Support for Indie Authors discussion

I am writing my first novel and trying to decide if I want to use a pen name or not. My daughter who is 19 has a point. I am divorced and am still using my married name. She said if I ever get remarried I will always be attached to the ex with the last name whereas If I use my maiden name it would make things easier. Some of the people I work with think my maiden name sounds better and is more unique than my married name. Married pen name would be Dawn Morton or D J Morton or use my maiden pen name, D J Minshall.

What do you think?
Do any other divorced authors use a different name?

DJ Morton sounds way more interesting. Just go with your feelings, you already know the answer... :)

Sorry, I meant DJ Minshall sounds better! DJ Morton sounds more common IMHO

Both sound good. But I would suggest to consider discoverability. Do a google search, Goodreads search, and Amazon search and see how many similar names you can find in the list of authors. It is already hard as an independent author to be discovered by your audience but you don't want to be confused with a 100 others out there. :-)

In my case, I use pen name because my real name is so abundant eveywhere it is almost impossible to find the right Carmen López in a search.

Good luck with your novel.

Maiden name.

Both surnames are fine, but your daughter has a point. Going with your maiden name seems the better plan.

Personally, I'd go with Dawn instead of D.J. Seems to be a huge trend for authors to go by their initials. I know it's been done for a long, long time, but it seems as soon as Rowling hit the scene, more and more authors are going by their initials. To me, author names are starting to look like alphabet soup. I might be in a minority on this. I've never been a fan of acronyms, either.

I use my initials with my last name. I like P.S. as an author better than Pam or Pamela. The only problem with a pen name is if you also use social media under your real name and people don't realize you are the writer of books and therefore can't find you and help share your works.

I'm not divorced but use a pen name. I just like the idea that the occasional odd person can't look up property records and find me by my name, but that has only been a problem (that I know of) once or twice.

Minshall is more unique. Morton is easier to remember. I think your daughter is right though about independence. I also agree with Dwayne about using your first name.

You can choose which name you want to go by at any time. You may choose to go back to your maiden name. You may choose to marry and take on a new name. You may decide to stick to your current surname whether you get married again or not. That's your choice.

The name that you choose to write under can be any of the above. Your maiden name, your married name, a double-barreled name, or something completely different. Check for other author names and websites in order to pick something that is more discoverable.

Writing with a different name than what you use in social media isn't a problem, either. You can create new Twitter accounts and Facebook business pages. You can share book information across all of them and cross reference one name in the other's profile.

While I go by and write under my married name, my social media accounts use a combination of my maiden and married name to make it easier for old friends and family to find me by searching my maiden name. I use my initials rather than my first name as my pen name, and that is referenced in the "works at" section in my Facebook profile. Super simple. And anyone can see by my personal shares that I write under my pen name.

Whether you use your first name or initials probably depends on what genre you are writing in. In romance, chick lit, literary, women generally use their first names. In male-dominated genres like sci fi, suspense, thriller, they tend to use initials.

I use a pen name, partly because I wanted to maintain some distance between my author life and my professional life (which has since been erased), and because I wanted to honor my grandparents, who really pushed me to publish my books. My pen name is a combination of my middle name and my grandparents' surname.

Maiden name. Don't give him the satisfaction or he'll think he's entitled to a share of your profits! : )

I once toyed with the idea of using my wife's maiden name as my last name of a pen name, but I sounded more like a reliable plumber than an author.

I use a pen name (Viola Russell) because when I started to write, I didn't want students to know about it. My books contain a lot of sex, and I taught at a Catholic school at the time. I used my grandmother's name. It's worked well for me.

I use a pen name because my first name is always pronounced wrong and I've always fancied using a pen name. Since my books all contain explicit sex scenes I can use it for my erotica works and my horror works I think. I'm graphic in both genres. I don't hide from friends and family either. I figure I am what I am and if they don't like my writing, open a different book. They've already judged me long before I started selling my work.

Although I'm not married, I toyed with a pen name as well. I threw some ideas out to my co-workers and friends, but when I'd say my title along with my pen name, there was an odd disconnect between the two. The pen name didn't feel like me. Might sound strange to someone else, but it just didn't feel right. I also agree with Dwayne, there are a lot of initials these days, too.

I am a firm believer in doing what feels right for you. I do like the sound of Minshall vs Morton, but overall, you'll know what better suits you.

