Pen Names

Hi!

I don't use pen names yet. The main reason is to brand my nick and my real name.

I personally feel using your real name will give you credibility in the long run.

But I've heard people use pen name to protect their niche..which is also good, since this minimizes possible competition.

I think in the end it's up to you..I know using pen names is a common practice among authors so there should be no reason why you couldn't do the same.

To Your Success!

Raul Omar Diaz

I see nothing wrong with using pen names. It helps protect your privacy so that someone can't just follow you around and copy every niche you're in and every promotional method you're using. If you're not using pen names it makes it way too easy for someone else to reverse engineer what you're doing.

When it comes to making up a "creative background story" I'm sure there will be a lot of differing opinions on that. Some people would consider it lying and say it's something you should never do. Others won't have any problem with it at all. Still others will fall somewhere in the middle and say it's okay to say you're a 47 year old from Omaha as long as you don't tell people you're a retired plumber to just gain credibilty for that plumbing ebook.

This question is one that you will ultimately have to answer for yourself. What do you feel comfortable with and what do you feel is going too far and being dishonest? It will be nice to hear some other opinions but that could also spark a lively debate about morals and honesty. I'll keep an eye on this thread and I'll have my pop corn ready just in case.

I use a pen name and I love the annonimity of it. One of my pen names is a bit in-your-face but it gets sales in it's niche.

I'm like an eight headed hydra

Smiles

I am one of those writers who does think that you can be an "expert" on a number of different niches - I remember in my journalism course being told that if you read three books on one topic that made you more of an expert about that topic than 95% of the population.

With working in different niches it is helpful to have a pen name - some people know me as wisecrone333 especially in my ghost niche, while in other cases I use my name (such as the make money niche). In other niches I am known as "Gran" and so on. Names are an important part of the branding process so I think whatever you decide you should stick to that or you and your following could get confused

Good luck with your business
Lisa

thanks for the replies..in some of the responses some of you mentioned in protects your work to use a pen name. Can someone explain how this helps from someone copying you?

Mostly writer only using pen names......but if necessarily needed we use real name.....