Will the real (insert pen name) please stand up. No, seriously.

The Lonely One · Aug 23, 2009

This is based on the other pen name question floating around, but I didn't want to derail it so I posted my question here.

To my understanding there are those with multiple pen names, with multiple published works in different genres.

I assume you'll have to sometimes do things like book tours, conferences, signings, what-have-you.

Which pen name is associated with your face? Do you basically have to divulge that you're all these people? Do you have stunt doubles or something? And further, how do you juggle the schedules of events for the multiple genre books?

I can just imagine someone standing in line to get their Harlequin romance title signed by John Handy and doing a head-smack: "Hey, you're Stephen King!"

ChaosTitan · Aug 23, 2009

I read an article once about a bestselling author with two different pen names in two different genres, and how she'd wear a wig and glasses for signings as one person. Fans didn't catch on until she recently outed herself.

And not all "authors/names" are required to do signings and live press. It is possible to have a private career and still maintain readership.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 23, 2009

I assume you'll have to sometimes do things like book tours, conferences, signings, what-have-you.

Those signings, tours, and what-not are rarer than you'd think, and not all that important. You don't "have to" do anything.

For me, the only name that goes to conferences and such is my own.

The other pseuds, from the ones I'm fairly open about to the ones that you're never going to find out are me, sell just fine without that claptrap.

Claudia Gray · Aug 23, 2009

The number of people who can recognize the faces of more than about five popular writers is vanishingly small. (Not counting authors I've actually met/gotten to know, I'd guess I couldn't identify anybody besides Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, John Grisham and Anne Rice, and I'm not 100% on Rice.) And if you're writing in different genres, under different pseudonyms, the likelihood of fan crossover goes down dramatically.

In other words, you could have the same head shot on three or four different author sites and tour as every one, and the only people you might confuse at all would be staffers at major bookstores you visited repeatedly, and maybe not even then.

benbradley · Aug 23, 2009

I bet a Deanna Dwyer book signing would be interesting...

Libbie · Aug 23, 2009

If I ever get to the point where I've published under my multiple planned pen names (for multiple planned and widely differing genres) I won't care whether people know it's all the same person. I view pen names for purposes of organization only. It's just a moniker flow-chart to me.

kuatolives · Aug 23, 2009

I'd probably use a pen name if someone wanted to publish something of mine I thought was crap. Joey Joe Joe Shabadoo can have all the fame, I'll collect the money.

The Lonely One · Aug 23, 2009

kuatolives said:
I'd probably use a pen name if someone wanted to publish something of mine I thought was crap. Joey Joe Joe Shabadoo can have all the fame, I'll collect the money.

Dastardly. I like it.

BigWords · Aug 23, 2009

Just wondering here: Is there an accepted 'crap novel' name that turns up? Kinda like Alan Smithee... Just so I know which books to avoid.

Maryn · Aug 23, 2009

James D. Macdonald said:
Those signings, tours, and what-not are rarer than you'd think, and not all that important. You don't "have to" do anything.

For me, the only name that goes to conferences and such is my own.

The other pseuds, from the ones I'm fairly open about to the ones that you're never going to find out are me, sell just fine without that claptrap.

James, James, James. How many times do I have to say it? The wig and glasses don't fool anybody. Unless and until you lose the beard, nobody really believes Barbara Cartland never died.

Maryn, with a wink

erinbee · Aug 23, 2009

I have a friend (who's actually a writer in another genre) who was hired to play the author of a major middle-grade series for girls at public appearances. Said series is written by a stable of ghosts, male and female, and they needed somebody to greet the kids.

jodiodi · Aug 23, 2009

I have multiple pennames and not published under any of them. If I ever have to worry about it, I won't care if someone else pretends to be me. Heck, I'd rather hire someone to play me. I have no desire for anyone to ever see my face ever ever ever. If I could never go out in public, I'd be happy. I don't even like my husband to look at me and I NEVEr have pictures made. Our wedding pictures were the last ones and I refuse to have them displayed in our house.

thethinker42 · Aug 23, 2009

I'm not concerned about people knowing my names. I use different names to avoid confusion between genres (one name for M/M romance, one for straight romance, one for erotica) not to "hide" or anything like that. In fact, my names are fairly similar...Lori A. Witt, L.A.Witt, and Lauren Gallagher. If I start writing fantasy, SF, or any other genre (which I probably will), I'll add a few more names to the list.

