Do you spend your free time coming up with fun pseudonyms you could use when you write your first book? Are you considering using a pen name instead of publishing under your own?
There’s definitely intrigue to writing under a nom de plume. You could be anyone! And if your book exposes some personal stories, it may feel safer to use a name that’s not your own. If you have a common name, it may seem interesting to pick a name you think is more exciting.
Here’s my advice: don’t use a pen name on a nonfiction book.
Pen name, pseudonym, nom de plume, all mean the same thing: publishing a book under a name that isn’t your own. Pen names range from close to the author’s name (John Anthony Burgess Wilson is an author you probably know as Anthony Burgess, for example) to something entirely different (George Eliot’s real name was Mary Ann Evans).
People use pen names for a variety of reasons. Women used to use them so they could get published in a man’s industry. Well-known authors use pen names to switch genres or audiences. Other authors write with pen names to protect their real identities, whether it’s because they feel their work deserves a character for an author (think Lemony Snicket) or because they don’t want their written work to be tied back to them. But most authors that use pen names have one thing in common: they write fiction.
Nonfiction requires an exchange of trust. The reader is trusting you to use your expertise and experience to tell your story. If you’re writing under a pen name, you’re breaching that trust between author and reader.
People buy nonfiction books because they want to learn from you as a person and a business. Here are four main reasons not to use a pen name on your book:
- Contact Tracing – You want your book to get back to you! You’re writing your book as a branding and marketing tool, so if you use a pen name, how will your readers know to find you for more services or products? After all, you’re not really selling a book, you’re selling yourself, and your readers need to know who you really are.
- Face Your Fears – Many authors want to write under a pseudonym because they’re afraid that people won’t like their book. Use your writing and editing process to get over that fear and create a book that you feel confident and proud of. If you’re still overwhelmed by fear so much that you don’t want to put your name on it, you may not be ready to write your book yet. You will get negative feedback, but you will also get positive feedback and help to create lasting impact with your target audience.
I get it. Writing a book can be scary. You’re putting yourself on the line, and it can feel safer to hide behind a pen name. But you need your readers to trust you, and they need to know you in order to do it.
- Own Your Name – If your name is difficult to remember, spell, or pronounce, you might be tempted to use a pen name to make it easier on your audience. Remember: you are an expert, and what you have is worth sharing. Because what you have it worth sharing, your name is worth remembering. Even if it’s hard. Orange is the New Black star Uzoamaka “Uzo” Aduba never changed her name, even though she felt like it was difficult for her friends and teachers to learn. In an interview, Aduba recounted her reasoning by sharing her mother’s wise words, “If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.”
- Add an Initial Instead – It’s happened: you have a name twin. Someone else with your name is already famous and publishing books. Don’t invent an entirely new name. First, take stock of the situation: are they writing books in a similar genre and for a similar audience, or are they writing for an entirely different reader? If your audiences are significantly different, there may be no problem whatsoever. If, however, you wish to differentiate yourself from your name twin, make use of your middle name or middle initial before considering the switch to a pen name.
Keep your name. It’s part of what makes you your remarkable self, and your readers want to meet you.