By any other name…
Why do I use a pen name? It’s a question I’ve been asked almost every semester in at least one of my classes.
I’m sitting here contemplating this because of something I read this week on the benefits of using Google+. It was a long blog article and expounded the benefits of this form of social media – because I definitely don’t already use enough forms, right? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, and occasionally I’ll find my way over Triberr. So, I definitely need to add G+, right? Well, according to this blogger, yes, I should.
I’d be happy to follow his advice – and I have even starting posting a link to my blog there – but I’ve just one big problem with G+. My Google account is in my real name and I can’t switch it to my pen name. There’s no way to do so. You have to use your real name if you’re on G+. Well, there goes my anonymity!
But then I began to think about it. Do I really have any anonymity? Anyone can google Meredith Bond and they’ll eventually come up with my real name. And with much too much frequency, I accidentally post something professional in my real name. I’m terrible at keeping my identity secret!
But what was the reason for doing so in the first place? Well, for one, when I started publishing Regency romances, everyone doing so had an English sounding name. My married name, very ethnically Indian, just didn’t cut it. Also when I started publishing, I had young children in elementary school. I was active in the PTA and didn’t want anyone there thinking that maybe they didn’t want a romance writer taking a leadership position – although a good number of people there did know what I did and were cool with it. Still, I didn’t want to take any chances. And finally, for some reason, they stock prison libraries with romances. I have even received fan letters from inmates. I really didn’t want my real name being given to these people (although, there is the possibility that many of them are very nice people who would never find me, I didn’t want to chance it).
So, has anything changed? Well, aside from the fact that my children are now grown (or, at least, they think so), and it’s ok now to have an ethnic name on a book, I think I’ve pretty well blown my own cover. So is there any point to keeping up the façade? No, sadly, I think not.
Oh, that’s not to say that I will stop using Meredith Bond as the name under which I publish and work. I will. I’ve established my “brand”. I’ve made a name (however, small) for myself. So, I will not just stop using it and switch to my real name. But I won’t worry about publishing my blog postings to G+. And who knows, maybe someone will read one of my blogs linked through G+, like my writing and discover my pen name and, maybe, look up my novels.
And besides all this, I happen to like the name Meredith Bond.
So what do you think? Is it worth it having a pen name in today’s world where anyone can find you – the real you? Do you use a pen name? Would you be really upset if someone found out your real name?
