use of pseudonyms

[elevatorpitch]

I am sorry if this has been asked before, but when you send your submission and the agent has asked you to put the name of author and novel in the subject headings, do you put your real name or the pseudonym you want to use?

I would like to use a pseudonym because I have a very unusual surname and would like to retain privacy.

I also wondered about marketing, how do publishers view authors who use pseudonyms not wanting to get involved personally in marketing?

Thanks!

Publishers expect authors to get out there and market the book as much as possible, and a pseudonym doesn’t help that. An author who flat out refused to do any publicity/festivals/bookshop visits would have to have written a pretty jawdropping book, I think. Don’t know if the recent AJ Finn/Mallory controversy will have made them even more concerned!

I would put your real name. They don't care what your name is unless they're interested in the book.

But yeah, agree with PP. Wanting to 'retain privacy' and publish a book doesn't really go together. What genre are you writing in? Obviously there are people like JK Rowling who wanted a gender neutral name because of the genre she was writing in... It's a racy sex book isn't it?

I thought it was common to use pseudonyms. The only author I have ever met used a pseudonym, and she was published not long ago. I don't know what the situation was with marketing.

luna are you saying that you agree with pp that if a publisher got interested they would expect me to get out there and market?

My book isn't racy sex stuff, no, lol. But... I wouldn't want my colleagues and clients reading it. Because there is that personal element when you write. You think that that is unusual for an wannabe author?

bitofeverything thanks, doubt it will be jaw dropping sadly. I wonder if you are right re the Mallory fiasco, that publishers would now be concerned.

I think pseudonyms are probably more of a genre fiction and/or self published thing - crime, fantasy, romance, and so on.

Regular traditionally published fiction, with an agent, no not so common. Can you think of any authors you aspire to be like who use pseudonyms? I can only think of big authors who publish under their own name in one genre, and use another to write in another genre. I'm wondering what kind of fiction isn't personal to a writer! Unless it was an abuse memoir or filthy, why wouldn't you want colleagues to read it?

Remember too that a book could be marketed or sold to a publisher based on you personally. E.g. it's crime fiction and you work in the police force. Or you're only 22 and wrote it in a month. Or a million other things. Very few books are published anonymously! I doubt you'd get very far that way unless it was something like an expose of the CIA or genre as above.

As a traditionally published author you would be expected to (in a best case hit book scenario): give a presentation to people at your publisher about your book so they can sell it, go to bookshops and pitch your book to booksellers before it's published, have a launch party or event, appear at bookshops and literary festivals talking about your book and giving readings, go to bookshops and meet booksellers and sign books, give interviews to journalists, appear on the radio/podcasts/tv... It's a public role. If you refused to do the above you probably wouldn't get very far. If you don't want people to know you write it's probably not for you.

What do you envisage the job of author being like? Why is your fiction so personal?

The thing is that even once you’ve got over the hurdle of a publisher signing it, there are then literally thousands of books published every year. And especially for a debut, it’s quite important to have a story to talk about to catch attention (I know a lot of authors aren’t hugely fussed about sales, but obvs most publishers are). So if you’re not prepared to talk about yourself/the book’s inspiration, you are ditching a major element of potential publicity and that won’t delight a publisher. I’m almost not sure how they would go about marketing something if the author wouldn’t do any publicity. It’s a rapidly changing market, and I think readers now almost expect a degree of interaction with the author - whether through social media etc.

Ok, well, it looks like my book might be a bit of a nonstarter, then! I appreciate your advice.

What do you envisage the job of author being like? I thought it would be writing things that people want to read, some of which is going to draw on personal experiences! I thought I could go and live in the deepest darkest countryside and never answer the front door or the phone unless it was one of my DCs! I realise now that I am Completely Wrong. Thank goodness I changed my name for this thread.

Well that does describe some of the job! Every novel ever written draws on an author's personal experiences to a greater or lesser extent. They might not admit this, or they might. Both are fine. It sounds like you're afraid people will assume eveything you write is real and based on fact. Why would they think that? (Unless it's a memoir, obviously). Do you assume this when you read novels - that the author is only basing it on their own real life experiences and judge them for it? What kind of fiction do you read? Who are your favourite authors? How does this apply to them?

