It’s a question every writer should consider before pursuing their craft in the public sphere: Should I take a pen name?
There are a veritable host of factors to consider in making this decision.
This post will take a look at the many compelling reasons on both sides of the ledger, and give what insight I can offer from personal experience.
Do you even need one?
First of all, there are plenty of people who don’t need a pen name.
This is because they:
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Have a unique name already
If your given name is Ezekiel Thriceborn or Illuvien Gehenna, this probably applies to you. My congratulations to you and my questioning eyebrow to your parents. But that’s none of my business.
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Are comfortable with their real name being ‘out there’
For some people, they’re more concerned with getting right to the writing and the book sales; having their name readily known in the public sphere is not a concern. For some, it may even be a positive – I’ve heard authors talk about the thrill of seeing their real/given name on their published work.
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Plan on writing in one area, genre, or style, or in many areas under one name
If you build a reputation for your name in one style of literature (say, fantasy) and then, under that same name, jump to another area of focus in later works (say, medicinal research and development), your readers are likely to be left scratching their heads. Who knows? I’m sure some readers would have significant interest in “An Investigation into the Reproductive Tendencies of the Manchurian Bush Hamster, by George R.R. Martin,” but overall, it probably wouldn’t work. If you plan on staying in one area of writing, though, you should be fine with one name.
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Find it needlessly confusing to juggle aliases
No doubt about it – it can be confusing to manage your own name and your own reputation, let alone those belonging to your pen name. If you’d rather keep it as simple as possible, a pen name isn’t ideal.
If this describes you, then great! You’re not alone – many people choose to use their given names and do very well.
It can definitely work.
On the Other Hand…
On the other hand, there are many others who find that taking a pen name made the most sense.
I’m one of them and here’s why:
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My real name is very common AND is the name of a famous celebrity
This presented me with a number of difficulties:
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Domain name availability
With a common name comes the certainty that someone beat you to it – there were very few options open to me involving my given name, so I researched what was available and went with something else.
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Branding
Craig Ferguson (the comedian and actor) is not really someone I want to be confused with. Frankly, I aim to present myself and my work as wholesome and appropriate. As a Christian, this matters deeply to me. My celebrity counterpart is many things, but wholesome and appropriate are not among them. Honestly, I doubt he’d disagree.
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SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Sharing names with a celebrity is also a marketing concern. There are two schools of thought regarding this situation. The one, positively, expects a kind of splash or trickle-down effect. Lots of people are searching for the Scottish comedian daily, so that increases the chances they’ll find me, right? Ehhhhhhh, not so much. Celebrities generate a kind of shadow around their name, and you don’t want to place yourself there; it’s next to impossible to receive any exposure
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I plan on writing many books in the future, not all of the same genre
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I appreciate the relative privacy
I don’t imagine I’ll be “the next big thing,” but it’s still nice to have a life that isn’t known to absolutely everyone with an itch and an internet connection.
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It helps me compartmentalize and organize
A quick note here about organization. I treat my pen name like a business name – it has its own contacts, accounts, branding, marketing, etc. This helps me keep business life and personal life separate and manageable.
Quick Hits
Here are a couple of things that didn’t factor into my decision, but should certainly be considered by prospective writers.
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Gender
It’s well documented that J.K. Rowling settled on an ambiguous pen name because she didn’t think a female author would be well received in her chosen genre. She was especially concerned about making her work appealing to young boys. If you share the same kinds of concerns, Rowling’s success indicates it may be a good idea to go with a pseudonym; it certainly won’t hurt, and it may even help. That said, in fantasy literature at least, many women are widely considered to be among the best of the best (Novik, Le Guin, Cunningham, Lackey, Hobb, Jemisin, Weis, etc.) so I wonder if Rowling’s fears would be less tenable in the industry today.
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Initials
Who doesn’t love the sound of initials in the name of an author? J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, George R.R. Martin, N.K. Jemisin, J.K. Rowling… all the cool, successful kids are doing it! My opinion on initials is that I like them, but it’s easy to go overboard. Keep it simple, keep it classy, and maybe keep away from initials like T.J., D.J. and C.J. They sound… little-kiddish. No offense intended.
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Speaking of exaggeration…
I’m as big a fan of hyperbole as the next guy but please don’t make use of it when it comes to your pen name. Unless you are trying to be purposefully comedic, it may seem to readers that you’re trying too hard or that you’re just flat-out unprofessional.
Final Thoughts
If you’re like me, you’ll want to be 100% confident with your decision, so that once you’ve made it you can move on to other, bigger, better things.
With that in mind, make sure you give this choice a lot of attention. Not too much; don’t allow it to paralyze the process! But recognize that this is a key part of your branding, marketing, and identity. For an author, all three of these are huge!
When was the last time you thought of an author, and remembered her by her face or her book cover? What about her name?
Your name is what people will really remember you by. Get it right.
~Martyn McGrath
Other Resources
Helen Sedwick gives her take on Pen Names here.
And Dave Chesson gives his take here.
Both sources were helpful to me, and bring up a virtual tonne of reasonable considerations. They’ve also come up with a list of tips to help you find the right pen name for you and your writing. By the way, their sites are goldmines for self-publishing writers – check’em out!
ICYMI
I released the 1st chapter of my WIP: Door to Altharia. Go on, have a read!
