How to Write Non-Fiction: Your author name
If you’re considering a long-term writing career that goes beyond one or two books, your author name will become a brand in the minds of readers. It will be a promise of what to expect from your books and an indication of what experience they will have every time. It will also be referenced in online content, social media, and other publications.
Here are some things to consider before you decide what name to put on the front of your books.
The practicalities of an author name
If you want to use your real name, check whether someone else is already publishing under it on Amazon and whether you can get the domain name for your website.
For example, if your name is Dan Brown, that author name is already taken. Even if you’re writing a textbook about particle physics, it may still confuse readers, so you could add a middle initial or use your middle name.
Another consideration is whether your name is easy to spell and also to say out loud on podcasts or radio or TV interviews or in other media.
A distinctive name can be an asset, but if people can’t read it or spell it, it will be challenging for people to remember and use in online book searches. Audio and video are a huge part of marketing now, so this is an important consideration even if you can’t see that far into the journey yet.
Some authors Anglicise their names in order to market more easily to readers in the US and UK. Ayn Rand of Atlas Shrugged was actually Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum, and Joseph Conrad’s real name was Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski.
But of course, your name is your name, and it may be important to you to retain your individuality. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ta-Nehisi Coates are two examples of authors whose distinctive names help them stand out. Only you can decide which way to go.
The impact of big data and algorithms on discoverability
The online bookstores use your author name to group your books together on an author page; if you have more than one author name, you’ll get a separate page for each.
I write under two names, Joanna Penn for non-fiction self-help for authors, and J.F. Penn for thrillers, dark fantasy, crime, horror, and memoir.
I have separate websites, separate email lists, separate social media. It can be difficult to manage both sometimes, but I find it useful.
It helps me creatively as I schedule ‘J.F. Penn time’ for fiction, and I need to be in a different head space for that kind of creativity. It also segments my audience, and there is only a small crossover between them.
This separation also helps the book sales algorithms recommend books to different target markets. You want the algorithm to be able to easily identify readers for your book, as this helps the system sell for you.
When to consider a pseudonym
A pseudonym or pen name is a name you write under that is different from your real name.
This can protect your privacy if you have a professional career that you want to keep completely separate, or if you’re writing about sensitive topics. However, even if you add layers of protection, it’s still possible you could be identified, so make sure you consider implications before publication.
What about the legal aspects of multiple names?
You register your copyright with both names. I include my pseudonym and my legal name on the copyright registration form.
With banking Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, you will likely have to use your real name when setting up a bank account for your books, but you can use a company name for your publishing contracts (if you’re running your author business as a company).
If you self-publish, the author name field is separate from your account name and your bank account name, so you can have multiple author names under one publishing platform account.
Questions:
• Can you get the website name and the Amazon author profile for your name? If not, what are your options?
• What are the pros and cons of using a pseudonym?
• What are the pros and cons of using multiple author names?
