How To Use A Pen Name

Let'due south face it: Putting a book into the world can be a vulnerable matter. You're putting your words…your story…your ideas…dare I say your heart, right out there.

And if you lot're lucky and practice your job correct, people are going to read information technology! And guess it! And most frighteningly, write Amazon reviews about it! (Cue the horror music.)

Depending on who you are, this whole process lands on the stress spectrum somewhere between "blast-bitter" and "unsurvivably terrifying."

And so what's a would-be author to practice? Based on what I hear from our editorial clients, seems similar a lot of folks want to have the fear down a notch in one detail way.

I'm talking about finding a vivid, shiny nom de plume.

A fancy French term for "pen proper name" or pseudonym, using a nom de plumage means picking a proper noun other than your own and slapping it on the front of your book. That way you can—the theory goes—write about all the things, without all the feet.

And to some degree that's truthful. But going incognito when it comes to your book has its drawbacks besides. I desire to ready the record straight and then yous can make an informed decision about whether a pen proper noun is the right option for you. Read on to learn more!

The Attraction of the Nom de Plume

Choosing a faux name for your public, writerly persona is a storied literary tradition. Remember George Eliot, Mark Twain and George Orwell? Yep, not their real names. And recent bestsellers Elena Ferrante, Sophie Kinsella and Due east. L. James? They've all gone the pseudonymous route. So why have such talented authors fabricated the choice to cloak their identities? What'southward the draw toward writing a book hole-and-corner?

I thought y'all'd never ask. As it turns out, there are many varied and personal reasons why an author might choose to utilize a pen name.

Said reasons include:

Having a legal proper noun that is difficult to spell or pronounce
Conversely, having a legal name that is and so common as to be forgettable
Having been beaten to the authorly dial by someone with the exact same name as you
Wanting one'southward writing to be taken more seriously than one'southward gender allowed at the fourth dimension (see: the lovely lady Georges—both Eliot and Sand)
Changing genres, such as going from writing romance to writing suspense, and wanting to avert confusing these readerships
A desire to proceed sure aspects of one'southward life private
A desire to hide one's writing life from family, friends and colleagues

It's those last 2 reasons that seem to carry the most weight among my authors. As you'll see below, they are as well the most problematic in today'due south publishing atmosphere.

Pen name

The Novelist and the Nom de Plumage

Take another wait at the pseudonymous authors I mentioned to a higher place. Now, ask yourself what they have in common. They—like the vast bulk of authors who have successfully employed pen names—are primarily writers of fiction. Since I myself edit self-assistance and personal growth titles (and the majority of the readers of this blog are writing nonfiction) I wanted to highlight this point: It may be easier to write under a pen name if you're writing fiction.

Why would this exist? The difference has to do with why people read fiction versus nonfiction. Readers who dear novels are open to, and perchance fifty-fifty in search of, a sure type of escape. They are fix to be drawn into an imagined world in search of amusement, pathos and heart-pounding adventure.

While we may be curious nearly the novelist who wrote a book we dear, the fact is that the author'south persona, history, expertise and life circumstances are secondary to the quality of their story and their writing. The reading experience itself is the principal motivator for picking up the book, not the writer. Thus it is easier to allow the book stand up on its own—without connecting a face to a proper name.

The Pseudonym and the Expert

But when it comes to nonfiction, the impulse for selecting ane volume over another goes beyond the reading experience. People pick up nonfiction in order to larn something true almost the world. Even if you're reading a memoir that reads like a novel, you relate to it differently considering you know the story is factual.

This is why you rarely run into writers of nonfiction cloaking their true identities. Nonfiction writers are teachers, speakers, academics, healers—in other words, experts. Their books are an extension of their bodily work in the globe. It feels important for u.s. to know who they are and how they gathered their expertise. How else will you know whether to trust their didactics, their approach, their inquiry, or their opinions?

What's more, in today's online-influencer market place, most books are sold via some connection—real or perceived—between the reader and the author. Idea leaders need to be in front of the photographic camera and at the top of the news feed. Nosotros desire to know who an author is, in addition to what they know. We follow experts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, watch them on YouTube and IGTV, and listen to their podcasts on Stitcher and Apple tree Podcasts—and then, when they finally write a volume, nosotros're the outset in line to pre-guild.

