Do You Need A Pen Name?

Do you need a pen name when writing a book? Pen names, also known as pseudonyms, are more popular than ever. They have become brand names and are designed to be memorable and suited to your genre.

Using a pen name is not only legal, it is often a smart business decision. However, you should never pick a pseudonym willy-nilly. If you choose to use a pen name, make sure it fits with your marketing strategy.

Why Use a Pen Name?

Branding
When deciding on a pen name, you should try to set the right tone. Do you want it to be romantic, mysterious, authoritative, or funny? They may have different pen names for different genres. A writer of paranormal romance will likely choose a different pen name for a historical fiction. Writers who have failed under their true name often will start over with a pen name. Think about how many actors in Hollywood do not use their true names!

Privacy
As a writer, you may or may not want your friends, family, or employer to know the subject of your writing. If you write sexy stories, maybe you don’t want your church to know. If you write about disliking a particular industry group, perhaps you do not want your employer to know. Privacy is one of the main reasons writers choose pen names.

Avoiding confusion
If a writer has a common name, or the same name as someone famous, a pen name avoids confusion. How many John Browns are there in the world?

How to Choose a Pen Name

Choosing a pen name is both fun and easy to do. It takes a little bit of creativity and marketing savvy. To start, you should write down a short list of your ideas.

Once you decide on a short list of names, you need to do the following:

• Research. Your pen name should be unique to you. Do not pick a name that is already used all over the place or is an already well-known author. Search Amazon to see if any of the names you like are already in use. You should also do a trademark search through the U.S. Trademark Office. If you use the name of registered trademarks, you put yourself at risk. For example, you do not want to choose the name Stephen King.
• Selection. You should buy a website domain and create an author page. You may also want to file a Fictitious Business Name if you will be getting payments made out to your pseudonym.
• Use. Place the pen name on your book cover, marketing materials, and your copyright notice, © 2018 [your pen name].
• Be open about it. Usually, you will need to use your real name with your publisher. Most contracts are signed in your real name. The exception is when you form a corporation or other entity (as I describe below), but even then, most publishers want to know their authors.
• Register your copyright. You may register the copyright of your work under your pseudonym, your real name, or both. We have an article about how to copyright.

Quick Summary

Using a pen name can be helpful, particularly if you have a long or difficult to pronounce name. Remember that you are creating a brand. You need a brand to help you be identified by your readers and to help you market your books to potential readers. If you already have a great name, and it is not super-common, you may not need a pen name. Then again, having a pseudonym may be wise if you plan on writing books of different genres. Have fun with choosing a pen name, but always keep the business and marketing in mind!

Do you use a pen name? If so, let us know in the comment section below!

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