Ava Bradley's Blog
July 17, 2015
Why I write (or used to) under two names
I’m part of a huge author’s community, and we network a lot. Because of this, I had a unique view into the world of publishing long before I was ever published myself. (I spent ten years as an aspiring writer before landing my first contract.) I was submitting to Harlequin, thinking how wonderful it would be to contract with the biggest name in romance fiction—even if, as revealed by my fellow writers, Harlequin was not allowing their authors to write for other houses using the pen names they’d established at Harlequin unless it was their legal name. I thought, I’m not going to let that happen to me, so when I landed my first contract, I published under my legal name.
Fast forward five years (or so). I’ve gotten married and changed my legal name. Ventured into the fantastic and exciting world of Independent Publishing using a pseudonym. I even formed my own publishing imprint.
Indie publishing has been such a perfect choice for me that as my contracts with my publishing houses each come to term I’ve opted not to renew them, instead bringing my original works under my new independent publishing imprint. So over the next four years as my remaining contracts expire, you’ll see my first six books be re-released under a different name.
I’d like to clarify my relationships with my original publishers were extremely beneficial, and I don’t have any complaints. I was very lucky to have good experiences across the board, and if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change my original path. It’s led me to a very good place. I learned so much from my first publishers, and I loved all my editors. In fact, if it weren’t for my original contracts, I wouldn’t be able to run my own imprint with as much success as I do today.
But times, they are a changing. The publishing industry has undergone major changes in the fifteen years I have been actively writing with the goal of publication, networking with my fellow authors, and gleaning everything I could about the business. It’s now easier than ever to publish one’s works, and all the major retailers are on board with easy-to-use indie publishing platforms.
Indie publishing is not for everyone. Contracting with a publisher has many benefits, but I am a self-professed control freak, and I’d much rather pick my own cover and hire my own editors. Choose how to price my books, decide when to put them on sale. And I have no deadlines but the ones I set for myself. Did I mention how much I love that? Last but not certainly not least, I like 70% royalties much better than. 35%.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Fast forward five years (or so). I’ve gotten married and changed my legal name. Ventured into the fantastic and exciting world of Independent Publishing using a pseudonym. I even formed my own publishing imprint.
Indie publishing has been such a perfect choice for me that as my contracts with my publishing houses each come to term I’ve opted not to renew them, instead bringing my original works under my new independent publishing imprint. So over the next four years as my remaining contracts expire, you’ll see my first six books be re-released under a different name.
I’d like to clarify my relationships with my original publishers were extremely beneficial, and I don’t have any complaints. I was very lucky to have good experiences across the board, and if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change my original path. It’s led me to a very good place. I learned so much from my first publishers, and I loved all my editors. In fact, if it weren’t for my original contracts, I wouldn’t be able to run my own imprint with as much success as I do today.
But times, they are a changing. The publishing industry has undergone major changes in the fifteen years I have been actively writing with the goal of publication, networking with my fellow authors, and gleaning everything I could about the business. It’s now easier than ever to publish one’s works, and all the major retailers are on board with easy-to-use indie publishing platforms.
Indie publishing is not for everyone. Contracting with a publisher has many benefits, but I am a self-professed control freak, and I’d much rather pick my own cover and hire my own editors. Choose how to price my books, decide when to put them on sale. And I have no deadlines but the ones I set for myself. Did I mention how much I love that? Last but not certainly not least, I like 70% royalties much better than. 35%.
That’s it in a nutshell.
