On Pen Names

So, my 2014 book, TSARINA, is being released under a pen name– J. Nelle Patrick. Which means, naturally, I am getting a lot of tweets/emails/comments/carrier pigeons asking me why I chose to write under a pen name and how I chose that particular pen name.

WHY:

Contract-y reasons with my publishers. TSARINA is what’s called a “Write For Hire” book, which means that Razorbill approached me and said “Faberge eggs. Russia. Romance. Danger. GO.”

And I said “HELLS YEAH WATCH ME DO THIS.”

(I’m paraphrasing, of course, mainly because I don’t know how to type the squealing sound I made for the first few hours after getting the email.)

For some reason, certain people have this idea that there’s something dirty or impure about write for hire deals– that if I didn’t think of the idea 1000% organically, that the book is cheapened somehow. This is strange to me since…well…I don’t think of ANY of my books 1000% organically. SISTERS RED was inspired by Red Riding Hood. PURITY was inspired by a student. AS YOU WISH was inspired by Shakespeare. Nothing I write just APPEARS in my brain from nowhere.

So, I can say with no reservation whatsoever that I love TSARINA as much as any book I’ve ever written. It’s as much mine as anything I’ve ever written. I’m so proud of it and am incredibly excited to share it with you– and personally, I don’t really care if I do that as Jackson Pearce or as J. Nelle Patrick.

Anyhow, the reason I had to use a pen name is because with most write for hire deals, publishers want to own the author name so if they want, they can continue to expand on the universe without asking me to write 802349083734 books a year. Which I appreciate, since my hands are tired.

A small secret: You can tell which books are write for hire books by looking at the copyright. If the copyright is to the publisher or a company (like Alloy Entertainment), it’s a write for hire. For example, Lauren Kate’s Fallen series, Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries series are all write for hire books.

HOW:

So, how did I choose J. Nelle Patrick?

I went with the J. so I could continue to introduce myself as Jackson, since it felt a little weird to say “Hi, I’m NEWNAME!” when you all know I’m Jackson.

Nelle (well, Nellie) is my great-grandmother’s name.

And Patrick? Well. Patrick is close to Pearce. It’s usually shelved at eye level in a bookstore. And it’s shelved near James Patterson, who sells a bajillion books.

That’s right. I’m not ashamed to admit it. BUY MY BOOKS, PATTERSON FANS.

So. THERE YOU HAVE IT, folks.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.