Pen Name

[Mehreen]

What are the benefits/disadvantages of using pen names?

[Bernard]

Privacy would be the main reason. It's now so easy to find the real name of an author, I believe it has more to do with 'marketing', 'branding' than anything else when one has a rather complicated name.

I used a pen name because my family name (Beaule) is a French one, and most anglophones would pronounce it as in 'beautiful'. So I decided to use my ancestor's family name Boley, much easier to pronounce.
My Ripper Hunting Days

[Mehreen]

Bernard wrote: "Privacy would be the main reason. It's now so easy to find the real name of an author, I believe it has more to do with 'marketing', 'branding' than anything else when one has a rather complicated ..."

George Elliot was a pen name for Mary Ann Evans who was compelled to use it simply for being a woman. Her book: Mill on the Floss.

[Bernard]

Curiously, books now written by women sell better than men's books hence a use of asexual author name with initials only and some 'family' name.

[Mehreen]

Bernard wrote: "Curiously, books now written by women sell better than men's books hence a use of asexual author name with initials only and some 'family' name."

Yeah a day will come when pen names will be acronyms.

[Krazykiwi]

Some of my favourite authors use pen names to distinguish genres, even while it's very clear they're the same person - or to a lesser degree when it's not.

As a reader, that's helpful as heck. Both for authors where I want to gobble up every thing they've ever written, and for authors where I really don't :)

Some examples:
Iain M. Banks (Sci-Fi) vs Iain Banks (Literary Fiction). Here the difference is very much only in topic - his writing style is quite distinct and clearly the same author - but he's kind of a "dense" stylist. I can handle that in a fascinating and rich sci-fi world like his Culture novels, but not so much in a dreary real-world setting. So I only read the M. books :).

Claire North (Real world(ish) set fantasy that's pretty good) vs Catherine Webb (YA Fantasy, haven't gotten around to reading any of this) vs. Kate Griffin (Adult Urban Fantasy - and probably one of my favourite authors ever under this pseudonym). This is a good example that's the opposite of Banks, because they aren't only different genre-wise, but wildly (really wildly) different stylistically. Kate Griffin books are auto-buy for me, whereas Claire North I usually wait until a few friends have reviewed them because they're more hit and miss for me (but overall, pretty good.)

M.R. Carey vs. Mike Carey - Hugely well known comic writer (Lucifer, Constantine, etc), who also published the Felix Castor novels under Mike Carey, but published "The Girl with All the Gifts" which was a big hit a year or two ago under his initials. I read somewhere he wanted to do the opposite of George Elliot, and appear initially gender-ambiguous, and let readers approach the book (and the HUGE twist in it) without the baggage of all his authorly history. Here I happily read anything he publishes under both names, but I know a lot of fans of the M.R. books who have never (and would never) pick up a graphic novel - and have never noticed the Felix Castor urban fantasy novels he also published under that name.

And perhaps one of the best known ones: Nora Roberts vs. J.D. Robb. Here the J.D. Robb books often actually have Nora Roberts name right on the cover now, so it's not about privacy, it's the completely different genre - contemporary romance for Roberts, vs Sci-Fi futuristic romance as Robb. But that's now: Initially it was because her publishers 20 odd years ago didn't think readers would be able to keep up with two books a year, or that they'd take seriously anyone who could write that fast and it would dilute her brand, so they put them out under another name.

Wow, that turned into a bit of a ramble. Sorry :)

tl;dr: Using pen names to separate genres and/or styles, even when they're utterly transparent, can help keep different sets of books in front of the right audience, without alienating people who might not like one or the other.

[P.J.]

I agree with Krazykiwi that the benefit is to separate genres, and with Bernard regarding privacy. What I see as a challenge is marketing, if the author is expected to market his/her own books. Doesn't that necessitate an online presence for each of the pen names? Amazon can handle a single individual with multiple pen names, but Goodreads hasn't yet added that ability. Web pages, email addresses, Facebook, other social media....

[Bernard]

One has to cope with his split personality when using a pen name. It even becomes funny. I had to learn in advance how to sign my name using my pen name to avoid looking stupid during a book-signing event! LOL

[Nik]

There are so many Uniliver and Nestle on the shelves of our supermarkets, but using so many brands for each genre -:)

In my case I needed to make a name more digestible, otherwise no sane Anglo-Saxon would come anywhere near, besides, needed to separate my activity as a practicing lawyer with authorship of books of controversial content and style-:)

[Mehreen]

Nik wrote: "There are so many Uniliver and Nestle on the shelves of our supermarkets, but using so many brands for each genre -:)

In my case I needed to make a name more digestible, otherwise no sane Anglo-Sa..."

Lol Nik what is your real name? I'm curious.

[GR]

The reason I use one is because my real name is common, there are hundreds. There is only one person that has my pen name, and that's me.

[Nik]

Mehreen wrote: "Lol Nik what is your real name? I'm curious. .."/i>

Not that important -:)

[Hákon]

Jerzy Kosiński said once that when he started to write fiction he had used a pen name, and thought it was great because he could recommend his book whole heartedly without sounding like he was selling anything. I have never used one myself though, and don't think I will.

[Nik]

-:)

[Barry]

For me it is an attempt at privacy. Because of my job I have to use a pen name, my writing is not quite family-friendly. I'm not a practicing attorney, but same idea. I don't want professional problems because of a fun story I wrote. Plus my pen name is 8 characters shorter than my actual surname. That is a big benefit. Just because I can spell my name doesn't mean I want readers to struggle with it. I guess it is still easy to figure out if someone really wanted to know, but it is fun being a second person sometimes.

[GR]

I think it's fun being another person, too. That way, you can step outside yourself and see how others see you. That is if you're not sensitive.

[Nik]

Computer name, anyone?

[J.J.]

P.J. wrote: "Amazon can handle a single individual with multiple pen names, but Goodreads hasn't yet added that ability...."

I think it changed since this was posted, but you can sign up on Goodreads with each of your pen names.

[Scout]

Your porn name is supposed to be the name of the street you grew up on and the name of your first pet. How do you come up with a pen name? :-)

[Jade]

my pen name is Jade Saul

[Scout]

My porn name is Palm Choo Choo :-)