Why a Pseudonym?

Pseudonyms have been used over the years for a variety of reasons:

Georges Sand

1. To hide one’s gender: Ex. The Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, wrote under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton, respectively. Mary Ann Evans wrote as George Eliot. And Baronne Dudevant was George Sand. Those were the days when there was a stigma attached to women writers and the chances of getting published were much greater if you were a man.

2. Your real name is too long, too hard to pronounce or spell: Ex. Joseph Conrad whose real name was Josef Theodora Conrad Nalco Korzeniowski; Oscar Wilde who was Fingal O’Flahertie Wills; Woody Allen, born Allen Stuart Konigsberg; Adolf Hitler, alias Adolf Schickelgruber.

Betty Joan Peske

3. Your name evokes laughter: Ex. Archie Leach alias Cary Grant; Betty Joan Peske alias Lauren Bacall; Malcolm Little alias Malcolm X.

4. You wish to make fun of or insult people in print: This was a favorite sport in the 18th Century. A common pastime was to write letters to the local newspaper ridiculing your rivals or enemies. Benjamin Franklin had a dozen different pen names that he wrote under, i.e., Poor Richard, Busy Body, Silence Dogood and Anthony Afterwit, to name just a few.

5. You are a writer and want to change genres, say from Mystery to Science Fiction: It’s confusing to the reader if you write differently under the same name. It is a good idea to adopt a new name when you launch a new genre.

You don't want people
to know you wrote this

6. A pen name can be liberating: If you think no one will recognize your name, you can really let yourself go and write truer or sexier stuff, or even porn. Your family, friends, or old Sunday school teachers will never know. (Warning: I hear that in many cases the truth will out!)

7. Your previous book sales have been poor and you want to try again: This is tricky because there is a database available to editors and publishers that records the sales of every writer. Attempting to hide your past behind a new name can be difficult, but not impossible. Recently a woman writer with an average sales record was successful in acquiring a two-book contract using the nom de plume--Kate Alcott. Alcott’s new books are doing very well.

So, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Robin Hathaway