Ken Schneider · Aug 23, 2009

I'm going to brave the world with my real name.

If I ever had to use a pen name, It'd be close to my own in some form or another.

The Lonely One · Aug 23, 2009

jodiodi said:
I have multiple pennames and not published under any of them. If I ever have to worry about it, I won't care if someone else pretends to be me. Heck, I'd rather hire someone to play me. I have no desire for anyone to ever see my face ever ever ever. If I could never go out in public, I'd be happy. I don't even like my husband to look at me and I NEVEr have pictures made. Our wedding pictures were the last ones and I refuse to have them displayed in our house.

Haha I still appear in pictures but I get the social avoidance. We're introverts, aren't we? Isn't that why we choose to write? Well, some of us. Me, at least.

Another question for you guys: if you were Stephen King, and you appeared as a different author, wouldn't you get called for BS, and wouldn't the press refuse to recognize you as the other pen name, and wouldn't your book be judged on the level of writing Stephen King exudes, maybe even judged by horror genre standards? Wouldn't there be headlines all over: "King writes romance" etc., effectively screwing with his career?

Just a thought. Maybe, like some have said, King just wouldn't go out under those other names for these obvious reasons?

I mean pretty much any reader would recognize that face.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 23, 2009

I've heard of the occasional weird case of a person pretending to be a certain author and doing signings as that author.

This is taking Author, the Role-Playing Game, to a new level.

jodiodi · Aug 23, 2009

James D. Macdonald said:
I've heard of the occasional weird case of a person pretending to be a certain author and doing signings as that author.

This is taking Author, the Role-Playing Game, to a new level.

Oh, I've got a friend who said she'd be me in public if I'm ever published. Hah. Good promise on her part. She'll never have to pay up.

IceCreamEmpress · Aug 24, 2009

The Lonely One said:
if you were Stephen King, and you appeared as a different author

You know that King has also published under the name Richard Bachman, right?

NicoleMD · Aug 24, 2009

The Lonely One said:
Another question for you guys: if you were Stephen King, and you appeared as a different author, wouldn't you get called for BS, and wouldn't the press refuse to recognize you as the other pen name, and wouldn't your book be judged on the level of writing Stephen King exudes, maybe even judged by horror genre standards? Wouldn't there be headlines all over: "King writes romance" etc., effectively screwing with his career?

Just a thought. Maybe, like some have said, King just wouldn't go out under those other names for these obvious reasons?

I mean pretty much any reader would recognize that face.

Didn't that actually happen? Not the going out in public part, but the calling on BS?

ETA: Dang, beat to it!

Nicole

JKabol · Aug 24, 2009

ya know, claudia-

that hit me pretty hard and sober. i can count nine [living] authors i can pick out of a line-up of a hundred people. and that's all.

MsGneiss · Aug 24, 2009

I think that the purpose of using pen-names is typically to avoid genre confusion. It helps to use different names when you are writing drastically different genres. If you write science fiction, and use the same name for your later erotica books, you may find yourself with a ton of thoroughly disappointed fans. The goal of pen names is to help out with reader expectations.

There are authors who use pen names because they wish to remain anonymous, and as many have already said, it's not always necessary to do signings and public appearances. In fact, the mystique of a hidden-personality author may sometimes boost sales, since many readers find that sort of thing fascinating.

The Lonely One · Aug 24, 2009

NicoleMD said:
Didn't that actually happen? Not the going out in public part, but the calling on BS?

ETA: Dang, beat to it!

Nicole

Doh! Good to know. I'm not a King fan to be honest; don't really follow his career.

john barnes on toast · Aug 24, 2009

I sometimes put things out under the name Thomas Pynchon.

It makes doing PR a bit tricky, but they still manage to shift a few units without me whoring myself. Obviously keep this to yourselves, yeh?

LuckyH · Aug 25, 2009

There can be different reasons for using 'pen' names, sometimes suggested by not so honest agents and publishers, or the author himself - perhaps his first published book bombed, and, without a name change, he wouldn't find another publisher - and he would publicise the new book under his new identity.

It happens regularly at the lower levels of the publishing industry.

DMarie84 · Aug 25, 2009

I will also brave the world using my real name. I'll create a pen name only if it's absolutely necessary. But that's just me

Will the real (insert pen name) please stand up. No, seriously.

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