I know that some authors don't use there real names..?

Question

Why do they do that? And does it take more work with like, the goverment or something? Anyway.. how would you come up with a name like that? PLEASE HELP! i'm really intrested!!

Answer 1

a) for reputation
b) for publisher's sake
c) to keep their own identity

explaination for a–If an author like JK Rowling wrote a chick novel–like "All American Girl" or one of those quick reads and put her name, even the more advanced readers who care to read stuff like Harry Potter would read it and her reputation as a fantasy writer would worsen. Therefore she'd use a name like Kelly Clark or something.

explaination for b–in the old days, people didn't want to read t hings written by girls. So often women writers would use pennnames in order to a) get published and b) get taken seriously
explaination for c–Some biographies or diaries are very private, and authors clearly don't want themselves to be known about.

Answer 2

There are a variety of reasons that one chooses a pseudonym.

1. They have a contract with a publisher under their real name. Some publishers restrict authors to a certain number of book releases. A publisher can say that an author under contract can release only two books a year. As a way around this, an author can write under another name and not be in violation of the contract.

2. The author is writing in a different genre than they usually do. Nora Roberts does this. When she writes mysteries, she writes under J.D. Robb.

3. An author wants to know if people buy his books for his talent or for his name. Stephen King did this when he wrote under the name Richard Bachman.

4. The author wants to deceive the reader. It is widely rumored that Stephen and Tabitha King did this with "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer," which was passed off as a memoir.

5. The author wants to maintain his/her privacy. Popular writers can get a lot of unwanted attention. A pen name is a good way to avoid it.

6. The writing is controversial. If an author doesn't want negative attention, death threats, media coverage, etc. Also when the author is writing something he doesn't want his family or friends to see.

7. The writer is female. Books written by women don't sell as well as those by men. Sad, but true.

8. To cover up ethnicity. Basically the same reason as being a woman.

My guess is that it doesn't cause too much more work for the government. I am assuming you're talking about taxes and things like that. Pseudonyms are connected to the author's real name somewhere, since, above all, the author probably wants to get paid! The pseudonyms are all a matter of personal preference. They are made up of middle names, pets, family members, etc.

Answer 3

Authors use pen names (or nom de plumes) for various reasons. Sometimes, a mystery writer will use a different pen name for books about different characters (ie. Eleanor Hibbert (real name) wrote as Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt and others). Other times, a writer will separate different genres with a name (ie. Janet Evanovich (mysteries) and Steffie Hall (Romance)). Often, pen names are chosen to protect the personal life of an author.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_name

Answer 4

You can publish under a pseudonym if you like, or as one person pointed out, in Canada and other places you will hear publishers and agents call it a nom de plume, which is simply French for pen name; however, when you sign the contract you will sign your legal name for legality purposes. Royalty checks or other compensation, for tax purposes, will be sent to your legal name, legal address, etc. Copyrighting gets slightly more complicated, and that information can be found on the web at: http://www.copyright.gov/

However, a good agent will walk you through everything. Be careful not to be scammed by trolls on the internet claiming to be agents interested in your work, then charging fees for copies, copyediting, mailing your ms places, etc. Trolls, I suppose, is a bit understated for some of these operations. There is information out there on this at: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

Hope I've helped.

Alex

Answer 5

Lots of reasons to use pseudonyms. As a writer myself, I've considered writing under the name Amanda Lee (my middle name) instead of the usual First Name Surname format. Sometimes that's to set yourself apart from someone else already writing who has your name (apparently I share a name with a trashy romance novel writer. Great.). Sometimes it's just to do something different. Maybe they were unfortunate victims of their parents' cruel joke and received a not-so-great name, so they decide to change it.

As far as government and everything goes, I don't think there's anything to it. Stephen King, Anne Rice, all kinds of popular authors use pen names, but I'm sure their royalty checks all go to the same place with the same name.

Answer 6

Not only do some use psuedonyms, some write under two or more names. Here are some examples:
Ed McBain/Evan Hunter
Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle
Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb
Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell
Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels

Answer 7

some people's names are very ethnic sounding and the book may not sell well using their real name so the use a nom de plume (pen name)

some books may have a female author but the story line is very manly so she may use a man's name (or vice versa)

an example...a military book written by Sgt Rock Peters is much better than by Stanley Myron Handleman

Answer 8

to keep there own identity secert