I prefer your maiden name, but I do think that it will be clever to check out how many authors
use it before choosing it. I write under my own name and have no problem with it

This may be an odd question, but when you think of the writer in you, what is her name? That should be your name. Very often people have a professional self, then their more authentic whimsical self. Who is writing ? Do you think it is your maiden name self because that is who you are now? I know there are a lot of questions, but I think it will help you settle in with what feels write or is that right? Didn't mean to be punny.Delores

I'd go with your maiden name for the reasons your daughter listed. And because Minshall stands out. Delores also had a good point, which one feels right to you? None of our opinions really matter once you've sorted that out. Good luck :)

Dawn wrote: "I am writing my first novel and trying to decide if I want to use a pen name or not. My daughter who is 19 has a point. I am divorced and am still using my married name. She said if I ever get rema..."

I like Minshall. On discoverability I thought I had 'googled' my pen name thoroughly. Once I adopted MJ, many MJ Parker's appeared seemingly from nowhere. Creeping up on my launch date I was checking links on google yesterday, and saw my pen name on an obituary - that was really weird. I've become really attached to my MJ persona.

I chose a pen name as my daughter will be the great author in the family - she writes way better than me - and is using the family name. It's her first career and she is eking out her money, passionate, and struggling away. And loving it. I've had a great career already, and can throw (a little) of my retirement money at my 'hobby-job' problems (it's a little more than that really). I'm keeping my secret life as a writer from her as I don't want to steal any thunder, but miss the chance to talk openly as authors over our issues. I have nearly cracked and told her several times in the first year alone. Good luck with the books, Dawn

Take some time and ponder - Minshall or Morton. Which name makes you feel more like a Writer? What name stands out to you? Go for it

Pen name or not is up to the author, but if I am going to write a non-fiction book about a true event that occurred that was run by a narcissistic scam artist posing as a "Texas patriot" back in the late 90s that I was involved with at first and exposed later to authorities--and was issued death threats over it--then I would certainly use a pen name! Or, say, if the event was organized crime or something like that. I often wonder if "Mario Puzzo" was the real name of the author of "The Godfather"....

Deborah wrote: "I often wonder if "Mario Puzzo [sic]" was the real name of the author of "The Godfather"...."

Yes, Mario Puzo's real name was Mario Puzo. His pen name was Mario Cleri.

If you live outside of the US (I'm Canadian) I found it tricky to convince Apple not to reveal my name - I solved it. I won't take up space here as it is a little off topic, but if anyone needs help please contact me (there is no cost, its just fiddly).

Did you pick a name by the way?

It will depend on your marketing plan.

I am new to the literary world, but due to the content of my trilogy, I chose a pen name, as to not have anything potentially affect me on a professional level.

I don't think it's a clear cut yes or no for everyone to do, though. Definitely up to the author's discretion, their particular situation and comfortability.

Pen names are used not so much to hide the identity of the author but to keep person and professional lives apart. I am using my married name for my gritty, risque works and my maiden name for the clean sweet things that wouldn't embarrass my preacher grandfather of grandmother....or even my mother and father. It's all about perception. Nora Roberts chose J.D. Robb so that her normal romances weren't connected to the sci-fi series. Some use it as a way of writing various types of books and having them published with various publishers.

Bottom line. Do what you feel is right for you and your writing.

Peter
I am hooked on pen names and have written two short 'stories' about those used by listeners of the late Terry Wogan. I use at least three: Pyotr Stilovski for my main writing, Felix Schrodinger for factual and Jane Peters when en femme.

And thank you for extending my vocabulary.

For those of you using a pen name, are you required to have a business license for publication and copyright purposes? Or are you publishing through Amazon using their ISBN? Or are you using your pen name as your author name and your real name as the publisher?

I ask because my last name is difficult to spell and impossible to pronounce. I'll be using a pen name as my author name and my publisher name, but don't know if that's legal.

You can use a pen name without all the licenses and copyright. In fact the copyright was easy to do with my pen name as the author then sent it in my real name with the pen name as an AKA. It's legal and your choice.

B.A. wrote: "You can use a pen name without all the licenses and copyright. In fact the copyright was easy to do with my pen name as the author then sent it in my real name with the pen name as an AKA. It's leg..."

Thank you, B.A. for this information.

In general, you can use any name you care to, for any purpose that doesn't require you to produce legal identification.

The only people who care, or have to know who you really are, are the people who mail the royalty check to you. And since the Amazon account is in your name, who cares that the name on the cover of fiction is...well, fiction?

Jay wrote: "In general, you can use any name you care to, for any purpose that doesn't require you to produce legal identification.

The only people who care, or have to know who you really are, are the peopl..."

Thank you, Jay for this info.