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Pen names and websites etc.
Trying to conjure up a pen name for my brand of writing. Someone suggested a name, and to use something like, WildeWriting.com, etc, for my social media sites.
Not being conversant with search engines etc, just wondering if I did that, have my author's pen name on my ebooks, and then a slightly different one on my social media, website etc, would this allow potential followers to connect the two, as one brand...? To try to gain a loyal fan base...?
Comments
Think it is better to create a pen name so I can keep separate all the things in my private life, away from my business brand. The two things are quite different, in reality..
You can have two FB, Twitter, etc. accounts if you want to keep things separate – plenty of writers I know do that and it works just fine for them
I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm not a fan of "catchy" or "clever" names, I just want to see a name, plain and simple. Of course changing it to something more suitable for your branding, or genre, or to avoid confusion may work, but I'd keep it Firstname Lastname...unless you're doing the middle initial thing :P
The middle initial might be wise. And, yep, I am being advised on what name to choose.
Here. I'll illustrate it to see what other's think. Lydia Rose Thorne. Does that sound contrived, and should I drop the Rose, and/or use an initial there, instead?
Just trying to find a name that doesn't conflict with others on search engines etc. To make my business brand name stand out from the crowd...?
Lydia R Thorne
Lydia Thorne
Hmm, I kinda like all three...I like it with the R best I think.
@};-
The only thing I have a pen name for is my books for children, because horror and kids books don't mix...well they do, but not my kind of horror :P
Just worried that things that I might have written under my own personal name, previous to setting up my business brand account, might conflict with my writing persona?
How to avoid that happening when you can't delete things from off the internet..
Why would the things you've conflict? In what way?
As for book signings, I have a mobility problem these days, and cannot face crowds, too, so that is totally out of the question. The only promotion available for my business brand will be online..
It is how good I will be at selling myself that will prove the key, I suspect...
The only time I would use a pseudonym is if I decided to go down the erotic fiction route... and that's only because of the conflict with children's fiction.
No, it isn't really offensive or anything, just outside the norm of people's expectations, and that usually implies that people have difficulty processing something that doesn't fit into their normal everyday dialogue..
LV Thorne has a certain ring about it? Suggestive of hidden depths, therefore mysterious undertones...
Thinking it may be better to use that premise. The idea of the author's gender not being clear. That way more people are likely to check out my writing on my social media sites, initially and be intrigued enough to become followers and even purchase some of my ebooks, when completed...?
Does this sound like a better idea, not a contrived name, as Baggy Books suggested it did(is that your pen name by the way?! That'd prick people's Curiosity!!!
I doubt most readers, seeking a good tale, would associate those two initials with an insurance company, and if they do, maybe I'll hear the kerching of tills ringing up sales! Fire!
Waiting for her to get back to me on that. She is checking to see if if it is usable for handles and domain names for my website, social media etc, useless at that, me...!
Pseudonym for collab writing with writing partner is our first initials and a combination of our surnames. So we didn't go very far out to find it.
The only time the length of a name comes into play is on Twitter. You only have 140 characters at @'ing someone with a long username makes communication hard.
Make sure you google your possible names first though. As said before my name brings up another author.
the repercussions of having a pseudonym are many and complicated and it's just a load of time-wasting pointlessness.
I am Liz brownlee the poet, have my own Facebook page which I have complete control over, no-one else can see anything to do with my private life on it. I also have an author page which is separate from my private one.
Anything you do on Twitter you will want to do it as your author name, but then how are all the people you know going to notice you or know it's you on Twitter if you aren't using your real name?
When you have an author photo on the inside of your jacket, are you going to 'fess up' as to what your real name is? Can you tell me the point in having a pseudonym on the front and a real name inside?
If you become famous people will know you as your pseudonym but want to know a bit about you. That could be awkward.
It's up to you how private your life is but if you want to make a success of your writing being who you are and promoting yourself instead of an image is slicker, easier and makes a lot more sense.
My interests, however, were firmly with Enid Blyton!