Authors and Pen Names

[jaxnsmom]

Barb suggested having a place showing authors and their pen names. I'm going to start a list here that I'll try and keep adding to. The first post or three will be a master list. You can post additions and I'll update the master list.


A - M

Ellie Alexander = Kate Dyer-Seeley

Avery Ames = Daryl Wood Gerber

Allyson K. Abbott = Annelise Ryan = Beth Amos

Lynn Abercrombie = Ruth Birmingham

Ellery Adams = J.B. Stanley = Jennifer Stanley

Riley Adams = Elizabeth Spann Craig = Elizabeth Craig

Isabella Alan = Amanda Flower

Laura Alden = Laurie Cass

Beverly Allen = Barbara Early

Beth Amos = Allyson K. Abbott = Annelise Ryan

Lucy Arlington = Susan Furlong

Sarah Atwell = Sheila Connolly

Lorna Barrett = L.L. Bartlett = Lorraine Bartlett

L.L. Bartlett = Lorna Barrett = Lorraine Bartlett

Lorraine Bartlett = L.L. Bartlett = Lorna Barrett

Jessica Beck = Melissa Glazer = Casey Mayes = Tim Meyers = Chris Cavender = Elizabeth Bright

Ruth Birmingham = Lynn Abercrombie

Heather Blake = Heather Webber

Laura Bradford = Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Elizabeth Bright = Jessica Beck = Melissa Glazer = Casey Mayes = Tim Meyers = Chris Cavender

Lucy Burdette = Roberta Isleib

Elizabeth Lynn Casey = Laura Bradford

Laurie Cass = Laura Alden

Bailey Cates = Cricket McRae = Bailey Cattrell

Bailey Cattrell = Bailey Cates = Cricket McRae

Chris Cavender = Elizabeth Bright = Jessica Beck = Melissa Glazer = Casey Mayes = Tim Meyers

Sheila Connolly = Sarah Atwell

J.J. Cook = Joyce Lavene + Jim Lavene

Elizabeth Craig = Riley Adams = Elizabeth Spann Craig

Elizabeth Spann Craig= Elizabeth Craig = Riley Adams

Jessie Crockett = Jessica Estevao

Vicki Delany = Eva Gates

Kate Dyer-Seeley = Ellie Alexander

Barbara Early = Beverly Allen

Jessica Estevao = Jessie Crockett

Amanda Flower = Isabella Alan

Susan Furlong = Lucy Arlington

Eva Gates = Vicki Delany

Daryl Wood Gerber = Avery Ames

Melissa Glazer = Casey Mayes = Tim Meyers = Chris Cavender = Elizabeth Bright = Jessica Beck

Roberta Isleib = Lucy Burdette

Sofie Kelly = Sofie Ryan

Joyce Lavene + Jim Lavene = J.J. Cook

Casey Mayes = Tim Meyers = Chris Cavender = Elizabeth Bright = Jessica Beck = Melissa Glazer

Cricket McRae = Bailey Cattrell = Bailey Cates

Barbara Mertz = Elizabeth Peters = Barbara Michaels

Barbara Michaels = Barbara Mertz = Elizabeth Peters

Tim Meyers = Chris Cavender = Elizabeth Bright = Jessica Beck = Melissa Glazer = Casey Mayes

[jaxnsmom]

N - Z

Elizabeth Peters = Barbara Michaels = Barbara Mertz

Annelise Ryan = Allyson K. Abbott = Beth Amos

Sofie Ryan = Sofie Kelly

J.B. Stanley = Jennifer Stanley = Ellery Adams

Jennifer Stanley = Ellery Adams = J.B. Stanley

Heather Webber = Heather Blake

[jaxnsmom]

Collaborations

Sparkle Abbey = Mary Lee Salsbury Woods & Anita Carter

Victoria Abbott = Victoria Maffini and mother Mary Jane Maffini

Lucy Arlington = Ellery Adams and Sylvia May (Books 1 - 3)

Cleo Coyle = Alice Alfonsi + Marc Cerasini

Lila Dare = Ella Barrick + Laura DiSilverio

Alice Kimberly = Alice Alfonsi + Marc Cerasini

[jaxnsmom]

reserved

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

Thank you! I'll have to check my (short) list and see if I have any names on my list that aren't already on yours :)

[MadameZelda]

how about Sofie Ryan = Sofie Kelly?

