How to Choose a Pen Name

hello everybody if you've done your homework on the publishing industry then you already know just how important it is for writers to set up an effective author platform but a lot of writers completely forget that the first step before even building your author platform is determining your author name but Jenna what's in a name I mean after all but rose by any other name would smell shut up this is important as an author your name is your brand and as you grow your audience your name in theory is going to become more and more recognizable that's why it's important to consider your author name very carefully because if somewhere down the line you realize hey my author name sucks it's gonna be really hard to change but Jenna can't I just use my real name yes you can that's what I did but some people have shitty names or names that just won't work for their author platform and I'm here to tell you how to figure out if that's the case this topic is sponsored by my good friends over at Skillshare because as you already know I love me some skill share skill share is an incredible online learning community with over 17,000 classes available in everything you can think of creative writing business graphic design and a buttload of other topics the whole concept is pretty genius Premium Membership gets you unlimited access to all kinds of classes for a super low monthly fee and you can even take a class presented by me and you know I'm not gonna leave you empty-handed so stick around until the end of this video for some extra special goodies but first I'm gonna cover the questions you need to ask yourself when choosing an author name imagine being stuck with this name forever are you cool with it if your work starts eating a ton of attention which I assume is your goal it's gonna be really hard to change your pen name without experiencing some type of struggle or backlash so you might as well try to get it right the first time a lot of new writers get really excited at the idea of a pen name so they decide to use something fantastical like sunrise Moonbeam or prism butterfl others go for something sexy like Donatella rose-garden or shaft man rod here's the thing do you honestly truly believe you want to be shaft man rods for the rest of your life is there even the slightest thought in your mind that made in a few years you'll think this name is dumbest if the answer is yes maybe think of something else does your name already belong to someone famous this in my opinion is the absolute most obvious reason to choose a pen name the whole point of putting your name online is so that readers can access your work right you want them to be able to Google your name and find your book but if your real name just so happens to be Stephen King guess who readers are gonna find when they google you I'll give you a hint it's not you this doesn't just go for famous authors this goes for all celebrities if you have the same name as an actor musician porn star or literally anyone more famous than you are that means search results are going to take readers to their content not yours in this situation it benefit you to use a pen name that way people aren't misdirected when looking for your book are you trying to distance yourself from someone or something sometimes a name doesn't necessarily belong to someone famous but it sure offers up a lot of negative implications maybe your name is Harry Weiner that's unfortunate it'd be pretty understandable if you decided to use a pen name or maybe even change your name altogether what if your first name just happens to be Adolf how much would that suck what if you belong to a family of felons what if you're related to another famous author and you don't want people thinking you're writing their coattails via the family name the odds of any of this being the case are extremely slim but if this applies to you a pen name is an obvious solution how comfortable are you with having your name on the Internet a lot of people are really excited about having their actual name featured on their book cover but there are plenty of situations where an author does not want their writing easily traced back to them especially if their work is controversial scandalous or filled with vajay angles and dangled dues this is probably the most common reason writers choose pen names they're just not comfortable with the whole world knowing that they're the creator of whatever they created there are certain genres that are filled with pen names like romance erotica and satire for example and this is perfectly rational not everyone wants their family or their boss to know they write about BDSM or wild orgies for politics other it has nothing to do with the content the writer just happens to be an extremely private person so before you make this decision imagine someone googling your name and stumbling across your book if this vision gives you immense pride then using your real name may be the best decision for you but if you're cringing at the thought of it maybe use a pen name instead does your name or pen name fit your genre before you start freaking out let me clarify your name does not need to completely match your genre I write fantasy and sci-fi you don't see me going by windcatcher Dragon Slayer or robotic on three thousand the thing is a lot of writers choose pen names based on what they think sounds cool without any consideration regarding the message it conveys if you choose the pen name Aurora blaze people are gonna think you write Harlequin romance which is great if you do but kind of crappy if you write contemporary if you go by chastity wild people are gonna think you're right erotica which is a problem if you write sci-fi but Jenna my pen name is just a regular old name what are people gonna think then they're not gonna think which is probably a good thing pen names don't always have to leave a lasting impression but if yours does make sure it at least meshes with the image you're trying to project lastly how many genres are you writing some John must go well together like science fiction and fantasy or mysteries and thrillers in these situations you can easily write multiple genres and still use the same author name however if you're writing in genres that have completely different audiences for example historical romance and psychological horror it might be worth considering using a different name for each genre don't get me wrong having multiple pen names is a pain in the ass that means you need multiple social media presences multiple marketing plans it's a mess but a lot of writers do this because they're catering to completely different audiences there's a good chance your romance fans won't give a about your thrillers and might even be turned off by the marketing please keep in mind you are not at all obligated to use different pen names some authors write a slew of genres under one name and do just fine others simply use slight variations in their names for example there are some authors who write both young adult and adult novels they'll use their full name for the young adult book and abbreviations for the adult books regardless the rioting of genres you right should play a role in your author name decision so there you have it those are the questions you need to ask yourself before choosing a pen name you most certainly can write under your real name but using a pen name is a viable option and regardless of which route you go this is something you need to nail down before you start building your author platform which brings me to my final point most of you know that last month I officially debuted my very first class on Skillshare titled digital marketing for writers grow your audience and author platforms a lot of you have been asking me to elaborate on my personal marketing tactics specifically how I was able to create such a successful author platform which is why I decided to build an in-depth class on this topic however I did not expect it to blow up as quickly as it has the class has been trending on Skillshare it even hit number one I am just in awe as a thank you for helping me make my class such a huge success Skillshare is offering two months of Skillshare premium for free if you click the link below if you miss the first promo or weren't able to take my class this is your opportunity to get on it all you have to do is click the link the first 100 people to click will get their first two months of Skillshare premium for free after that it's as low as ten bucks a month but you can cancel at any time don't miss out and take my class cuz I said so with that said don't forget to subscribe to my channel I post new videos on Wednesdays and if you want to be alerted as soon as I upload a video bring that little bell down below and if you have any questions be sure to tweet me at generosity bye

Channel: Writing with Jenna Moreci

Views: 112,971

Rating: 4.9654822 out of 5

Keywords: write, writer, writing, read, reader, reading, book, books, ebook, author, literature, novel, publish, publishing, pen name, author name, choose a pen name, writing tips, writing advice, amwriting, humor, comedy, funny, laughter, laugh, skillshare

Id: Crb_nY2PBLE

Length: 8min 6sec (486 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 15 2017