So how many pen names are normal for an author?
So how many pen names are normal for an author?
That's a question for Lazeez.
He's said in the past that some authors have a different pen name for each story. Rache had quite a collection. But, based on writing-style impressions from the SOL genres I like, my guess would be that most only have one.
AJ
I've noted some stories with similar writing styles and phrasing that almost had to have the same author. I was just curious if there was a norm to this.
So how many pen names are normal for an author?
Some authors have more than one pen name, but to really blow your mind, some pen names have more than one author.
There's a dead tree series I follow where the "Author" operating under a single pen name is actually a husband and wife team that write together.
There's a dead tree series I follow where the "Author" operating under a single pen name is actually a husband and wife team that write together.
Nicci French operates that way. Some of their stuff's pretty good IMO.
AJ
Some authors have more than one pen name, but to really blow your mind, some pen names have more than one author.
D A Porter was the pen name shared by 3 members in a family.
Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck make up James S.A Corey- Who are writing the Expanse novels. Which is also a very enjoyable and repeatedly cancelled TV show of the same name.
And one of the main Dead tree fantasy novelists, like DS mentioned, was mostly a father and daughter combo towards the end. David Gemmell I think it was?
Ben Franklyn had dozens of pen names - not all to avoid redcoat attention ..
Ken Bulmer, author of more than a dozen series and over 160 printed novels, had at least 21 pen names ..
Issac Asimov used only his own name for all his works ..
David Weber, technically has one, because he doesn't use his middle name/initial on most of his novels ..
JKRowling uses a pen name for her crime stories ..
so whatever rocks your boat ...
Issac Asimov used only his own name for all his works
If you meant Isaac Asimov you are wrong, Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French.
HM.
From 1957 to 1982 Serge Anne Golon wrote the Angelique series of French bodice rippers. The pen name combined the names of a husband & wife team, with Serge doing the historical research and Anne writing the books.
Young me thought they were pretty cool with kings, highwaymen, sultans, pirates and an obligatory damsel in distress. I wonder what adult me would thonk of them as romance novels.
Ken Bulmer, author of more than a dozen series and over 160 printed novels, had at least 21 pen names ..
Some of the books (from two series) were never printed in English:
Ryder Hook series [10 books] (written as Tully Zetford)
The last six books in the series were published only in German, under Bulmer's real name.
Dray Prescot series [52 books] (written as Alan Burt Akers and Dray Prescot).
Only the first 37 were printed in English, the others only as German translations. All got finally published as eBooks in English, but publication was interrupted for close to six years between volumes 45 and 46 due to family illness and difficulty in locating the manuscripts. As of 5 February 2014 it was reported that all the missing manuscripts had been found except that for Demons of Antares (Book 46), which was being translated back into English from the German version and published in June 2014.
HM.
Sorry, had an old bones check this morning ..
Anyhu, my (not so) trusted ref didn't mention the Paul French PN 'cause his copy was "Isaac Asimov writing as Paul French ..."
I have Dray Prescot 46-52 in my Nook for PC .. and 38-45 on my Nook (wherever it is ...)
And he had a minor conflict with another author regarding his Adam Hardy pen name under which he wrote his 14 Fox, scoundrel of the RN nautical fiction satires, as the other fellow later used the same pseudonym ...
MD
That doesn't discount your theory. Some authors may have multiple accounts, and Lazeez might not even know.
AJ
It was a point of curiosity to me. I don't personally care how many pen names someone has. Though I find it hard to believe that Lazeez wouldn't know if he wanted to.
I believe each account has to have a unique e-mail address. I suppose Lazeez could go to the trouble of tracking IP Addresses, but I believe that isn't definitive. (Perhaps someone technically-minded could explain how they're affected by VPNs.)
I seem to get a new IP Address every day from my ISP (and it's quite funny watching various websites guessing my location from it). It has benefits that I won't elaborate and, since I don't run a web server from my PC, I can't see any drawbacks other than some websites (eg Twitter) warning me that I'm logging in from a new device.
