The Inner Debate of Pen-Name

I think Stephanie Southwell could work fine. Or if you really want a shorter one, you could go with Kay Southwell.

Everyone has to decide why they want to publish under a pseudonym, and why their real name is not what they want.

Stephen King created the pen name Richard Bachman after he was a successful author, in order to get around the artificially imposed restriction from his publisher that he could not put out more than one book in a calendar year...

After his ruse was discovered, he killed off the author and two additional books were published posthumously by the author's surviving widow...

I had the great pleasure of speaking with him about this in the late 1980s, and he was quite open about it then. He advised a room full of aspiring writers to publish under the name your parents gave you, or don't...

My parents named me Tim, middle name Bond, and so Timothy Bond is something I've always thought was reasonable. This lets me differentiate my career and other interests where I am known from my writing where I am unknown. My other interests have nothing in common with my writing, so I decided to create a clean slate for this career direction. Good idea? I don't know. I guess I'll find out.

I could have used any name, not simply my own names, but like you my ego wished to see my name on a book.... It's OK. It works for me.

Good luck.

I don't think there is any problem with Stephanie Kay at all

I guess we're just all different. I would absolutely hate to have my real name on my writing. I'd feel too exposed and very restricted, because people would be judging me based on my characters. I wouldn't want my former students or my aunties reading a really weird sex scene or recognizing one of their own annoying mannerisms in a story. It would just ruin everything if I had to wonder who was looking over my shoulder. But that's just me.

Miss Strawberrii said:

I'm also dating someone, and we have been together for five years, with the idea of getting married as soon as we have the funds. What if we do in several more years and I actually go through with publishing some book with my birth name? Then it would be pointless.

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Why? Does marriage change your birth name? Would your husband forbid you to publish under it, if you've already established a "brand" under your birth name, just because it's not the name you sign on your holiday cards? Or do you mean that getting married renders all dreams you had before marriage null and void - in which case, remind me never to tie the knot.

As I understand it, author names are a form of branding. Some authors use pseudonyms to establish new "lines" - one name for romances, one for adventures, one for YA, and so forth. This isn't, naturally, a hard-and-fast thing, as some authors successfully sell under multiple genres using the same name. But it's part of why J. K. Rowling invented "Robert Galbraith" for her new mystery series; people who saw the name Rowling immediately thought of a boy wizard and YA adventure, not a gritty PI. And some authors use pseudonyms because their given names just don't look good in print, or don't convey the impression they want to give. (Just try imagining a dark horror novel written by Petunia Quackenmire.) There are hundreds of reasons for using a pseudonym, and hundreds of reasons for using your own name.

So, use your own name. Or invent a new one. Or, if/when you get an agent, ask them what they think would help your sales. Being married or single should have no bearing on a career you build for yourself... or a dream you've had since long before you met your maybe-husband.

(As for me, I'll probably go with my initials if/when I publish. It's tiring enough hearing people mangle my real name the few places I use it; I think I might hit someone if I ever had to sit through an author interview or book signing. "It's pronounced just like it's spelled, you idiot! *smack* Learn to read, already!")

Well, some women like to take their husband's name and be known by it and use that one name personally and professionally. That's certainly a valid choice, yes?

My pen name is a variation of my first and last names. And of course a pen name is only a screen, not a guarantee of anonymity. If someone finds out about it here and there, that's okay. To me, a leak or two isn't the same as baring it all for anyone I've ever known or will know.

CathleenT said:

I think Stephanie Southwell could work fine. Or if you really want a shorter one, you could go with Kay Southwell.

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Kay Southwell is a pretty sweet fantasy writer name.

Kay - an Arthurian knight
South - a cardinal direction; suggests epic journeys
Well - a landscape feature that might be seen in medieval times, with metaphorical significance (font, source)

I like Kay Southwell, too.

I somehow ended up with four pen names, and am soon to be getting a fifth. None of them are super secret, and all are linked publicly.

