To pen name or not to pen name

I'm as new as you are to the ball game, so I'm more looking forward to reading others' replies.

I have decided to use a pen name because of my profession. If people read my book and put two and two together, no big deal, but I don't want an angry parent to try to find a reason to hate me, Google my name, and find something I wrote. Not that I write anything really offensive, but just in case. But teaching is weird that way.

I'm an elementary school teacher. I write under my real name, and yes, some of the material in a few of my books is highly critical of right-wing conservatives. I have never cared if people don't like what I write, and if any of them want to try to make my life difficult because of it, then have at it.

Many of my wife's relatives are conservative, and I know they don't like my opinions, but because they're smart enough to not want to mess with family, they remain silent. I have some conservative colleagues and former colleagues who also don't like me or my opinions. Although some of them have gone so far as to unfriend me on FB, (boo hoo) none has been stupid enough to try to mess with me professionally. Then again, I'm a year away from retirement, so any such action would have minimal effect.

As others posted, if such a thing would be a problem for you in your personal or professional life, then you might consider using a pen name.

As for me, I refuse to compromise my identity just in case others don't like it.

Weigh your options, and make the choice that best suits your personal and professional position.

I'm using a pen name for a few reasons. First, my married name is Hispanic, and I feel like, for good or bad, it would be presenting myself falsely to use it. I don't like the idea of people thinking they're supporting a Latina author who is actually white. Additionally, my maiden name is difficult to pronounce and just doesn't have a nice ring to it. Beyond that, it's liberating to know that I can get as dirty and violent as I want without worrying about it affecting me in real life. Not that there is any threat of that happening since I haven't sold a single thing. ,

I went with a pen name for two reasons:
1) My married name is too common, and my maiden name is too famous. I didn't want to be tied to the person who used it.
2) I used part of the penname for years as a teen writing fanfiction online who knew better than to use her real name under the circumstances, so it sorta became a part of my writing persona. It just made sense to use it for actual publication.

I'm going to use a pen name because I don't care for my real name.

I am writing under a pen name. I just have a basic mistrust of my fellow man, unfortunately. And I worry about the ugliness of the internet. I write about alternative healing quite a bit. Homeopathy in particular draws internet trolls for some reason.

But, I am not doing a great job of remaining very anonymous. That is harder than I expected. So it is not very hard to connect my pen name and my real name. I’m still happy with the choice. It’s been fun choosing a name and having an alter ego.

Maryn said:

There are a whole lot of what-ifs that inform this decision.

If the most socially, politically, or religiously conservative person were to read you book, would they find content that offends? (My local library used to have a problem with a borrower who used a Sharpie to redact words, phrases, and entire paragraphs they deemed offensive.) Whether it's the words you use, the words they use in dialogue, who your characters are, or what they do as your plot unfolds, you might be surprised at how some people take umbrage. (How dare you have a gay/trans/disabled/PoC/atheist character? Seriously? Yes.)

Now imagine that person has some impact on your professional life. What if they talk to your immediate supervisor about your low standards? What if you teach and they're a parent? What if they're a work colleague? What if they manage your branch of the business, or own the corporation?

And last, of course, is whether what you write could negatively impact your relationships with family, friends, and others you care about. Will your great aunt be shocked at the violence? Could anybody tease your child about a non-sexual scene with a naked man? Will your ex see himself or herself in a sex scene or an argument between characters?

Assuming you pass all of those levels of concern, the final consideration is your privacy. It's lovely to have people know you wrote a book that's selling nicely. You feel pride at each acknowledgement (and you earned that right!). But I bet it's not nearly so fun if you become a "name" author. It's probably difficult for J.K. Rowling to run to the market in sweatpants when her hair's filthy, lest she be recognized, right?

Maryn, whose name isn't even Maryn

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The USA (at least) is a pretty divided place these days, and social and political writing that supports or diminishes a point of view can cause some rankling among those you know, or within a demographic. While you may want to avoid the side effects that might affect relationships or your career, another way to look at it is that your writing may spur conversation. IMO the best way to do this is to not write as if you are preaching atop a soap box, but just tell the truth about a situation without editorial comments. In other words, don't write propaganda, but tell a story instead. Your readers can think for themselves, let them form their own opinions.

I have friends and relatives on all sides of every contentious point of view, and my books have stirred the pot a time or two. Can you guess what happened? We talked openly and honestly about a particular issue; no one's mind was changed but we certainly fleshed out our beliefs and know why we believe them. AND we are still friends.

<Indianroads is preparing to duck and run, but has a little more to say>

On the topic of pen names, there are pros and cons either way.
If you risk losing friends, I suggest finding new friends.
Blood relatives and in-Laws and such are a different story, but they probably know your POV already, so they won't be surprised.
Otherwise, people with a closed mind usually don't read, or are strictly stuck in a genre that supports their beliefs.
As far as people defacing your books at the library - IMO this sort of thing is driven by fear and self hatred, and neither of these afflictions can be cured by you. If your book is censored at the library, send them another copy.

I have pride in my writing, and so use my real name. Initially I was a little concerned about all the above, but I took the risk and am glad I did. An old saying that may, or may not be appropriate is: If you hang your ass out far enough and long enough, sooner or later someone will come along and kiss it.

<Ok - now Indianroads (aka Ken Barrett) is running for the hills>

In my case, I decided to use my initials as pen name simply because it sounds (to me) more “literary.”

First off, I'm super impressed you're ready to start after just 2 drafts.

Second, I plan on using my real name because I wrote it. I want the credit, and have no doubt that book is mine. Selfish maybe, but you wanted both sides.

