The Perils of Pen Names

Go Set A Watchman - the digested read.

'What is Written Without Effort.....

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Paul Whybrow

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Jun 20, 2015
Cornwall, UK
Many famous authors have used one or more pen names, and there can be all sorts of good reasons for the subterfuge - not the least, evading the taxman!
I used several nom-de-plumes when I was writing magazine articles back in the 20th century, and sometimes these were provided by the journal involved, where various writers penned articles as a columnist with an established identity. One of the strangest gigs I had was as an Agony Aunt for a women's magazine. I got the job through having I'd trained as a marriage guidance counsellor and volunteered as a Samaritan, and from growing up surrounded by women knew more about the medicinal use of yoghurt than most men...
When I started writing fiction again in 2013, I cast around for what to call myself. I have nothing against my own name of Paul Whybrow, but wasn't sure how memorable it is. There are a couple of other Whybrows who are writers, though they're not related to me - one is Ian, a children's author, the other Marian and she concentrates on art books.
I chose something that I thought would distinguish me from the norm, and which might stick in people's minds. I had a couple of eccentric great-uncles when I was a child. One was called Edgar, which I didn't fancy as a name, the other was Augustus, which I liked partly because of my favourite Roman emperor. I have ancestors who came over in the Norman invasion of 1066. Their family crest featured various elements, including a strange red heart shape with a devil's forked tail looping upwards from the pointed base.
I'd used this shape as a mascot on crash helmets for years, and for signing artwork, so Augustus Devilheart I became (stop laughing at the back!), which I thought worked OK. After slow sales for my ebooks, several female friends advised me that some readers might be finding my pen name intimidating, thinking that I was a devil worshipper - so why not try my real name? I did, and it helped, though it was a real pain to have to change all of the manuscripts, deleting them from the online sales sites and uploading the new version.
In trying to establish Augustus Devilheart as a creative entity, I'd joined various social media sites using that name. Some of these were easier to alter than others, and I found to my consternation that Goodreads would hold onto my nom-de-plume forever. They don't allow authors to delete books published using a pen name. This made me think of them as more intelligence-hungry than the FBI, KGB, CIA and MI5 combined.
I was assiduous in saying that a book had been previously published using the pen name, by adding a note to the frontispiece and on my blog and social media site profiles. I rather thought that I'd left my former identity behind, until I received a spooky contact update from LinkedIn on my Paul Whybrow Gmail account, asking me if I knew Augustus Devilheart? Well, do I?
Have any of you had problems with pen names?
 
I've had no problems with any of my pen names, and I'm published under three.

Goodreads won't delete books whether you wrote them under a pen name or not. I had one where my rights were returned, and the book is no longer available to purchase. It was never in print, only in e-book form. They still wouldn't delete it. I got around that by deleting all the purchase info and blurbs for the book, and writing instead that the book was no longer available on any site for purchase. This way no one will try to buy it, at least. *shrugs* No biggie.

As for evading taxes, even if you write under a pen name, at least in the USA, the royalties go to your legal name because that's usually the name that has the bank account. Publishers in the USA are required to send you a 1099 and report the royalties to the IRS, so there's no way to avoid paying taxes on them. Publishers outside the USA abide by their country's own rules with respect to reporting taxes, but I still pay taxes on my royalties from my publisher based in Canada. I merely use my royalty statements in lieu of the 1099.

Hope this helps. :)
 
I was actually meaning to start a thread on this.

I have been trying to think of a pen name for a long while. I have a last name picked out, but with my first name the two sound like a romance author's name. Obviously nothing wrong with that except that I'm not a romance writer.

The last name is Hartlily. I picked this for several reasons. When I worked for my college newspaper, we had an annual April Fools' edition in which we all wrote The Onion-style articles and had fake bylines. The names, the then-editor told me, were created through an online generator. Mine was Fujiko Hartlily.

I actually LOVED that name, but Fujiko seemed to be stretching it. Hartlily, though, worked well for me for personal reasons, so I've settled on it.

But first names? I can't think of one that sounds good with it. It needs to be sturdy, Old-World, and yet feminine . . . and yet that's how I would describe my real first name, and the two, as I sound, give the wrong impression.

Why do I need a pen name? Largely because I like my privacy.

And Paul, I think your real name is quite memorable. I've never heard of Whybrow as a last name.
 
Some of these were easier to alter than others, and I found to my consternation that Goodreads would hold onto my nom-de-plume forever. They don't allow authors to delete books published using a pen name. This made me think of them as more intelligence-hungry than the FBI, KGB, CIA and MI5 combined.
I love Goodreads, but they're owned by *cough* Amazon *cough cough* (did you guys hear that? Weird...), so yes, I would expect them to be intelligence hungry.

As for the pen names, I considered writing under N.E. Wilson instead of Nicole, partly because a lot of thriller readers dismiss female authors but also because Nicole Wilson isn't exactly unique. But then I thought about the hassle that could come later down the road (how do people address me, what do I sign as, etc.) and concluded it wasn't worth it for me. My hubby does write under a pen name for fiction since he also does nonfiction and religious works and he wants those separated. Hasn't been a hassle so far for him.
 
One of my favourite pen names is Trevanian, which was used by Rodney William Whitaker to write novels in several genres. His best-known book is The Eiger Sanction, which was filmed by Clint Eastwood.
There haven't been many writers who used one name as a nom-de-plume. Arthur Quiller-Couch, a late 19th- and early 20th-century British author, poet, and literary critic took things further, writing as Q. He was born, lived and died in Cornwall, some twenty miles from where I live, so perhaps I should follow his example and simply call myself P.
Meerkat, you might find inspiration and/or fall about laughing from the suggestions offered by this site, Pen Name Generator :

http://www.plot-generator.org.uk/pen-name/

When I did it, I was offered Cheetah Johns as a general name, PJ Weighty-Knife as a hard-hitting crime pen name and PJ Whyzzow as a sci-fi name!
 
I feel similar to Meerkat in this regard. I like my privacy. But, for some reason (and honestly, I think it's because I'm still insecure about my writing), I like to separate myself from what I've written.

EDIT: I finally figured out how to use the pen name generator (I thought you had to write in your real name then hit suggest...) and my favourite is by far: Pepsi McHelen
 
I feel similar to Meerkat in this regard. I like my privacy. But, for some reason (and honestly, I think it's because I'm still insecure about my writing), I like to separate myself from what I've written.

That separation allows a lot of freedom too. I agree with that, if like me you have bouts of low self esteem then putting on a persona does remove some or all psychological hindrances ...thinking fight club?
 
Hey some of these are pretty good, remember where you heard them folks!

Claire Hades Clarendon
J. C. Stoneman
Jennifer C. Stein
Jennings Stonehouse
Hades Claires
Jessica Stonely
Jeffrey C. clarendon
Jenna Jennson
Hard-Hitting Crime Pen Names
J. C. Long-Quarterstaff
Stone Jennblood
J. C. Quarterstaff-Blackstone
Jerry C. Poison
 
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Go Set A Watchman - the digested read.

'What is Written Without Effort.....

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