Wednesday, June 13, 2007

To use a pen name or not...

Please weigh in!

Here are the pros and cons as I see them:

Pros:

1) You get to name yourself and how fun is that! You can even make it match your genre
2) A degree of separation for your family from potential rabid fans (ha!)

Cons:

1) It's not *your* name on the book, which you may have been hoping to see your whole life. Of course, I certainly adjusted to a married name...
2) Won't the rabid fans figure out who you are anyway?

And just to be clear, I'm mostly concerned with someone off balance and protecting the innocent (ie, kiddos)

Thoughts? Do you plan to use a pen name? Do you like the idea? I'm thinking of using the last name Evonovick - location, location, location. Ha!!! (not really)

6 comments:

Anissa said...

Aw man! That's the name I wanted. Think anyone would mind if I went with Stephanie Plum instead? ;)

Ava Rose Johnson said...

I use a pen name, mainly because I want to keep my own working identity separate from my writing. Also, I use different names for differnet genres. I don't want one of my children book fans looking me up and finding a ton of erotica. That's not cool :)

Travis Erwin said...

as a mna writing women's fiction I ahve ahd some agents tell me I'd have to use a pen name, others say my gender is a plus because it makes me stand out in an already crowded field.

Bottom line is I'll change it if told to but otherwise I'll just stick to what I got.

Tia Nevitt said...

I popped over from Anissa's blog. The closest thing to a pen name I am considering is using my maiden name. It will give me both your pros and your cons!

Melissa Amateis said...

I would only use a pen name for different genres. For example, I have an inspirational novel I'm trying to sell, and I'm now working on a contemporary mainstream novel. The audiences for those two are pretty distinct, so I'll use one name for the inspirational and one for the mainstream.

Robin L. said...

Thank you for all the comments - I remain perplexed. I see The Rejecter says it's not a good idea. Oh the decisions!!!