Nom de Plume

[Ophiucha]

I don't think either name attracts me, or turns me away from, a book in that genre. They both just sort of sound like names to me. I suppose Farnham itself might make me look, since I have relatives in Farnham, Surrey(, England), but that's basically happenstance.

As an aside, though, I'm wondering if I'm the only one who is slightly turned off by obviously fake names? Like, JC Farnham is fine to me. Could be real name. Mark Twain, very good. But I am always hesitant to pick up a book by someone with a name like Catherynne M. Valente (who, for the record, I think is a great author). I just see it and I say, "hmm, yes, Catherynne, eh? Either you have terrible parents or that's a fake name." It can be much worse, obviously. I've seen far too many YA paranormal romance authors with names like Raven to honestly believe any of them are named Raven.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

I think good books have a way of becoming known, no matter what the name. I didn't know who Brandon Sanderson was when I started Mistborn, but the reviews were excellent, and within a chapter I was hooked. Good writing far outweighs the bs of marketing. People who read something good, will tell others, and then those people tell others, and so on. Sadly, there are only so many really good writers....which is what I hope to be one of these years.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

I use my nickname that everyone calls me by for my writing for a very simple reason: I am a secondary teacher. We can be subjected to some pretty rough background checks, and I understand some of it. But that my fantasy can get a little gritty and sexy really shouldn't be material to whether or not I am an appropriate teacher. Right now I'm subbing, but I'm sending out resumes. When I am a teacher, I use my legal name.

 

[phoenixwings]

I am considering a pen name because of some of the reasons mentioned by Ravana but mainly because my name is too plain and boring to fit with fantasy.

I have thought about using Blaze Mckenna as my pen name for a while now as it sounds a lot more punchier than my proper, usual name. But i'm not sure if it's reasonable and not too silly.

 

[W.k. Trail]

I'm tempted to use a pseudonym because my (very supportive) twitter followers are all completely convinced that I'm a lady and I hate to disappoint them. But there's the matter of needing to actually promote the book on Facebook, and it'd suck from the perspective of telling people about my book that has a lady's name on it.

 

[Steerpike]

I'm tempted to use a pseudonym because my (very supportive) twitter followers are all completely convinced that I'm a lady and I hate to disappoint them. But there's the matter of needing to actually promote the book on Facebook, and it'd suck from the perspective of telling people about my book that has a lady's name on it.

Create a separate "business" page under the assumed name to promote the work.

 

[writeshiek33]

i have been pondering using pen names for different genres but then again my name interesting and when i found out at teenager what it meant i naturally become depressed because my name means happy