Is it bad to have different styles of books under a single pen name?

[UltimaBahamut93]

I realized that a lot of the stories I want to write are very different from each other in tone. One is a fantasy, another is a sci-fi. One is a light hearted and comedic fantasy, another is dark and more abstract fantasy.

Would this cause problems if I wanted to get these published under a single name? Would I have to get these published from different publishers and does that cause any kind of conflict? I'm very unfamiliar with the publishing world and wanted to ask anyone who has experience with this. Thanks.

 

[pmmg]

I realized that a lot of the stories I want to write are very different from each other in tone. One is a fantasy, another is a sci-fi. One is a light hearted and comedic fantasy, another is dark and more abstract fantasy.

Would this cause problems if I wanted to get these published under a single name? Would I have to get these published from different publishers and does that cause any kind of conflict? I'm very unfamiliar with the publishing world and wanted to ask anyone who has experience with this. Thanks.

Some people do like to publish under different names for different genres as a way of signalling to their reader base what to expect. Some also do it to hide themselves between groups. If you were to write children's books and erotica, I suspect you would want a different name on each (but, you should count in getting found out...).

Publishing under one name does make it easier to update your social media followings.

You wont need to get separate publishers, you could have the same publisher with different pen names. But...we are a bit ahead of ourselves here.

 

[LordFalco]

I have a number of franchises similar to yours. I use the same name throughout, the logic being that if someone likes a book, they'll look up your other titles. Once published, donate a few to thrift stores. It does get results.

 

[Finchbearer]

You mention on another thread that you’re leaning more towards screenplay writing - I don’t suppose it would matter if you had the same pen name and write in a plethora of different genres for that.

If you’re writing fiction, you mention it all being either SF or fantasy, which arguably is in a general same field of genres. Other major authors who write slightly different themes use the same pen name.

If you started writing crime thriller one day you might want to choose a different pen name because that is a very different genre to SF or fantasy… unless it is crime in a fantasy setting or something. But it would be your choice!

 

[CupofJoe]

Go the Ian Banks/Ian M Banks route.
Similar enough names, different genres from the writer.

 

[Prince of Spires]

There are pro's and con's to both.

The easiest answer is that if you want to be traditionally published, then discuss this with your publisher and / or agent once you get them. They will have experience and an opinion on this, and they'll know your stories and their market.

If you want to indie-publish, then it's all up to you. The pro's are that you only have to maintain a single pen name. So only 1 online presence. Only 1 email list. That sort of thing. You will also build up a larger back-list for that pen name, since you only publish under that 1 name. Which might make it easier to earn money on it.

The downside is that many people prefer to stick to a single genre when reading. Or even a specific sub-genre. Romance is notorious for this, where you will have readers who only want to read "Enemies to lovers shapeshifter werewolf Romance" stories or something like that. The same people exist in Fantasy of course, where you'll find people who only read epic fantasy is pseudo-medieval England type stories, or only Heroes Journeys. Though I do think the field is a bit more diverse.

The main deciding factors for me would be how fast do you write and how different are the stories. If you write a book a year, and you write fantasy and SciFi, then just drop it all under 1 name. If you write 1 book a month, and you write the aforementioned Childrens stories and Spicy Romance, then give them a different pen name.

The main thing though is that you will first need to finish more than 1 story to the point that it's ready to publish before this becomes an issue. Picking a pen name is pretty much one of the last decisions you need to make. Only when you order a cover do you need to tell the cover designer what name to put on it. Until then you can change without any issue. And even after that, you could probably change it without too much trouble. It's literally just a field on Amazon which reads "author name" for each book you publish. So don't worry about this until then.