[Nell]

Heather Webber = Heather Blake

Laura Alden = Laurie Cass

Amanda Flower - Isabella Alan

Lorna Barrett = L.L. Bartlett = Lorraine Bartlett

Sheila Connolly = Sarah Atwell

Roberta Isleib = Lucy Burdette

[☯Emily]

Barbara Mertz = Elizabeth Peters = Barbara Michaels

[Nell]

Laura DiSilverio = Ella Barrick = Lila Dare (first 3 So'n Beauty Shop)

Collaboration:
Alice Alfonsi & Marc Cerasini write as Cleo Coyle = Alice Kimberly

[Karen]

jaxnsmom wrote: "Barb suggested having a place showing authors and their pen names. I'm going to start a list here that I'll try and keep adding to. The first post or three will be a master list. You can post addit..."

Lucy Arlington = (originally) Ellery Adams and Sylvia May (presently) Susan Furlong (author of Georgia Peach series)

[jaxnsmom]

added through here

[Julesy]

Ellie Alexander = Kate Dyer-Seeley
Eva Gates = Vicky Delaney

[Nell]

Bailey Cates = Cricket McRae = Bailey Cattrell

[Nell]

Allison Brook = Marilyn Levinson

[Beth]

Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig = Craig Rice

[Beth]

Miriam Levant = Merriam Modell

[Sarah]

Carlene O'Connor = Mary Carter

[Marisa]

Miranda James = Dean James = Honor Hartman = Jimmie Ruth Evans

[Melodie]

Marisa wrote: "Miranda James = Dean James = Honor Hartman = Jimmie Ruth Evans"

And Dean James is his REAL name!

[Marisa]

Yes, I've read some of his posts in facebook

[Nancy]

I’ve always used Nancy Lynn Jarvis as a pen name. I’m going to start a new series. Should I continue to use it or should I devise another name for the new series? What do you think?

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

I've never understood why authors use different names for different series, especially if they're in the same genre. If the first series is doing well, I would think the author would want to build on that rapport with the reader and get the new series off to what could be a better start than if the new series was written by a "new" author that readers don't know.

[Rebecca]

Barb wrote: "I've never understood why authors use different names for different series, especially if they're in the same genre. If the first series is doing well, I would think the author would want to build ..."

That's what I was thinking. I get it if you write in really incompatible genres (kids books and erotica or something). But for series in the same genre? Even if one is really cozy and the other a bit more hard-boiled, it seems a dilution of your potential audience.

[L J]

The name changes can be publisher driven rather than author driven. Publisher claiming ownership of author name means when author moves to another publisher a new name is required. Genre influences gender. Female name for romance and cozy mystery, male name for war and adventure. Sometimes publishers want a name they thinks sound right for the genre. Similarities to other author names can also be an influence.

[Rebecca]

L J wrote: "The name changes can be publisher driven rather than author driven. Publisher claiming ownership of author name means when author moves to another publisher a new name is required. Genre influences..."

Good points. I hadn't thought about the publishers getting involved :) And I do get that about gendered names for different genres, though frankly I am bothered by the sexist assumptions behind that. If I ever get any SF published, it will be under my own name!

[L J]

Rebecca wrote: "...If I ever get any SF published, it will be under my own name!."

It has become more acceptable to have female name on SF and non-cozy mystery. Male names still seem unacceptable in romance genres.
Legendary but still valid story. Gothic was super popular in the 1960's-70's and publishers were buying them like crazy. A publisher was asked how he decided whether to consider a book a Gothic romance or a mystery. His reply: Easy, if it's by a woman it's a Gothic romance if it's by a man it's a mystery. So you have authors like Dean Koontz doing Gothic romances under female names. This was followed by male writers doing regency romance then romantic suspense under female names. All the while female authors writing SF were being published under male, or could be male, names.

[Rebecca]

L J wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "...If I ever get any SF published, it will be under my own name!."

It has become more acceptable to have female name on SF and non-cozy mystery. Male names still seem unacceptable ..."

I wonder how long it will take to get over this sort of thing. I feel a sudden urge to write a bodice-ripping Gothic romance and publish it under a male pseudonym :D

[Hilary (A Wytch's Book Review), Co-Moderator, Featured Series]

Anne McCaffrey broke the mould I think by writing SciFi and demanding that it was published under her proper name!

[Nancy]

It is interesting how male and female names are associated with different genres. I edited a cookbook called "Cozy Food:128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes." Most of the contributors were female, but only two men who wrote cozies admitted it and used male names. The others had a female name for their cozies even if they used a male name for their other works.