AJ
C.L.Moore married her first husband Henry Kuttner in 1940, and most of her work from 1940 to 1958 (Kuttner's death) was written by the couple collaboratively. They were prolific co-authors under their own names, although more often using the joint pseudonyms C. H. Liddell, Lawrence O'Donnell, or Lewis Padgett — most commonly the latter, a combination of their mothers' maiden names.
HM.
Harry Turtledove has multiple pen names: Eric Iverson, H. N. Turteltaub, Dan Chernenko, and Mark Gordian
I can see a writer using different pen names. I guess an example would be a writer who writes specific story formats, and uses a different pen name for each of them.
John Creasy (unsure of spelling) wrote only mysteries. He used lots and lots of pen names - using a different pen name for stories about each of his main characters. He had a total of more than 600 books.
I met Isaac Asimov at a book signing of his 300th book, and he told me he wanted to surpass Creasy's total, but do it over many genres instead of just one. I believe he died before he accomplished that goal.
There is no normal as it depends on the reasons. Historically, dead tree authors had two reasons for having pen names: anonymity and sales.
Anonymity should be obvious. This especially applies to people in positions of power or academia who don't want a connection drawn to a less serious book, especially one with questionable content.
Sales is trickier and has to do with the fact that large book stores tend to order an author's new book based on how many copies sold of the last book. An author known for one genre will use a pen name when writing in a different genre in case the new book has lower sales.
The problem is that all of this started changing in the past two decades as the rise of the internet made anonymity all but impossible. Most publishers today recommend not using pen names on the theory that in a global environment, wider name recognition trumps any theoretical brand dilution.
In online publishing a lot of the same theories apply, but with the complication that amateur writers aren't necessarily getting up-to-date advice.
In other words, if you look at historical examples you can find any number of examples of people using dozens of pen names, but you shouldn't take that as good advice for publishing in the modern era. The market has changed and pen name usage is changing with it.
Sales is trickier and has to do with the fact that large book stores tend to order an author's new book based on how many copies sold of the last book.
That's because readers tend to buy books based on their opinions of the author's work so far.
Many authors maintain use multiple pen-names as brands. For example, Ruth Rendell was the brand name for easily accessible mystery-thrillers whereas Barbara Vine was the brand name for more highbrow works.
There's a new and growing trend for eg crime novelists to use different pen-names depending on the identity of the protagonist they're writing about.
AJ
JK Rowling was not happy when she was 'accidentally outed' by a publisher over her mystery books. Books that hadn't been doing that well and had lacklustre reviews right up to the point she was revealed as the author. At which point sales took off and reviews improved.
Of course, this was all an 'accident' by the publisher who conveniently made a nice profit over the increased sales....
Penn names are from Pennsylvania. Which was named for Willian Penn and Latin for woodlands, Sylvania. "The name "Sylvania" is borrowed from the Latin sylvan or sylva, meaning "forest land".
It is possible that names written by a pen are pen names. So you can't type them or get them printed by a computer.
Apparently Robert Heinlein was such a prolific short story author that a SF magazine author used pseudonyms for some of them to hide the fact that some issues consisted mostly of his stories.
Apparently Robert Heinlein was such a prolific short story author that a SF magazine author used pseudonyms for some of them to hide the fact that some issues consisted mostly of his stories.
Heinlein once explained his use of pen names with the policy of some pulp magazines back then to print only one story per author in any given issue. To get more stories printed the author had to submit it under another name.
HM.
Heinlein once explained his use of pen names with the policy of some pulp magazines back then to print only one story per author in any given issue. To get more stories printed the author had to submit it under another name.
Doesn't SOL have a similar policy about stories on the homepage? Or am I getting confused with something else?
AJ
Doesn't SOL have a similar policy about stories on the homepage? Or am I getting confused with something else?
Hmm, the home page actually shows updates of two stories by D.Fritz.
But, IIRC if you have a new story and then an update for this story (or an update and short after it the next update) then if they would show both on the home page only the newer one will be displayed.
Imagine an author posts updates every two hours, that would clog-up the home page with multiple entries for the same story.
HM.