I read quite a bit, I have many books on several bookshelves and when reading as many books as I do it can get confusing when an author writes under 2 or three different pen names.
Here are just a few authors I like that also write under other names...
Jayne Ann Krentz, aka Jayne Castle, aka Amanda Quick
Kinley MacGregor is also Sherrilyn Kenyon
Jessica Bird is also J.R. Ward
Kim Harrison is also Dawn Cook
Meg Cabot is also Jenny Carroll
Katie MacAlister is also Katie Maxwell
Nora Roberts is also J.D. Robb.
Stephen King is also Richard Bachmann
Shayla Black is also Shelley Bradley
Oh and my favorite pen names that I didn't know about until recently and a friend told me about it, is Ann Rice writing a dom/sub-bondage series under pen name A. N. Roquelaure. She also wrote 2 other novels involving BDSM and the darker side of romance under the pseudonym Anne Rampling.
I realize there are any number of reasons for having a pen name and the one I see the most is that the author wants to write different genres of books for different publisher's and it's easier to do so under a different name.
Another reason is that they have a day job in which their boss and co workers know nothing of their writing persona's and they want to keep it that way.
While I kinda of understand that last reason it also makes me feel like they are ashamed of what they write and don't want their peers to know they write romance or whatever it is they write. I'm probably wrong and they aren't ashamed at all, but that's what it looks like to this outsider.
I thought it was funny that I had been reading two different authors for quite some time and then after a while I went to one of the authors websites and found out...they were the same person writing under different names. It's hard to keep all the different names straight because there are so many authors that do it and just when you think you know what their real name is, you find out that all of their writing is under a pseudonym because they don't want to use their real name.
When I first started writing articles I could have chosen a pen name but I chose to write under my real name. I wanted everyone to know it was me. You can find my articles here.
My friends who have children all write under pen names. I decided to write under my own name. I wanted to see "my name" on the covets :)
ReplyDeleteI myself use a different name. The real name is Karunesh Kaushal, which is a bit longer by north Indian standards. Hence KK.
ReplyDeleteGotta say, no one could have used "p" for "pen names", cool! :-)
Cool. Recently only I understood that Nora Roberts and J D Robb are the same person. :)
ReplyDeleteShelley, I can sure understand wanting to see your own name on the books.
ReplyDeleteKK, Thanks for your comment.
Me, It's sometimes hard to keep up with all the pen names.
We were on today, with the pen names indeed at each feed, and yeah my ego is too big, need my own name to show lol
ReplyDeletePat, Me too.
ReplyDeleteAhh pen names drive me crazy. I'm always finding one popping up here or there. If I'm gonna read an author I want to know all of what's out there and not have to have to actually hunt for it.
ReplyDeleteSome reasons I can kinda get but I much prefer it when an author writes under their own name. And only one. The feeling embarrassed/etc thing. That's how I see it which like you said, maybe the wrong impression, but how it feels sometimes.
Shelly Laurenston is GA Aiken if you read them.
Rob-bear is a pen name which is a play on my real name. I'm not sure why I chose that and continue to use it. It's just that, well, er, um. . . .
ReplyDeleteProfessionally (as in for my work) I've always used my real name. But blogging is, well, different from more formal writing. I wanted those two personalities, writing and blogging, to be separated. Because my blogging is very different from my professional work. Because I may offer very different positions on my blog than I might do in my writing, and vice versa.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
Bears Noting
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI will eventually use a pen name after I finish my novels. I want to keep my adult content materials seperate from my young adult writing. Plus, if you're really well know, say J.K. Rowling well known, I would think the judgement to be much harsher on your second novel (as it was for her). Writing under a pen name might alleviate that. Jennifer a.k.a Urban Gypsy Girl
ReplyDeleteI intend on using a pen name. I like the relative anonymity of using one.
ReplyDeleteI also write under my real name. I'm so horrible at remembering names, I can barely get just one name right. I can't imagine confusing myself by creating a name I can't even remember. LOL
ReplyDelete#atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com