It sounds like you need to build up confidence in your own work and you are worrying about what other people think of you? You need some metaphorical balls to write a book and publish it. First of all it's a hugely audacious act to decide people will pay money to read what you have to say. You're putting yourself out there for judgement from everyone. Both people you know and strangers. The more confident you are in your writing, the more you won't care what people think. If you do care, I think it would be difficult. I've never actually heard of a novelist wanting to be anonymous!

What are you writing? What do you hope to achieve? Perhaps self publishing is more the type of experience you want?

You can always do publicity under your pseudonym. I'm an author and I've appeared at festivals alongside several authors who were there under their professional names rather than their actual ones. Obviously it'll still be your face and your body so you won't be anonymous exactly. But a name that's not your name shouldn't be a problem.

Interesting question - I've wondered this too. I'm a professional with an unusual surname - I wouldn't like my professional life in my main job linked with writing (admittedly fairly trashy) fiction with sex scenes in. The thought of my prof reading my sex scenes makes me die inside! Not that they're bad sex scenes (I'm reliably informed by multiple readers that they're a damn sight better than most). Just... well, it'd be like your mum reading them.

Mind you, since the most I'm ever likely to achieve is self-publishing I don't suppose it's a problem.

I'm intrigued by some of these responses - I thought it was common to have a pseudonym. Assuming you are not at all well known at the start of your professional writing career, why would it matter, as long as you did all the publicity in your pseudonym?

It must be essential sometimes, surely - suppose your real name is very similar to that of an established author? If you happened to be called 'Joanne Rowling' for instance? Or, if you have a very common, forgettable name, wouldn't it be better to write under something distinctive?

Yes of course you can absolutely use a pseudonym and do publicity under it if you want to for the reasons PPs say: name already taken, or difficult, because it works for genre... I'm saying it's not necessarily usual and am asking why in the OP's case.

The OP talks about using one because they want privacy, and to not be associated with the book, as well as 'not get involved with marketing' which is a totally different reason for wanting a pseudonym. So I suppose I'm responding to that reason for wanting one, rather than the idea of a pseudonym itself.

Sexy fiction would definitely be a good reason to have one and an accepted convention within that genre. But obviously as soon as you publish traditionally to any degree of success your real name would be out there, though it might give you a degree of separation.

An agent would probably want to know your reasons for using a pseudonym, and might have thoughts about it, depending on the way they want to pitch the book to editors, and the genre. So my suggestion is to use the real name in a submission, and discuss the pseudonym with your agent and work on the best one to use with them. Or you could say, 'Clare Jones intending to write as Kate Smith'. I just don't know why you'd use a fake name trying to get an agent, personally. They need to know who they're dealing with. As long as you make it clear what your real name is in the submission that's fine.

I don't, however, think any agent would take you on if you said you were writing secretly and didn't want anyone to know who you were or do any publicity for the book at all. That's a different thing.

Thanks Freesia and the others. I think I am going to see what agents think about my submission before worrying too much about it!

I think you may have misinterpreted what i posted, slightly luna - firstly I wasn't suggesting I'd approach agents with a fake name, the question was whether when referring to book and title I should use my real name, ie emails would go to agent in my real name but when referring to book (some agents want you to refer to book and author as doc headings) use pen name so that it is obvious that that using a pen name is my intention.

Re marketing i didn't realise it would be a big deal to not get involved - so the fact that it is is something I have learned from this thread. And I see that some authors market under their pseudonym, and on that basis marketing to book shops and at fairs etc would all be fine. I wouldn't want to do radio or tv interviews or have photographs taken but I am really not going to worry about that given that I have even sent off submissions yet! Some people would enjoy public recognition and others wouldn't, and I would not enjoy it.

I think that another thing that I have realised is that it sounds as though in your line of work going on social media using your real name is normal whereas in my line of work privacy in relation to private life is normal, and that would include book writing, social lives, anything not related to profession. Many people I know use fake names for facebook.

