Skip to main content

To Pseudonym or Not to Pseudonym by Carolyn Howard-Johnson




To Pseudonym or Not to Pseudonym
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the
newly released second edition
 of The Frugal Editor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor in paperback
Nora Roberts, the author of more than 150 romance novels, was asked why she writes romantic suspense novels under a pen name. Here is her answer:
"It's marketing."
She says that writing quickly makes it difficult for her publisher to publish all of her work with an appropriate amount of time between each of them. So she writes works which are "edgier" than her romance novels under the pseudonym J. D. Robb. She says. "Putting it under a pseudonym helps brand it for the reader." Children's writers often separate their real names or their "other" writing names from their children's work to keep work intended for children untainted.
All these reasons are absolutely valid. And there are lots more. But I believe there are far more downsides to using a pseudonym than upsides. A lot more. Especially from marketing and organizational perspectives.
Writers will find information on the concept of branding in the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo) including some of the reasons why you shouldn't use a pen name. You will, of course, have to weigh the pros and cons for your title and your career, but keep in mind that Ms. Roberts has a powerhouse publisher and its marketing department to help her navigate the difficulties inherent in using a pseudonym. If you are considering using a pen name, here's what you should know:
1. It is very hard to keep a pen name secret. Everyone knows who Kristie Leigh Maguire is, as an example, but most know that it is a pen name. If people didn't know that Robb was Nora Roberts' pen name, most of them will now that Time magazine let the cat out of the bag in a featured interview. The magazine also revealed (big time) that Nora Roberts is also a pen name! Suddenly I don't feel the same affinity for her as a person or an author. I don't even know her name.
2. It is very hard to promote a book in person when you use a pen name—especially if you choose an opposite-sex pen name. In fact, promotion of all kinds can become touchy if you use a pen name. You may lose authenticity because you are so intent upon keeping your real identity a secret.
3. Using a pen name isn't necessarily an effective barrier against law suits. But do ask your attorney.
4. Have you ever heard people talk about how hard it is to be a good liar? One has to have an amazing memory and as well as a deceptive nature. Authors have problems enough learning to navigate the marketing, publicity, TV and radio, and speaking skills they had no idea they'd ever need when they started writing. Trying to remember all the little white lies (or big whoppers) you may find yourself telling may not be worth the effort. I mean, Nora Roberts finally gave up on the biggest fib of all—that she uses pen names. In the Time interview, she just ended up being herself.
5. And last but not least is the pure technical, time-consuming quagmire, expensive quagmire of branding yourself over and over again, for every pen name you have. Think Web sites, blogs, e-mail accounts, e-mail signatures. And even worse, think how much less effective those efforts will be because they are diluted. Meaning, you only have so much time to give over to branding each of those names.
Read more about Roberts in Time magazine's "10 Questions" feature, page 6 of the Dec. 10, 2007, issue.
----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is a multi award-winning novelist and poet and has a hard enough time keeping the identities as a writer in these genres separate from her work as the author of the HowToDoItFrugally series of books—one for writers and one for retailers. Learn more about all of them at http://howtodoitfrugally.com where you can also subscribe to her free SharingwithWriters newsletter that's jam packed with writing and book marketing tips. She also blogs at http://SharingingwithWriters.blogspot.com, http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com, and at http://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. You'll also find how-to articles and tips on every page of the Writers' Resources pages on her Web site http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.


 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Instructor for nearly a decade at the renowned UCLA Extension Writers' Program
Author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers
Amazon Profile: http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile

The Frugal Book Promoter
: http://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo
Web site: http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com

E-mail: CarolynHowardJ@AOL.com
F
acebook: http://Facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson
T
witter: http://Twitter.com/FrugalBookPromo
Pinterest: http://Pinterest.com/chowardjohnson
You pin one of my book covers, and I'll pin one of yours!




Comments

  1. I hope this bring some of your readers a new perspective on the secrecy for pseudonyms. (-:

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MARGARET FIELAND INTERVIEW (guest blogger)

When did you first know you were destined to be a writer? LOL, I never realized I was destined to be a writer -- I fell into it. I'd written poetry for years, collecting it in notebooks stacked in my attic when I wrote one I wanted to keep. This led me to several online sites and ultimately to discovering the Muse Online Writers Conference where I hooked up with Linda Barnett Johnson and joined her writers forums. She required everyone to write both fiction and poetry, so, with much trepidation, I started writing fiction. Then I got hooked on it, wrote a chapter book, took the ICL course and actually learned how to write it. Then in 2010, I was seized by a desire to write a sci fi novel, so I spent six weeks or so on world building, mostly, with a bit of plotting thrown in for good measure. Who would you cite as your influences? I'm a way-back sci-fi fan, and Robert A. Heinlein influenced me heavily. I took a lot away from his writing, notably the value of surpris...

On Writing Chase Scenes

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson Author of  The Frugal Editor,  the winning-est  in her award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers This article is excerpted from some editing I did for a writer of experimental fiction when I was on a Greater Los Angeles Writers Society panel writer of any genre can apply these suggestions to the chase, getaway, or high action scene in your script or manuscript before you send it to an agent or publisher or, better still, while you are writing the first draft.  Sometimes even the most fascinating, interesting and irresistible  detail can slow down the forward movement of your story. So as much as writers are told that detail is important, purge as much as you can from your action scenes and put it somewhere else or dribble it into narrative in other places in your manuscript. In the process, ask yourself if your reader really needs to know the color of the protagonist’s eyes. As important as detail is, ...

A Tip for Authors: What to Put on the Back Cover of a Book

If you have accomplished the arduous task of writing a book, you may not embrace the job of choosing what to put on your book's back cover. Maybe you think that a short biography, along with a few endorsements should suffice. Actually the material on the back cover can carry out its intended job, without the presence of a two or three line bio. It does pay to highlight any endorsements you have received from experts within the industry, or from recognized members of government or society. Still, you may not have on file an endorsement that can stir up the emotions in a potential reader. Yet you have little reason to hope that the reader of the rear covering piece will elect to look at the pages between the covers, if you fail to trigger that same person's emotions. With that fact in mind, you must consider what emotions might push a book lover to purchase the publication that bears your name. Maybe that potential reader feels challeng...