[Mark]

I've actually seen some comments from cozy readers over the years saying they don't think men can write books as cozy as women can. So there are reasons for the male and female associated with various genres, sadly.

[Rebecca]

Mark wrote: "I've actually seen some comments from cozy readers over the years saying they don't think men can write books as cozy as women can. So there are reasons for the male and female associated with vari..."

That's sad. A little too uncomfortably like the assertions that women can't write "hard" SF. Both opinions are based on some pretty sexist assumptions.

[Mark]

They are indeed. And it's sad on all fronts.

[L J]

Some readers have very hard set opinions. I no longer reveal gender of authors to anyone after having 2 people drop authors. Conversation went something like:
Woman: "I'm really enjoying (book title). (Name) is my favorite author."
Me: "...and he's a nice person too. I was lucky enough to get to meet him."
Woman: "...I don't read male authors. I don't like how they write. Next time I come in I'll bring that book back."
Male mystery/suspense reader, similar conversation ending with: " don't read women authors. That's why I read this kind of book. If you see me try to check out a book by a woman, tell me. I don't want it. I don't like how they write."

[Mark]

That's so very sad.

[Nancy]

Not as bad as it could be. I had a woman tell me she only read New York Times bestsellers because she was sure she wouldn’t like anything else.

[Mark]

With one or two exceptions, the only New York Times bestsellers I read are ones I discovered long before they were selling that well.

[Rebecca]

Nancy wrote: "Not as bad as it could be. I had a woman tell me she only read New York Times bestsellers because she was sure she wouldn’t like anything else."

While I probably miss some very good books because I'm rather skeptical of best-sellers, and generally don't read them.

[Marisa]

So, in the end, all of us have our prejudices, call it gender, kind of books, genre, whatever.... (and we usually only dislike/complain about other people's prejudices).

[Rebecca]

We do, indeed. Although I'm pretty open to all authors and genres, I have to admit that I will not read a book about a major crime or such that is in print within a month or two of the actual happening. First, because I wonder about the accuracy (and style, LOL) of something written so quickly, and second because it smacks just a bit of ambulance-chasing...rushing to cash in on a tragedy.

[Rebecca]

Rebecca wrote: "We do, indeed. Although I'm pretty open to all authors and genres, I have to admit that I will not read a book about a major crime or such that is in print within a month or two of the actual happe..."

In general, I think the "true crime" genre is a bit macabre. But I agree about questioning any book that comes out so fast after whatever the subject is happened. Not a lot of time there for research or quality writing!

[Rebecca]

Rebecca wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "We do, indeed. Although I'm pretty open to all authors and genres, I have to admit that I will not read a book about a major crime or such that is in print within a month or two of ..."

LOL, it's late, and for one wild moment I thought I was answering myself! I admit to a rather macabre fascination with serial killers...but I want to know what is missing in their makeup that allows them to do these thing. It goes in cycles, though...I can only do a few at a time, every half-decade or so.

[Rebecca]

Rebecca wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "LOL, it's late, and for one wild moment I thought I was answering myself!"

It's definitely getting recursive. Have to look at the avatars, I guess (which of course are too small to actually see, but the colors are different).

[Melodie]

Rebecca wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "We do, indeed. Although I'm pretty open to all authors and genres, I have to admit that I will not read a book about a major crime or such that is in print within a month or two of ..."

As a rule, I don't usually read true crime, but must say that I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer was an excellent read.

[Beth]

Not sure if this has been covered. Doreen Roberts Hight = Kate Kingsbury = Rebecca Kent = Allison Kingsley

[Rebecca]

Beth wrote: "Not sure if this has been covered. Doreen Roberts Hight = Kate Kingsbury = Rebecca Kent = Allison Kingsley"

Talk about multiple personality disorder! I wonder if she ever gets confused?

[Barbara]

Here's one more: Lea Wait = Cornelia Kidd

[Nell]

Just noticed that one of our featured series authors for October writes under a pen name.

Lee Hollis = Rick Copp & Holly Simason

According to SYKM, Lee Hollis is a pseudonym for Rick Copp and his sister, Holly Simason

[Nell]

Here's another one

Allison Brook = Marilyn Levinson

[Nell]

Edith Maxwell = Maddie Day

Collaborations:

Robin Paige = Susan Wittig Albert + Bill Albert (H&W)

[Nell]

Wendy Lyn Watson = Annie Knox