Although a pen name is adopted by writers for many reasons, many readers assume that a writer is adopting a pen name to hide themselves. However, this isn’t usually the case. While in the past writers who put forth radical, scandalous or socially unacceptable ideas would adopt a pen name to help protect them from social stigma, in the age of the internet, it is harder to hide one’s identity.
Instead, a pen-name may be adopted for a number of other reasons.
A Pen Name as a Marketing Device
When humorist Samuel Clemens wanted to convey to others that he was writing to be funny, he adopted the name Mark Twain. In those days, when river boats transported goods up and down large rivers such as the Mississippi, a mark was a measurement of how deep the river was. “Mark twain” was a term that many readers would have been familiar with, and found funny as the name of a writer.
A Pen Name Can Increase Sales
Among publishers, there are certain ideas associated with genres. For example, a masculine name is not thought to sell books as well as a feminine one. For this reason, many male romance writers take on feminine pen names so that their books will sell well in a genere marketed to and read by women.
A Pen Name Is Used by Prolific Writers
When famous romance writer Nora Roberts began writing thrillers, she took the pen name J.D. Robb to avoid associations with romance writing. Similarly, when Stephen King wanted to get around his publisher’s restrictions on how much writing he could produce, and to see if his writing would sell without his own famous name attached, he took the name Richard Bachman.
A Pen Name is Used For Collaborations and Multi-Author Series
When members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America collaborated in a sting operation to prove that the company Publish America fit the definition of vanity press in that the publishing house would produce any book regardless of quality, they took the name Travis Tea to produce the work Atlanta Nights. Multiple-author series such as the popular Young Adult Nancy Drew books are all written under the pen name Caroline Keene.
A Pen Name Avoids Similar Author Names
At times, a writer may choose a pen name because their real name sounds too much like the name of another author. Changing the name on a work of fiction prevents the author from being associated with the work of another.
A Pen Name Can Protect the Author's Identity
Finally, a writer may take a pen name to dodge fame. Although as mentioned above, it is difficult to completely hide one’s identity, by creating a pseudonym the writer can avoid instant associations with one’s work and dodge any infamy that the name creates. The pen name gets the fame, while the author does not.
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