Why did you ask about what books inspired me, just out of interest? I am sorry, I know you asked lots of questions and i didn't answer many of them, they didn't have short answers! I wasn't sure why which authors I aspired to be like would be relevant to pen names?

All the answers have been really helpful, I think I have a slightly clearer picture now! Thanks

Oh, so sorry if I misinterpreted! I think its up to you whether you mention the pseudonym or not in agent submission. Wouldn't be a deal breaker. It's all about the book being good, really. As long as your pseudonym isn't something ridiculously affected and OTT that might put an agent off! It's a tiny detail in the grand scheme of things, honestly.

Yes you're right. In publishing we all know each other and social media is very big. Books are big business and essentially a product to be marketed, not a personal or private project. Your agent submission is basically a job application to work in the industry, which is a public facing one. It's not about printing this one project. It's about you as an author too and, frankly, how much money you can make an agent or publisher. (I am hugely generalising here). So bear that in mind if you're choosing this route.

I'm asking because when you pitch yourself to an agent you would obviously be selling yourself as a specific type of author or brand. For the readers of... So I'm trying to get a feel for the kind of author you see yourself as and whether they commonly have pseudonyms/are very private/anonymous, or whether part of their 'brand' (that word again!) involves their background/personality/history. So I'd look at where you as an author sit in comparison to other authors. Research your favourites and what they do - how visible they are and so on. Get a feel for the industry.

It would be very hard to get away with not having at least a headshot taken. Everyone hates photos and lots of authors are shy retiring types who hate public speaking. But it does make it harder to market the book. I'm just trying to make the point that it's not really a thing you can do secretly. But you can worry about all of this once you're onto the next stage, as you say. Good luck!

luna thanks and one last question. How much knowledge do I need to have about contemporary fiction, and the industry generally?

I have to do a bit of marketing as part of my job and I understand that writing is a business.

I write under a pseudonym and its fine. All my social media accounts are in my pen-name - my personal accounts are locked down privacy wise. People know its a pen-name and they could track me down effortlessly on Google - but that's fine.

Do submit under your real name though - the business of pen-names etc, is much, much later down the line. Its no big deal and nothing to worry about.

That is perfect, helmet, just what I wanted to know - thanks!

Re. Knowledge - most of us are learning as we go along, I think.

Thanks

Hmm. I hear what you're saying. I was published under my real name - didn't really think about it - then I started getting weird shit in the post. Most worrying was the set of photographs of me, taken by somebody who had clearly started following me around. Yikes.

Gawd, that sounds awful Sicario. Did you go to the police?

No. It only happened the once (!) and my husband is 6'3".

Hello! You don't need to know anything really - you'll learn as you go. However most aspiring writers I know find it helps to read Writers and Artists Yearbook, and thoroughly research the area of fiction they want to work in - what the hit books are, for example - in order to get their pitch and submission spot on.

Most people in publishing love books and read widely and engage with the industry in general because it's a passion as well as a job. As a writer I'm sure you're already somewhat of a bookworm and keep up with new releases in your genre through a natural love of literature - that's really all you need to know!

As a traditionally published author you would be expected to (in a best case hit book scenario): give a presentation to people at your publisher about your book so they can sell it, go to bookshops and pitch your book to booksellers before it's published, have a launch party or event, appear at bookshops and literary festivals talking about your book and giving readings, go to bookshops and meet booksellers and sign books, give interviews to journalists, appear on the radio/podcasts/tv... It's a public role. If you refused to do the above you probably wouldn't get very far.

my publisher is digital - so we dont really have to do any of that - unless we want to of course- and theres plenty who dont.

it might be, op, that you would bemore comfortable in the more on-line world of digital rather than traditional at first anyway.

I no longer have any reason to not press the send button. It is quite a hard reality check after so many months of putting your heart and soul into something, isn't it?!

I will look at digital, helmet thank you, but actually the idea of marketing doesn't bother me at all now that I am used to the idea.