Using Different Author Names Or A Pseudonym As A Writer

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- Why you would choose to use different author names for different brands. Why I write under Joanna Penn (non-fiction), J.FPenn (thrillers and dark fantasy) and also Penny Appleton (sweet romance co-written with my Mum)
- Brand represents a promise to the reader - so readers of my different books expect different things. There is not much crossover. If you have very different audiences, then different author names is a good idea e.g. children's books and horror and/or erotica
- Big data and why your book metadata helps the algorithms to find your audience. If you write different types of books under different names, you will see different Also-Boughts (people who bought this also bought that)
- If you want to keep an author name secret, then use a pseudonym. This might apply if you write something that doesn't fit with your profession, or if you are worried about judgement
- Gender neutral pen-names - opting out of 'gender' with initials
- Watch the spacing when you use initials
- But do use initials or middle names if your author name is already taken e.g. even if your name IS Dan Brown, choose something else :)
- Say your name out loud and see if it easily works out loud e.g. F is a tough initial :)
- You might choose a different name in order to fit into a specific culture e.g. Anglicising a 'foreign' name for a US/UK market. I share some examples.
- If you write super-fast and you're traditionally published, you could separate your audience with different names e.g. Nora Roberts /JD Robb
- Check you can get the URL of your author name
- Think about this as a long-term career - how we came up with Penny Appleton

Check out my books:
http://www.TheCreativePenn.com
http://www.JFPenn.com
http://www.PennyAppleton.com

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