas sell better than gals. I don't really care about that, I just want to have some privacy. And not have my grandmother read anything questionable I write. >.<

-An

I use two pen names. One for commercial fiction and one for romance. My real last name is an unusual spelling and no one seem to be able to remember how to spell it. So I went with two other names that are easier to remember.

Renee/Darcy

I went with a pen name for my kids' books for a variety of reasons. The only regret I have is that a couple of them have done really well and were reviewed and excerpted in the NY Times and other pretty high-level pubs, and no one knew it was really me!

I decided to write under a pen name after a woman in my RWA chapter read her first fan letter from a prison inmate.

Pseudonym

I write some things under my own name, and many other things under several pseudonyms.

I write everything under my own name except collaborative efforts, which are under a pseudonym.

I adopted a pen name after being bugged one too many times by an over-enthusiastic reader. He creeped me out.

Pen name - seconding the person that mentioned the prison letters. No thank you.

I wonder if anyone would let me publish under Sassee Bioche...

As far as I'm aware, I'm the only Mridu Khullar in the world. Both my first name and surname are uncommon, and they're a very unlikely combination (both having very different regional associations).

In fact, I've only ever known of one other Mridu. And only one other Khullar (except for the ones in my family, of course).

Sassee said:

I wonder if anyone would let me publish under Sassee Bioche...

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Just tell them it's French, no offense to the french folks. Like the actress who's last name I can't spell - Juliette Binoche.