Sherily
asked
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
First I am a huge fan. I love all of your books, every single one of them, even the shorts that are in other books. I own every single release you have as Sherrilyn Kenyon. I am working on getting all of your other books under your other name. Which is your real name, Kimberly McGregor or Sherrilyn Kenyon? Just curious as to how those names came about and why you chose to have different names? Thank you :)
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Aww thank you, sweetie. I've never written as Kimberly McGregor. I did write as Kinley MacGregor. Sherrilyn is my God-given (or mom-given) name and Kenyon is real.
As for the two names, I wrote and published Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy under my own name back in the 1980's and early 1990's, and was a bestselling author under it. Unfortunately, the market crashed in the mid 1990's and I had a four year involuntary hiatus where I couldn't sell novels no matter what I tried, even though I'd been a bestseller and had sold and published six books. It was a horrible time where I was homeless for a stint.
In 1997, I pitched two novels to an editor who'd been my agent back in the days when I'd been selling (ironically one was Night Pleasures and the other was a pirate novel). She passed on the Dark-Hunter series because there was no market for urban fantasy and I quote from her rejection: "no one wants to read vampires." She bought the pirate novel which became my Sea Wolves and asked if I would consider a pen name since it was a different genre than the one I was known for. She wanted a fresh start (that's a very common thing in publishing, especially back then) and I had no problem with it, so Kinley was born as my historical twin. While I continued to write the historicals, I kept nagging her to buy the Dark-Hunters, but she couldn't get them past her marketing team who continued to reiterate that paranormal/urban fantasy had no market and wouldn't sell.
In 1999, St. Martin's took a chance on those Dark-Hunter books and made an offer. But by then, Kinley MacGregor was a bestselling author and my publisher didn't want us to "taint" the MacGregor name with that urban fantasy series no one would buy and that they were convinced would flop. My editor at SMP was fine with that and said that she knew I still had a lot of fans from the 80's and 90's who remembered me as Kenyon and that she wanted me to return to my real name since I was returning to my original genres that I had started with. I agreed and so the DH books were brought out under my name. I worked my heinie off to make those books a success and thankfully, in spite of there not being a market at the time they were published and while others mocked and laughed, we (me and the fans) carved a niche and the books did not flop. As they say, the rest is history.
As for the two names, I wrote and published Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy under my own name back in the 1980's and early 1990's, and was a bestselling author under it. Unfortunately, the market crashed in the mid 1990's and I had a four year involuntary hiatus where I couldn't sell novels no matter what I tried, even though I'd been a bestseller and had sold and published six books. It was a horrible time where I was homeless for a stint.
In 1997, I pitched two novels to an editor who'd been my agent back in the days when I'd been selling (ironically one was Night Pleasures and the other was a pirate novel). She passed on the Dark-Hunter series because there was no market for urban fantasy and I quote from her rejection: "no one wants to read vampires." She bought the pirate novel which became my Sea Wolves and asked if I would consider a pen name since it was a different genre than the one I was known for. She wanted a fresh start (that's a very common thing in publishing, especially back then) and I had no problem with it, so Kinley was born as my historical twin. While I continued to write the historicals, I kept nagging her to buy the Dark-Hunters, but she couldn't get them past her marketing team who continued to reiterate that paranormal/urban fantasy had no market and wouldn't sell.
In 1999, St. Martin's took a chance on those Dark-Hunter books and made an offer. But by then, Kinley MacGregor was a bestselling author and my publisher didn't want us to "taint" the MacGregor name with that urban fantasy series no one would buy and that they were convinced would flop. My editor at SMP was fine with that and said that she knew I still had a lot of fans from the 80's and 90's who remembered me as Kenyon and that she wanted me to return to my real name since I was returning to my original genres that I had started with. I agreed and so the DH books were brought out under my name. I worked my heinie off to make those books a success and thankfully, in spite of there not being a market at the time they were published and while others mocked and laughed, we (me and the fans) carved a niche and the books did not flop. As they say, the rest is history.
More Answered Questions
Marla
asked
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
You have previously stated (at a No Mercy signing, in answer to a fan's question) that any carbonated beverage would affect any god the same way that Ash reacted to drinking the Sprite. Would sodas affect Simi that way as well, or was that only because she was part of Ash when he drank it? What about Xirena or any of the other charontes, or other demons?
About Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
Jan 16, 2017 11:15PM · flag
Jan 18, 2017 05:18AM · flag