Comments on: How to Come Up With a Pen Name in 2024 (+ a Pen Name Generator)

By: John Hudson

John Hudson — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 23:19:29 +0000

Hi Dave,

I noticed that in your children’s picture books (The two I checked anyway) that you use a pen name. I won’t stomp my foot and demand to know if you did it to keep a separation between the genres you write, or if you didn’t think “Dave Chesson” would sell a children’s picture book, but..wait a second..that’s exactly what I want to do! haha

Most importantly the second one. With everything else equal, will a children’s picture book sell better with a female pen name, over my real name?

By: Joy Roos Sephton

Joy Roos Sephton — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 13:11:15 +0000

I chose a pen name for two slightly different reasons. As a child, I always disliked my surname, and I knew my husband I were heading for divorce, so didn’t want to use my married name, although I have kept it for our children’s sake. Joy Monette seemed to fit well with women’s fiction and romance, so there we go.

By: Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 22:34:40 +0000

In reply to Heidi Vanlandingham. You shouldn't have to do that. There should be a way of contacting Amazon and getting that rectified.

By: Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 22:31:08 +0000

In reply to Peter Brighton. Oh wow...small world!

By: Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 22:29:15 +0000

In reply to Ed Biscoff. Technically, you could add it as an 'author' and it would get by Amazon. However, that should be listed as the Publisher and not an author name.

By: Ed Biscoff

Ed Biscoff — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:09:30 +0000

Dave,
Can you once and for all give an answer to this question with regards to Amazon KDP, “can I use a pen name like edubookspublishing as the author without it being a real company?”. I have been giving multiple answers to this most saying no. I want to create a publishing company but don’t want expenses at first.

By: Peter Brighton

Peter Brighton — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 17:13:48 +0000

Thanks Dave,
It’s amazing that i have just read this article as I’ve just found that there is another author using the same name, ie Peter Brighton. His book ‘A Death of a Smile’ appeared on my amazon profile. Not sure what i should do next. as all my books are uplifting for middle grade children.

My regards
thanks for all your articles.
Peter Brighton

By: Heidi Vanlandingham

Heidi Vanlandingham — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:27:11 +0000

I have a question for you regarding pen names and Amazon. I write historical western romance and fantasy/paranormal romance under my real name. When I look on my author central US page, it shows the cover of the highest selling book. All the other countries where these books sell show a miss match of all the covers (no clue if they’re the high sellers or not). Do I need to create a pen name (for Amazon only in one genre) so readers will find the genre they’re looking for? I really don’t want to create a fake name for myself–I have a hard enough time keeping up with my real name and all the promo things associated with it as it is.

By: Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 03:48:12 +0000

In reply to Bella. Awesome!

By: Bella

Bella — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 07:58:32 +0000

Extremely useful and detailed post. Very helpful post. I will be referring to this again.

By: Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 22:58:50 +0000

In reply to Erica Anderson. I guess it would depend on the purpose of your pen name and how far you want to take it. Also, as for comments, they need to be approved before they show up.

By: Dave Chesson

Dave Chesson — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 22:57:42 +0000

In reply to gloria brown. Very Cool and glad to have helped!