Should Authors Use a Pen Name?

Should Authors use a Pen Name?

When publishing work, an author has to choose to use their name or a pseudonym. There are pros and cons to both, but the final decision is up to the author. 

I will be clear that my real first name is not Barbara. 

This was a name I choose to write under as it was my grandmother's name who unfortunately did not live long enough to see my first published novel but always believed that I could do anything I set my mind to and more. 

She always said we could never set our dreams too high and I dreamed of seeing my name in print in every book store I walked into. While I'm still aiming for this dream I chose to write under her name to give tribute to the amazing woman she was and the fact that I would not be the writer I am today without her.

There are many reasons why an author would want to write under a pen name instead of using their real name such as 

• anonymity
• privacy 
• to write in the genre of their choice 
• a complicated to pronounce name 
• their real name is too dang long 

I have two last names and every year when I would have to take the standardized test with the fill-in bubbles my name would never fit, imagine that on the front of a book? It would take up more cover space than the book title itself. 

There's nothing wrong with any of these reasons unless you are using a name to appear to be someone you are not in regards to race. 

Having a name that fits into the gender majority of authors for that genre is ok and has been done for many years. Women would change their names in order to be published in the first place or to publish in genres such as Crime Fiction and men change their names to fit into the genre of Romance where women usually gravitate to books written by other women.

Is this a practice for everyone or just new authors?

If you're just starting out and you want to write under a pen name that's perfectly ok. There are many authors who had pen-names for their pen-names. So if you choose one now, you can still always use another in the future. 

The most common occurrence of famous authors using different pen names happens because they write in completely different genres as JK Rowling did. The world-famous author of books about Witches and Wizards also writes Crime Fiction under the name Robert Galbraith. 

There was also Nora Roberts, famous for the touching Romance novels, she took on the pen-name of J.D. Robb to write Crime Thriller novels. 

Then there's also

Charlotte Bronte - Currer Bell 

Anne Bronte - Acton Bell 

Stephen King - Richard Bachman

Stanley Martin Lieber - Stan Lee.. who later changed his legal name to match. 

Daniel Handler - Lemony Snicket

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - Lewis Carrol 

Marguerite Annie Johnson - Maya Angelou

Should you use a pen name?

There is no right or wrong answer for this. If you want to and feel it is better for your situation then, of course, use a name that makes you feel proud to call it your own. 

If you'd rather it be your own name that you see in print and it would give you better satisfaction for the work you've completed then use your own name proudly. 

No matter what you choose, to pen-name or not to pen-name, it's your decision. 

Just keep writing.

With love, 

(G.E.N.O.) writing as B.K