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Why Do They DO That? (Pseudonyms)


Katrina1968

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Why do authors write under a psuedo and then put their names on the cover? I mean, really? WHY DO THEY DO THAT?!!

 

I.e... Sophie Kinsella, why would she go through the trouble of writing books and then do it under another name. By all accounts, her writing will still be recognizable regardless of who she pretends to be!:D

Edited by Michelle
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Authors do it for a variety of reasons, but in this case, I think it's a way to distinguish between different styles of books. Her real name is Madeleine Wickham, and her first books were written under this name, it was only when she started writing the Shopaholic series she started to use Sophie Kinsella. From the bio on her website:

 

"She submitted her first “Sophie Kinsella” novel anonymously to Black Swan, who were already her publishers, and it was snapped up without her editors knowing that she was already one of their authors. It was with the appropriately titled Can You Keep A Secret? that Sophie revealed her true identity for the first time."

 

It's not that uncommon, some authors are easy to spot - Iain Banks (literary fiction) and Iain M. Banks (science fiction) - while others are less obvious - John Banville (literary fiction) and Benjamin Black (crime fiction).

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I guess it's a way of differentiating readerships and getting a 'clean slate' for each... And in some cases it can help the author to branch out.

 

Take J.K. Rowling. It has been widely speculated that if she writes other books, in very different genres, she'll do so under a pseudonym. Because otherwise people would only ever see her as the author of Harry Potter trying herself out at crime fiction (for example). I think in her case it's necessary if she wants her new books to be judged fairly and not as "nice, but really we'd prefer HP8!" :D

 

But it sucks! Because then how will we know what her other books, which I'm sure will be as great as HP, are? I'd be very curious to see what she can do in other genres... *pouts*

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Stuart Macbride has realeased his new book under the name of Stuart B Macbride. From his website:

In order not to 'confuse' people, it's coming out under a cunning pseudonym to make sure everyone knows this isn't the same kind of book as the Logan McRae novels. Yes, this one was apparently written by someone called Stuart B MacBride. It's that middle initial that makes all the difference you know...
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  • 1 year later...

Many authors have Pseudonyms and particular reasons for using them.

 

I used one for my books as I knew one day that I would walk away from the beligerant person I was initially writing about. After writing my story in two autobiographes I was able to walk away and commence a new beginning;knowing that writing about my colourful past allowed me to move on from it.

 

Some time after my first two books were released, my eldest brother unfortunately passed away, so after the release of my 3rd book, which was a novel with pertinent points, I revealed my true identity via the newspapers and was unflustered about sharing my identity anymore.

 

I have no regrets about this and am now glad I did this. :giggle2:

 

 

Best Regards

 

Steve

Edited by Steven Preece
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I'm sorry about your brother, Steve.

 

I know about authors like Stephen King, who wrote under a pseudonym to find out if their books would be popular without their wellknown name. It didn't work out though, otherwise I wouldn't know it. :D

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Many authors who write in different genres have different pseudonyms to publish them. For example, if I were usually writing erotica, I would definitely want to use a different name if I were then to write a children's book as I wouldn't want the two crossing over!

 

I actually used to use a pseudonym for my Pagan articles, but later dropped it and used my own name when they were republished. I do, however, have a name I would use if I were ever to publish a novel, and it's not my own name - LOL! :)

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Here's a fun question to ponder for those of us who aren't published or anywhere near that sort of thing: What would your pseudonym be, and why?

 

I haven't really ever thought about it. I suppose it should be something cool sounding. At the same time, I'd want it to have some sort of personal relation to me, you know? So that leaves me with two criteria:

 

1. Cool

2. Personal

 

Now, personal. I have three first names. So I could use my favourite middle name from my grandma who used to take care of me - Marie. Or maybe my favourite musical singer's first name, Lea.

 

Lea Marie Castle?

 

Ugh.

 

Hummm.

 

Not really that cool.

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They both totally different. The book she wrotes as Sophies are brilliant the book she wrote as Madeline(sp) in my view a rubbish.

 

Agreed. I got a bit bored with SK's books so thought I would try MW I only read one and it was awful so won't be trying any more MW's

 

although I don't think the styels are that different that she needs two names, fair enough they aren't the same style but their not worlds apart either.

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I'm sorry about your brother, Steve.

 

I know about authors like Stephen King, who wrote under a pseudonym to find out if their books would be popular without their wellknown name. It didn't work out though, otherwise I wouldn't know it. :D

I guess its just a hard fact of life really. I do have a couple of newspaper articles that explain about me, as I did have quite a story to tell. The articles mention my books, but are mainly about me. Do you think I'll be okay posting these? They could always be removed if one of the moderators thought they were plugging my books too much, which isn't my intention here.

