Many authors write under a pseudonym, also known as a pen name. If you think writing under an alias is in your future, here are some criteria to help you decide. I’ve also got some tips on how best to come up with one.

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Writing Under a Pseudonym

Real talk: I’ve had a pseudonym for seven or eight years now. As a wee high schooler, I got it into my head that I needed an alias if I was going to get my WIP published. Well, I’m not there yet. However, having my pseudonym for so long has had its benefits. I’ve made great friends and valuable connections through my pen name; it’s how some authors and agents know me, since I mainly interact with book Twitter through it. It allows me a certain degree of separation from my professional life. My reasons were my own, but if any of yours line up, a pen name might be something to consider. 

A quick disclaimer: I’m not going into the politics of whether you should change the cultural origin of your pseudonym. If you’re an author of color, my personal wish is that you keep your real name if your personal circumstances allow it. (This is not an invitation for white authors to choose more “diverse sounding” names. That’s wrong, bud.) My opinion is that there’s so much beauty in diversity, and we need more voices—named voices—from people of color and marginalized backgrounds.

Why Do You Want A Pseudonym?

First thing’s first; do you really need an alias? Ask yourself why you want one. Some common reasons to make a pseudonym are as follows:

1. You work in an industry where you don’t want your writing to be traced back to you

2. You don’t want people knowing your real name for privacy purposes

3. You already write in another genre or age group

4. You don’t think your book would reach its target audience if it was written by someone of your gender

5. Your real name is hard to spell, so you think readers might not be able to find you

6. You, frankly, don’t like your name

Addressing #1, a lot of my friends are expecting to go into some form of academia, so they know they’re going to need a pen name if they want to continue writing fiction. #2 is definitely a valid concern; if you’re a person who values their privacy, a pseudonym could definitely work for you to obfuscate your real identity from readers.

For #3, a good example of genre/age group jumping is the author V.E. Schwab. V is a wonderful person, and is best known for the adult novels The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Vicious and A Darker Shade of Magic, as well as the YA novels in the Monsters of Verity series. Schwab’s YA and MG books are written under her full name: Victoria Schwab. When she took the plunge into adult fiction, she used her initials as her pseudonym. It made a clear divide between her younger readers and her older readers.

Which actually brings me into #4. Now, A Darker Shade of Magic features a male protagonist. Readers have told Schwab (and other female authors with pseudonyms or gender neutral names) that they never would have picked up their books if they’d known they were written by a woman. That’s why the Harry Potter series wasn’t written by Joanne Rowling; if it was widely known that a woman had written a book about an eleven-year-old boy wizard, it likely wouldn’t have sold as well. It might not have become the cultural icon it is. Why? Because it would’ve been written off as a “girl book,” just for the author’s name. This was the major reason I sought out a pen name in high school.

I understand #5 can stem from fear of folks not spelling your name right. There are at least five ways people have misspelled my own last name, which, I’ll admit, was a factor in my decision. #6, though, is more aesthetic based. A name doesn’t necessarily need to “sound” author-y to be successful. If you make a reputation for yourself, people will spell your name right. 

How Do I Choose a pseudonym?

Still here? Cool! Thanks for coming along for the ride. You’re either still curious, or you’ve decided you truly do need a pseudonym. Now comes the next hurdle. What do you choose?

For you folks going against gender biases or who desire privacy, this might work for you. I read an article in high school with a prescription that stayed with me. It suggested:

1. A gender neutral first name, two syllables

2. A single-syllable surname, with a first letter close to a popular author you’d want to be shelved near in the book store

The syllable combo suggestion is supposed to make it easier for your name to roll off the tongue. The neutral first name is supposed to be more appealing to more… picky readers of a certain gender. 

That’s how I picked my alias. It’s a whole new name, nothing like my own. It’s easy to spell, and definitely gender neutral. I knew it was successful when I attended a writing workshop webinar my freshman year of college. When I cracked a joke about hockey, the host said “this guy cracks me up.” I was an eighteen-year-old girl.

You might find it easier to give yourself the Schwab treatment. Simply tack a first or first-and-middle initial before your surname. It’s hard to derive gender from lone letters. Except S. S is pretty curvy.

Obviously, these aren’t hard-and-fast rules. You’ll find there are very few rules when it comes to this stuff. No one’s going to glare at you for having three syllables in one name or one syllable for both.

If you’re going genre or age category-hopping, do some research! I know romance writers have certain authorial conventions that you should brush up on. Basically, if you want to make up a name, it should sound like a romance writer name. Sci-fi writers are similar, with a fair number of initialized names in the bunch. Although, I wouldn’t go with puns, at the risk of readers not taking you seriously.

Research the market you want to break into, and dub thyself accordingly.

Separation is Key

The biggest challenge you might face with a pseudonym is keeping your writing life separate from your real life. Chances are, your family and friends are going to know about your writing endeavors (unless you’re making a pseudonym solely so your parents won’t read your sex scenes, in which case, I totally get it). But you might not want your readers to be able to, say, friend you on Facebook and stalk your family. With privacy settings, you can lock whichever social media you don’t want the other half of your life to see. It’s just a matter of being careful.

If you don’t watch what you say with your pseudonym, it could end up badly. Let’s say you use your pseudonym Twitter to complain about your job, but you forgot to protect your tweets. Depending on how closely your writing life is connected to your real life, your job could track it down pretty easily.

Be Yourself

A pseudonym isn’t always something to hide behind. It’s often a way for a writer to be unashamedly themself, with no preconceived notions from the rest of the world.

Pen names, I’ve found, are so freeing. I can maintain a writerly image for myself and interact with my community. I don’t have to worry about anyone finding my pseudonym unless I choose to share it, or if they’re so inclined to google me. If the time ever comes that I get published? I won’t have to worry about writing for a male protagonist, because hopefully a gender neutral author name won’t alienate male readers. And the best part?

It’s hard to spell my pseudonym wrong.

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