Pen Name…or Not?

Whether to adopt a pen name is one of those questions that often comes up in writers’ discussion groups. For some aspiring authors, having a pen name cements their identity as a novelist, for others it’s a functional choice. Changing genre can make picking a pen name a sound commercial decision – publishers and agents may even encourage it. For example, Dominica de Rosa became Elly Griffiths. Publishers often don’t want more than one book per author per year, so a pen name allows for another series in a different style to be published in parallel. So we had Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine offering variations in tone, and Iain Banks/Iain M. Banks shifting between genres.

Writing as a duo can mean coining a name, such as Nikki French. My first encounter with an author of note was with Jean Bagley, widow of Simon, who worked with him on books published under the name Desmond Bagley.

Female writers who marry have a decision on whether to adopt their husband’s name, but if they later divorce and even re-marry the complications mount. Agatha Christie continued to employ her first husband’s name for sheer commercial reasons after marrying Max Mallowan. This can be an issue for female academics for whom the publication list is an important part of their credentials, and many of my acquaintances have stuck with their maiden name from the start.

A new author might wish to conceal their identity, at least in part. When I wrote my first Jeffrey Flint books, I was also writing heavyweight archaeology textbooks under my own name and did not want to cause any confusion between my fiction and non-fiction output. It can be useful to conceal your sex by using initials, if say a man writing a romance or a woman writing a gritty thriller, so as to not prejudice the reader’s choice. Perhaps either your forename or surname is just awkward, and initials are better. Some of us have names which just don’t sound like an author of the genre in which we are writing, or which are never going to stand out from the crowd.

It is a source of irritation to even well-known author friends with less common names when their name is mis-spelled, especially in hastily written reviews. My own name often becomes Monahan or Monagham, and is equally often mis-pronounced. Monaghan is Irish but I didn’t want to play on this as I lack any roots in the Emerald Isle. Following all the above logic, back in the 1990s I decided I needed a pen name. Sheets of paper were soon covered in possible pseudonyms. As I lived in a village called Wilberfoss, ‘Wilbur Foss’ made the shortlist but in discussion with my agent ‘Jason Foss’ won. There were not many Jasons in my generation and Foss is both easy to spell and in the middle of the alphabet – placing the books more or less in that part of the shop or library shelf where a browsing reader decides they ought to choose something.

But whatever happened to Jason Foss, you ask? Was there a murky plot in which he was dumped in a virtual shallow grave when his books were re-issued with that awkward-to-spell Monaghan name? In short, yes.

Since the advent of the internet, the value of a pen name has shrunk. Unless you take enormous care to remain anonymous, the rest of the world can find out your real name in a fraction of a second. If you want to distance yourself from other works you’ve published, they can’t be hidden. A more serious consideration is that the more connected your output is, the easier it is for search engines to build links, raising your profile. Having two or more names fights against such connectivity. Then of course there is the question of how to keep your website, Amazon author page, social media pages and newsletter coherent if you write under several names. Attending conferences is now very much part of an author’s life, so what name will appear on your badge?

In an earlier blog we discussed the question of ‘Who are You?’ Many new authors already have a successful career in another field, even if not ‘celebrities’, and probably have a digital footprint to go with it. This gives them a launchpad when they are still unknown as a writer, in particular gaining interest with local media, shops and libraries. I was for a while the first or second ‘Jason Foss’ on Google but gradually slipped below various dopplegangers as social media use ballooned. However, the real me stayed up there as my archaeology and museum work entails a steady stream of publications, plus newspaper, radio, magazine and local TV slots. Monaghan became more visible than Foss, so my alter ego had to die.

We are now in a world where an author such as Antony Johnston can switch from writing graphic novels to spy thrillers to cosy crime without a change of name. People make less assumptions about a book from the sex of the writer and having an exotic name means at least you’ll stand out – modern search engines helpfully correct browsers who miss out the g in the middle of an author’s name.

Authors are now very much a brand, and the name you choose to write under becomes intimately part of your brand.

Lady in the Lake is available as part of the Complete Jeffrey Flint Mysteries from Lume Books.