Aaron Elkins and Aaron J. Elkins

[Marisa]

Hi,

I've found these two authors: Aaron Elkins and Aaron J. Elkins. They have more or less the same books in different editions. I think that the name is without J. (at his web it doesn't appear), but I'm not sure (at some places it appears, ISBNdb included). Where can I find the right name and what can I do with the books?

Thanks

Marisa

[Marisa]

I've found my answer but, now, I'm not sure what to do. At Omnimystery author you can see that he originally published as Aaron J. Elkins. What should I do?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

I suggest merging them into the more complete version (with the J.)

[Marisa]

Thank you. I've done that after checking at the Library of Congress.

[John]

rivka wrote: "I suggest merging them into the more complete version (with the J.)"

I've just run across the same issue with another writer who used a first initial for his first book and dropped it for the second (sequel/followup). What do you mean by "merge" them?

Thanks!

[Marisa]

I found it at the librarian manual. You change the name of the author you want to make disappear to the name you want to maintain. When you save date, the system asks you if you want to join the two authors. There's a problem, however. If the author who had all the data is the author who's going to disappear, the system doesn't copy them tho the author who remains, so you have to fulfill them later.

[Sandra]

Marisa

The best way is to keep the author with the most information, then when it's saved, you can change the name to the correct one, keeping the best information available.