**The Pros of Using a Pen Name**

With and then many folks coming to me asking (okay, begging) for my permission to utilise a pseudonym, you'd call up it must be a really smashing thing. And not for nil, there are a few good reasons why y'all might be hankering to keep your identity a secret, Superman-way. So for y'all Clark Kents out at that place, hither are a handful of "pros" for keeping it incognito:

Pro: You become to choose a name that'southward more than poetic, memorable and appropriate to your genre than your legal name. This is possibly the almost legit "pro" on the list. I often wonder what my grandma, Kyparisoula Notaras, would have done with such a mouthful of a name if she had wanted to be a writer. I enjoy imagining her writing steamy romance novels, attack the Greek island of her youth, under the pen name "Katerina Nightkiss." Somehow, information technology just works better.
Pro: You can (theoretically) publish without your dominate knowing y'all dream of quitting your job and becoming a author. Lots of the authors we work with at kn literary are writers by dark—meaning they accept day jobs that have footling in common with the subject of their book. Understandably, they want to ensure their assistant, cube-mate, or supervisor never, ever lays eyes on their book. In this instance, a pseudonym can provide a protective bulwark.
Pro: You tin hold a book in your paw that contains the details of your life—without your family e'er knowing about information technology. Authors who are writing about a cleaved childhood, messy divorce or saucy double life tin can use a nom de feather to keep their families in the dark—your story is controversial—and peace effectually the Thanksgiving dinner table is a priority—you may to want to explore this option.

So there y'all have it—three checks in the "pro" column. I must really be a fan of pseudonyms, right? Read on to see for yourself.

**The Con of Using a Pen Proper noun**

Unfortunately, it's my professional opinion that in all but the rarest of cases, the "con" of using a pen name far outweighs the pros. No, that'southward not a typo—I wrote "con" instead of "cons" on purpose. Because in that location is really simply one con to using a nom de plume, but it'south a heckuva large one if you want people to purchase, and then read, your book:

Con: Hiding your identity makes information technology really difficult to get the word out well-nigh your book.

Today'southward publishing marketplace has just go likewise highly dependent on personality and writer-reader rapport-edifice for you to expect to sell copies of your book without marketing the heck out of information technology. The term "marketing" equally I'yard using it could mean any number of things, including but non limited to: Speaking engagements, social media posting, blogging, YouTubing, podcasting, book signings, pitching yourself to local media, launching online courses, hosting workshops and more than. All of which require Y'all—your face, your vocalism, your ideas, your stories, and the vulnerable truth of who you are—to be on full brandish.

How to Successfully Apply a Nom de Plume

Truly, the only fashion I tin can see to be successful using a pseudonym in today's publishing marketplace is to go someone new. To prefer, legally or merely curt of information technology, the nom de feather you want to employ as your very own. To leave the former version of yourself backside and go the persona under which you'll be writing.

One famous transformational nonfiction authors who "became" her pen proper noun was Louise Hay, the writer of You Can Heal Your Life and founder of Hay House. Other famous nonfiction authors accept made changes to their given names to make them more catchy—or common. For instance, Dale Carnegie gave his proper noun a facelift (he was built-in Dale Carnagey) and Zig Ziglar took on his childhood nickname (his legal name was Hilary Ziglar).

Of form, if your desire is to remain incognito, this become-your-pen-name strategy isn't going to exist much help. That cute face of yours will still exist the i speaking at the writers' conferences; the 1 nosotros see on your YouTube channel; the one in the catalog advertizement your upcoming retreat. Your family and colleagues volition recognize you immediately. In other words, you're not going to win the hiding game.

The Final Tally

When it comes downwardly to information technology, here's my advice: Don't utilize a pen name if yous can avoid it.

If you're writing fiction and you have a actually good reason to employ a pen name, consider what y'all'll practise if and when your book really takes off. Will you lot dust off your acting degree, stepping fully into the faux persona of "Gloria Alpenglow" when you're invited to speak on podcasts or at conferences? If so, you may discover success.

If you simply want to add a middle initial to differentiate yourself from an already famous author with your aforementioned proper noun, or if you desire to give your dull moniker a bit of bling by using a nickname, I say "why not?" Just prepare yourself to take on this alternative spelling in perpetuity.

Only if you lot're writing nonfiction, my professional advice is to practice whatever you have to do to make the volume something yous tin proudly merits equally your own. If it takes imagining yourself publishing under a pen name to even write the book, then let your imagination run wild. But in one case you're happy with your masterwork, consider what changes would be required for you to put your real proper name on the comprehend. What would you lot need to have out? What would you need to put in? What emotional adjustments would you have to brand? What beliefs about yourself, your deservingness, your talent or your sense of belonging would you have to revise in gild to stand up in front of the earth equally the author yous accept become, giving the souvenir of your feel and expertise to the world in the grade of a volume with your own proper name on the cover?

Then do that work. Exercise it until you're ready to claim your new identity as an author, a instructor and a thought leader. Until the fear of exposure quiets to a whisper, and you detect yourself driven in your desire to find readers, sell books, and alter lives for the better. In other words, until you're gear up to take a deep breath, gather your courage, and step into the spotlight as . . . yourself.

Kelly Notaras is the founder of kn literary arts and the writer of THE Volume Yous WERE BORN TO WRITE: Everything Y'all Need to (Finally) Get Your Wisdom Onto the Page and Into the World, published by Hay House. An editor for 20 years, she's worked at HarperCollins, Penguin, Hyperion and Sounds True. She speaks regularly at the Hay House Author's Workshops and offers consultation by appointment. Observe out more than near how she can help you with your volume.