I thought long and hard about this and much of it was to do with having a name that people struggle with pronouncing. When I was considering using a pseudonym I thought of a couple of different strategies, such as picking a name that would get placed on a bookstore shelf next to a well-known author in my genre. For example, if I was writing horror (I don’t) then I might consider a name such as Kingston so that I would be more visible to Stephen King fans. That was purely a marketing strategy, and truth be told it seemed like cheating. I also thought of maybe using a name that had an alphabetical proximity to my name, e.g. Miller, so that if I ever decided to use both real name and pen name then readers would find my books all on the same part of the shelf. Those thoughts were all putting the cart way before the horse, but they were things I was considering.

In the end I went with my real name. Yeah, there are valid reasons for using anonymity, but it felt fake to not put my name to my work. I wrote it, right? Is that ego or pride or something else? One of my main reasons, though, was because I do have an unusual name. What I’ve found in real life is that even though most people can’t say my name, when they see it in writing they know straight away who I am. Example: a couple of years ago I was handing out flyers for my business at a market stall, and someone came up to me and read one and said, “Hey, yeah, I’ve heard of you. You used to train with so-and-so back in the day, I didn’t realise you were still getting around. Sign me up.”

If it turns out that I get a good rep as a writer, then I would like to be known as the person I am. Writing is integral to who I am and distancing myself from it is really weird, a kind of rejection of my family (is that something that people with more common names experience?). I suppose that I’ve been self-conscious about my name for my entire life (high school was the worst in that respect) and I’m pretty much past thinking that a normal name is preferable. In the meantime I fully expect some people to stay away from my work because they think I might not have an adequate grasp of the English language, but then again I’m not on this earth to cater to everyone. Worrying about having to deal with fame is a long way down the track. King and Rowling are very much outside of the normal experience for writers, and to begin a premature assessment of what I would do if I was in their shoes isn’t at all realistic.

I am thinking of using a first name that is not mine and a hyphenated last name that is my real last name dash real first name. Anyway, that's my thought. Today.

I use a pen name because my editor/ publisher (in my country it's the same thing, publishing houses are called Editura) recommended it. But I didn't like what they suggested, and I chose another short, special name as he wanted - the name of a character, on which I had already the media accounts. But I don't keep secret that I am the one using the pen name - the editor's notes here uses to reveal the author's real name, and the author's photo is usually on the fourth cover, together with the editor's blurb (or a famous writer/ literary critic's asked by the editor to do the fourth cover blurb).

Norman Mjadwesch said:

If it turns out that I get a good rep as a writer, then I would like to be known as the person I am. Writing is integral to who I am and distancing myself from it is really weird, a kind of rejection of my family (is that something that people with more common names experience?). I suppose that I’ve been self-conscious about my name for my entire life (high school was the worst in that respect) and I’m pretty much past thinking that a normal name is preferable. In the meantime I fully expect some people to stay away from my work because they think I might not have an adequate grasp of the English language, but then again I’m not on this earth to cater to everyone. Worrying about having to deal with fame is a long way down the track.

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I use (most of) my real, legal name, though my Ukrainian family name is Jacyszyn - so I understand what you mean about people's assumptions! Unfortunately there's still a lot of lingering racism and xenophobia in Australia when it comes to "woggy" names...

I understand all the reasons why people use pen names, but I feel the same as some others here. I worked hard to get a publishing contract, and I want my name on my book covers.

Additionally, I have been involved in the real life book community for years, and have hosted panels at book conferences, and it was all done under my real name. At this point I'm not going to switch to a new identity.

Plus, I want to recognise my name when someone calls it out. I've heard many stories of authors with pen names who never realise someone is speaking to them!

For now I plan to use a pen name. Since my last name is long and hard to say. Also, my ideas for children's stories are of a juvenile nature that would feel a little awkward telling my family this is something I enjoy writing.

What genres do you write in? If you're fine with your given name, you may want to change to a pen name to better fit a different genre, or if you want to give readers of that genre a different impression than with the rest of your works.

Also, conservative values are out of favor these days, so if you write something that even appears to be conservative (even if you didn't necessarily intend it that way), there will be people who will be quick to label you as a result.

Sonya Heaney said:

Plus, I want to recognise my name when someone calls it out. I've heard many stories of authors with pen names who never realise someone is speaking to them!

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That’s a thing. I don’t know if it works for people with names that have a high incidence in the community, e.g. first names like John, but whenever anybody says my name I always know they mean me. Having to answer to something else would be something I’d get used to, such as a nickname, but strangers calling me by something other than my actual name would probably be hard to get used to.

That's why I kept my first name the same(ish). I'm already Kat in some friend-circles, so I'll respond to it. And if I accidentally let my real name out it makes sense. That gives me enough time to remember the completely different last name.

When I started designing a cover, I realized that some names I was playing around with looked awkward when I tried them. I chose my pen name, in part, because it was easy to work with when doing the typography for the cover. If the name is too long, it won’t be large enough when placed on one line. Just something to think about if you are able to choose your own pen name.

BlackKnight1974 said:

I’m currently on the 2nd edit of my first novel and as I close in on the next stage, I’m debating whether I should use my real name or a pen name to “work” under.

Therefore, I be interested in getting opinions on both sides of the question and the potential pros and cons involved.

Thanks! 

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When I first started writing I considered a pen name. Then I noticed all of my pens were already named Bic.

I'm in a fairly unique position, imo.

My real name SOUNDS like a pen name. Totally keeping it.

I'm an academic and I publish under my real name. I plan to have a pseudonym if I publish fiction, mainly for marketing purposes, so that people who want a literary novel don't end up with a bunch of scholarly writing on genocide.