Bitten by Books
Welcome to the poll of the week!! Polling runs through Sunday, March 22nd. How to participate: FIRST VOTE on the bottom RIGHT HAND SIDE of the site. Next stop here to tell us How Many Pen Names are too Many for Authors? and why you chose your answers. The only VOTES that count are the ones on the actual poll not the comments!
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One is good enough… sometimes I am easily confused but other times I think it is easier just to remember one name. Sometimes they neglect a series on one name for another.
And sometimes I don’t even know they HAVE an alias.
I put other because I couldn’t decide. Given I’m pretty sure we are talking about something like branding and not hiding author’s identities or anything like that - I really don’t think they are totally necessary. If the reason for multiple names is for multiple genres, I really figure people can be smart enough to figure out which books are the genres they like and follow, but then perhaps I’m assuming too much with that.
2 is enough for me and it helps it the author lets us know
I guess it depends on how many genres the author works in, and how separate they need to be. LA Witt has four pen names, which strikes me as odd considering that she openly connects them and discusses them at once, but they’re all in different genres and she feels it’s necessary.
here’s my thoughts. or whatever. lol
one is enough. Though I can see how an author might want to “try” to separate YA from their adult stuff. But kids aren’t stupid and neither is Google or the internet. They will find what you are trying to hide.
Another reason is that some authors live in small towns and fear repercussions from other community members or church followers or whatever. I get that, but hey if this is what you want to do, go big or don’t go the hell at all. What are they going to do to you? Books are WORLDWIDE not community wide.
Other authors who write erotica may be worried about stalkers or weirdos. Get a bigger gun. This may not be a popular thought but you do what you have to do to protect yourself if you are doing “dangerous” work.
I am sure I will think of more. But personally, I find it tedious when there are multiple pen names. People aren’t dumb, they will figure it out. And just shooting from the hip and being honest has more merit in my book then not. But that is MY opinion. your mileage may vary.
I went with other. I don’t actually care if an author has one or 300.
I understand it from a branding perspective, especially if the author writes cross genre- it makes sense i the same way that say Pepsi Co does not label all of their products as Pepsi, there are distinct lines. I just don’t see that as hiding. It is a marketing tool and a pretty obvious one. Nora Roberts/JD Robb or Lemony Snicket are perfect examples. It is branding 101.
I don’t see it as being dishonest- is Sia dishonest for not wanting to show her face during a performance? Or any other performer who is singing a song they didn’t write? Sure there is credit for those people on a liner note somewhere- but the face is the star. Maybe Banksey is a more apt comparison. Is his art less valuable because you don’t know who he is specifically?
Historically the pen name has been usefull- Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Steven King, CS Lewis, & Stan Lee have all used or actually are pen names for a variety of reasons. Does that make thir work worth less?
I also recently listened to a Fresh Air interview with author Chris Offutt. His father was basically the king of erotica (and sort of helped shape how it is today.) He had 17 pen names and a fairly legitimate reason for all of them. Anyway- it is a really great interview (there is also a NY Times piece on him), please check it out!
Do you have the link to the article Kristin?
I linked it on the facebook page (didn’t want to get moderated
)
I will post it here. I always get moderation notices hehehe. lol
Here’s the Article Kristin was talking about. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/magazine/my-dad-the-pornographer.html?_r=0
Thanks lady! Did you read it?
Not yet, I just got home and am putting out fires and eating. Will tonight though!
I voted for 2 pen names but I really don’t have anything against authors having more. I just wish I was better at keeping track of all their pen names.
I put 3. There can be many reasons to take a pen name. I understand wanting to separate your YA from you adult novels. I have heard from a few authors that it’ s not so much that they want to “hide” but that bookstores sometimes put their books together by name and then you get someone who unknowingly picks up a title without reading the description just based on the name-possibly for a gift and surprise! some 12 year old is reading some inapproproate stuff. Yes, I KNOW this would probably be a rare case, but it can happen. If you have one for YA, one for your main genre and possible one for an other genre that is way off from what you normally write (horror, erotica, gay/lesbian romance) I think that’s enough. Any more than that might be excessive. Sometimes an author wants to change genres and doesn’t want readers to base an opinion on previous work. We know not everyone reads all genres.
I know readers are not dumb and probably will figure it out in the long run, but I see nothing wrong in using pen names. I know several authors that don’t keep their pen names a secret and I know one or two that don’t make it public knowledge.
I would vote that three is too many, with two pen names as being sufficient. I think people are getting confused in the voting by saying two is what they favor and then voting for two pen names as being too many?
Why can’t one be enough? Be proud of what you write and quit coming up with ulter egos to write. How are we as fans to keep up?
I voted for other because there’s no set number in my mind. I understand if an author wants to use a different pen name for different genres. Although I think using a different pen name for different series within the same genre might be excessive. I don’t think it matters too much though, because in the information age we can just do a little googling to find out to find out which names are all the same author.
I chose “other” because I think it’s the author’s choice whatever the reason(s) may be for having multiple pen names. It really doesn’t matter to me~I’ll continue reading no matter “who” wrote it!
I voted for one. I can understand why some might feel they need several pen names, but I think one is good enough.
Other: caveat: I would like a disclosure on the back page of the current book when the author writes under other nomes de guerre e.g Gini Koch aka J.J. Cook etc.
I would wish for this because I like the style of writing which does not change, the only difference seeming to be a different genre.
I can understand the use of various aliases because of different genres and the author wanting to separate the different categories.
It would be easier for me to seek out their other works for my reading pleasure, she says selfishly
I’d be content to see authors write everything from kids books to erotica under one name because I am really bad with keeping pen names straight. But I happen to know an author whom I know has been published under at least 6 names (just the ones I know of!) and the fact of the matter is… it’s none of my damned business why they chose to publish their various books/genres in such a way.
There’s more than one reason to write under a pen name and while I would love to see authors publish everything under one name for the sake of my personal ease they usually have reasonable reasons for choosing not to go that route.
2 is plenty after that I have trouble keeping up with who is who so I can keep track of my favorite writers and their works…
I say 2 is already too much, as it’s difficult to remember even one for each favorite author, but I get why some authors or their publishers might want to use pen names.
One is enough, even if they are ya and adult. It’s gets too confusing.
I voted for three. If an author writes in different genres, I think a pen name is a useful marketing tool.
Three is too many, in my opinion. I understand wanting a second pen name if writing for a different target audience, like one name for adult books and a second for young adult books, but more than that is overkill, I think, and misleading, too.
I said 4 was to much.
I said other as I realize it is often done because of different genres. I wouldn’t want to see the name on my kid’s favorite series also on my favorite erotic series.
One is enough
One is enough, though I understand about wanting to use different names for different genres. Still, it can get confusing for the reader.
One is good enough, but 2 is too many! I guess they do that to differentiate the kind of genre they write but I’ve skipped a few books because I didn’t know the author only to later find out it was an author I already knew and LIKED!
I can understand when an author has several stories in different genres to tell and they don’t want to get labeled so they write under a different name. So long as it’s a good story to read I will do my best to get it and read it no matter the name
I think that 2 pens names can be used (at the most) that way the author can write in different types of genre.