And for today we're on that topic that seems to go round in circles. Whether to use a pen name for different genres.
Ruth Rendell also writes as Barbara Vine, and Iain Banks puts the initial M in the middle for his science fiction.
So here is my dilemma. I write literary fiction and non-fiction under my own name. Now I want to publish a genre book in a different style. I have 2 concerns
a) I don't want to disappoint my litfic readers.
b) I don't want to put off a potential new readership who aren't into the slightly feminine litfic world of Swing.
I've tested this out already on authonomy. And my genre books have attracted a more male-dominated readership. The book in question at the moment is on authonomy under the username cave man and the pen name AM Banks.
And this brings me onto another aspect of using a pen name - the opportunity not to advertise my gender, especially when writing a blokey book in a man's voice and a genre where I suspect male readers will accept it better if they think it's written by a man.
Then there's the question, if you use a pen name, should you be upfront about it from the start? If I publish it on kindle then, unless I set up a new account - which I believe is not allowed - then I'll have to be.
I suspect I'll deliberate over this until it's published...and then some!
Ruth Rendell also writes as Barbara Vine, and Iain Banks puts the initial M in the middle for his science fiction.
So here is my dilemma. I write literary fiction and non-fiction under my own name. Now I want to publish a genre book in a different style. I have 2 concerns
a) I don't want to disappoint my litfic readers.
b) I don't want to put off a potential new readership who aren't into the slightly feminine litfic world of Swing.
I've tested this out already on authonomy. And my genre books have attracted a more male-dominated readership. The book in question at the moment is on authonomy under the username cave man and the pen name AM Banks.
And this brings me onto another aspect of using a pen name - the opportunity not to advertise my gender, especially when writing a blokey book in a man's voice and a genre where I suspect male readers will accept it better if they think it's written by a man.
Then there's the question, if you use a pen name, should you be upfront about it from the start? If I publish it on kindle then, unless I set up a new account - which I believe is not allowed - then I'll have to be.
I suspect I'll deliberate over this until it's published...and then some!
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