 

 

Steve

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Here's a fun question to ponder for those of us who aren't published or anywhere near that sort of thing: What would your pseudonym be, and why?

 

 

 

Ooh good one Hyzenthlay....without a doubt I would use my porn star name. Everyone has a porn star name, it is made up of the name of your favourite pet (living or dead) and your mother's maiden name.

In my case it comes out as "Oscar Mountjoy" which I think is just superb :cool:

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I think some people might also do it to change the sound of their name. For example if they are writing serious style detective books, macho action books or romance novels targeted at female readers they might want a different sound of name for each (and indeed a male writer might decide to change their gender to a female one).

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Steve, as you've asked in public - I moved your post to a more appropriate thread, but it's not the right place to post about yourself. I believe I've already suggested to you that your introduction thread is probably the best place to link to articles about yourself. Thank you.

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Ooh good one Hyzenthlay....without a doubt I would use my porn star name. Everyone has a porn star name, it is made up of the name of your favourite pet (living or dead) and your mother's maiden name.

In my case it comes out as "Oscar Mountjoy" which I think is just superb :cool:

 

OMG, my porn star name would be Posy Hayes :giggle2:

 

Edit to add: Edith Pargeter used to write a crime series featuring a 70s detective. When she started on the Brother Cadfael crime series she used Ellis Peters - which I think sounds more fitting for medieval books.

Edited by SueK
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Ooh good one Hyzenthlay....without a doubt I would use my porn star name. Everyone has a porn star name, it is made up of the name of your favourite pet (living or dead) and your mother's maiden name.

In my case it comes out as "Oscar Mountjoy" which I think is just superb :cool:

Mine's Moss Andrew - LOL!

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Lol my name would be Lily Brown >.<

 

Anyway I think it makes it all the more confusing for us as readers to distinguish between authors or who we enjoy reading the most. I don't really have that many books with authors that used pseudonyms, but it is a good idea if they need to be distinguished from different genres of books. I can imagine authors like JK Rowling used such a pseudonym to say write historical fiction because she is obviously well known for Harry Potter. (Although I am sad that hp is over now :( after the last film)

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Steve, as you've asked in public - I moved your post to a more appropriate thread, but it's not the right place to post about yourself. I believe I've already suggested to you that your introduction thread is probably the best place to link to articles about yourself. Thank you.

Thanks for the reminder Michelle. I'll put them in my profile and Introduction thread.

 

Thanks

 

Steve

Edited by Steven Preece
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There are a whole bunch of different reasons why authors publish under different names:

 

1. First book tanks - release a second with a different name to avoid being seen as a failed author.

2. Too many books written in too short a space of time - if there are five books out at the same time, it might be off-putting to readers. Better to have different names on the covers, then (as Dean Koontz did) come clean about it later. Or, as some of the writers from the fifties did, leave it to future readers to untangle the true identity of the author via all the clues in the text. There are a few very prolific authors who have done that.

3. Extreme hostility for subject matter - next book comes out under a pseudonym.

4. Material is too close to the writer - pseudonym.

 

When catalogs for pulps from collections happens, very often people will leave off author names. There is (to my knowledge) no database which gathers together all the author information in one place. It really is that difficult to attribute certain stories confidently. There are even a few British Story Books from Purnell and World which are still missing complete author identifiers, as the use of "house names" stretched across the Atlantic for a while. Earlier titles are missing author identification completely.

 

Sometimes the simple answer is the right answer - the name of the author isn't appropriate for the genre, or they feel they would sell better under an assumed name. It isn't something which would make me stop reading a work though...

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think they use pseudonyms as a way to reach out to readers who may not pick up a book by authors if they see them in certain genres. I read a book years ago called The Foundation by Colin Andrews, it was a medical thriller and it was really good. I noticed that it said that it was a pseudonym for F Paul Wilson, and that he was using this name for a couple of reasons, to reach new readers and to avoid disappointing his fans because it was so drastically different to what he usually wrote. I can be quite a curious person and I went to find some his other books, discovered it was horror, and I was still a bit of a scaredy cat and I knew I wouldn't have read The Foundation if I had been aware of his other works. I think though that he has released some of his Colin Andrews novels with his own name due to the popularity of one of the characters that was featured in works under both names. Plus, I'm no longer a scaredy cat and quite like horror now and wouldn't be put off just by the name of an author. There is also Iain Banks and Iain M Banks, same author but he writes in different genres, I think Iain M Banks is his Sci Fi name.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I decided to publish under other name because of a few reasons:

- first of all, I'm polish and I work on international market, so my name would not appeal, thus I had to make it sound more English.

- Secondly, to me, having a pen name may let you operate as a completely different person. For example, you live your mundane life, but when you get down to write, you change completely and become this completely different person with lots of ideas on how to keep the story going, using completely different language, and being able to create something extraordinary

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