Beware self blindness. Stephanie Kay is a perfectly acceptable name for any author, regardless of genre. I mean it's no different from Karen Miller, successful fantasy author. And what about Fiona McIntosh? Iain Banks?

The only thing that makes Stephanie Kay different from any other author's name is that it's yours. And we all will tend to think it's weird because of the familiarity and connotations we've accrued all out lives.

Now, for marketting reasons....I have no real input on that other than read up on Author Branding....plenty of good advice given already too....

My day job involves working with teens - there is no way in hell that I want them to be able to google me and find my erotic romances! Talk about losing all ability to command a room... not to mention professional backlash. Nope; my fiction writing will remain thoroughly, completely psuedonymous, as long as I'm in that career.

I do have a purely historical WIP, mind you, and if I ever do get that one published (definitely under a different pseud), I'll have to decide whether I want to link that one to my real name, or to my pen name to share audiences. But that's far in the future, so for now I shan't borrow trouble.

Pick something you like. It doesn't have to be your birth name OR your husband's name. It can be any damn thing you want it to be.

Mostly I write male heavy fantasy. I intend to use a pseudonym with a first name that is more masculine sounding than my real name.

I never even considered using a pen name for the books I've written so far. I want people to know who I am and what I do. Of course, there's no funky sex scenes or controversial politics in them, so that isn't a factor.

Kay Southwell sounds fine to me. Stephanie Southwell does, too. There's nothing wrong with using your maiden name, and continuing to publish under it after you get married.

WriteMinded said:

Pick something you like. It doesn't have to be your birth name OR your husband's name. It can be any damn thing you want it to be.

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Exactly this. It's your pen name. If you want to be Strawberrii, be Strawberrii or Strawberry. There's a popular current author named Rainbow. Could be her real name, could be a pen name, I don't know. But if there can be a Rainbow _____, I don't see why there couldn't be a Strawberry/Strawberrii _____. There are certainly stranger names out there now.

And don't worry so much about name length. You don't need short and sweet as long as it's easy to say. Stephanie Southwell is gorgeous and a great name (IMO).

I really like the name 'Southwell'. There are a lot of Japanese family names with 'well' in them. I would use my middle name, Julia, and my mother's maiden name, Knight but somebody beat me to it...

As a "Stephanie", I can sympathize. I was never really crazy about my name. Always thought it was rather baby-ish, and there are no good nicknames.

"Southwell" sounds very author-ly though. S.K. Southwell is nice.

In our "hopeful author's" lunch, Stephen King was asked about pen names several times, and why he published under his own name. The questioner was curious if the notoriety caused him any concern and if privacy was an issue.

Now keep in mind this is in Maine....

He says, "Everyone knows who I am and where I live already, so why would I hide that."

His name is on the gate at his property - which is rusted open and doesn't close - and he answers his own phone on a standard listed phone number...

Stephanie Kay sounds like the perfect name for a writer, to me, and while it's not as important as it used to be, having a last name that starts with K puts your book at a very good level in a brick and mortar store. With S, you have a less favorable spot, and with "Sou", you move to the end of the S line, and get a lot of S novels ahead of yours.

Whatever you choose to do, be advised that if you use "Createspace" which is free and incredibly easy, you cannot change the author name once submitted and approved. My real name is Felipe Fernandez but my wife advised that a Spanish name might put off American readers. Her niece is a professional graphics designer and she made an awesome book cover for me with my pen name "P. F. Suan" (Swan) using my mother's maiden name. I submitted the new cover and it was rejected as the names didn't match.

I go with first initial, middle initial, last name. At least right now. It seems to be a fantasy thing, honestly, and I like how it sounds. I may come up with a proper pen name for when and if I start writing less usual stuff.

Jamesaritchie said:

Stephanie Kay sounds like the perfect name for a writer, to me, and while it's not as important as it used to be, having a last name that starts with K puts your book at a very good level in a brick and mortar store. With S, you have a less favorable spot, and with "Sou", you move to the end of the S line, and get a lot of S novels ahead of yours.

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Just quoting this because it makes the points I was going to make.

Brian