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My question is why? Example: Jayne Ann Krentz, aka Jayne Castle, aka Amanda Quick. Why do authors write under different names? The reason I ask is, I recently went to one of the used books stores and bought about $15 dollars worth of books. The owner is a really nice lady and if you spend a certain amount she lets you choose a free book off of a certain shelf. So I chose a book by Jayne Ann Krentz and when I got home I realized it is part of a series. I went to research the other books in the series, and came to find out part of the series is written under the name Amanda Quick. Kind of makes it a bit confusing if you ask me. Anyone have an answer or opinion?

Using two different pen names for the same series certainly seems off - although I have noticed Kinley MacGregor titles now coming out as "Sherrilyn Kenyon" in big letters, followed by smaller print "writing as Kinley MacGregor". I understand that the publishers are trying to capitalize on the more popular name, but it does make things confusing.

At the same time if the names are used exclusively for separate genres - Jessica Bird for contemporary romance and J.R. Ward for PNR - that makes sense. People come to expect a certain type of writing from an author, so they don't want readers to get them confused. Additionally, it allows them to write in genres in which people maybe would be less willing to accept them under a particular pen name.

What I do find odd is Kim Harrison apparently has a completely different wardrobe and wig for that persona, allowing her to create a type of character for herself, that is different from when she is Dawn Cook..

Meg Cabot originally wrote her 1-800-WHERE-R-U young adult series under the name of Jenny Carroll. It didn't sell so well. But when the name of Jenny Cabot became more popular, the publisher reprinted the series with the cover saying "Meg Cabot (Writing as Jenny Carroll)" and it sold way better. Your author may have done the same thing, maybe even starting in the middle of the series.

You think that Jayne Anne is bad. Author Katie MacAlister does the same thing. She also writes as Katie Maxwell and I think that I remember a third nom d' plume, but can't find it right now. But in Katie's case its because she uses different names for different types of books. You want her YA--check under the Maxwell name, her PNR--that's MacAlister.

But its early fantasy/sci fi authors (especially female) that take the cake for using different names. Andre Norton also wrote as Andrew North and a couple of dozen OTHER pen names, just so that she could get published. Because, when she started writing scifi and fantasy, she couldn't sell the books if she used her own name (Alice Mary Norton, so she started using male names before finally legally changing her name to Andre.

lol, I know, I know, more than you wanted to know, right? Sorry, but it bugs me sometimes when authors use multiple pen names and I can't find the new series--or I find the series and then can't figure out at first why the style seems so familiar.

Sometimes an author writes different series in the same genre under different names. Elizabeth Linington wrote mysteries under several names including Dell Shannon and Lesley Egan. In this case it made it easy to tell which series a book was from.

Other authors like Sheri Tepper use pen names when the write different genres. She wrote mysteries as A.J. Orde and B.J. Oliphant. I believe she also wrote horror under a third name.

Personally I like it better if an author writes everything under one neame. I originally read and enjoyed Charlaine Harris' Shakespear series and that made me try her Dead series when it came out. Likewise I read Yasmin Galenorn's Otherworld series and then read her mysteries because I enjoyed her writeing style. I never would have found these additional books if they were written under a pen name.

Sandy wrote: "Sometimes an author writes different series in the same genre under different names. Elizabeth Linington wrote mysteries under several names including Dell Shannon and Lesley Egan. In this case it ..."

I know what you mean. We aren't stupid. We dont expect all of an author's books to be the same, but at least, if all the books are under one name, we can check them out.

Sometimes I think that publishers (as well as advertisers, Hollywood Big Wigs . . .) really believe that we are stupid. And that they have to lead us gently by the hand and lead us around, because we are so dumb. Sigh, that's the only thing I can come up with for some of the things that they do.

Hi! I'm new but thought I'd jump in on the discussion. I know publishers like their authors to have a following. So when Jayne Ann Krentz wrote her futuristic books, they wanted her to use a different name so readers who loved JAK wouldn't be ticked off to find they weren't reading a contemporary, but a futuristic. I'm with you. I read the back cover; I can figure it out. Then again, when I read an Amanda Quick, I know I'm reading a historical. So there is something to name branding.

Hi Marie and welcome!!! Personally I think it's pretty dumb to have numerous different pen names. For me when I find and author I like I tend to obsess with them and read pretty much everything they write, kind of hard to do if they have different pen names and you don't know what they are. I may not like it but I guess can understand different names for different genres.

I still don't get it however with the Jayne Ann Krentz series. The 1st one is written under Amanda Quick, the next couple under JAK, then AQ so there is no rhyme or reason to it. Very frustrating!!!

I do think publishers think we are on the lower end of the intelligence chain...lol.

Hey Tonya! Actually, an author writing several genres under one name is the new school of thought. I like it and don't like it. I pretty much read anything by JAK, so whether it's historical or not isn't an issue. However,I also like to read erotic romance, knowing to expect a certain heat level in those books. So if I read a book from author A that didn't promise as delivered, where the hero and heroine blink coyly at one another and smile...THE END, I'd be disappointed.

On that particular note, I think many authors choose to write mainstream romances under one name and erotic romances under another, simply because the hotter heat levels aren't as accepted by the majority of readers out there. And so as not to offend their fans, they keep their names separate. (I've heard this quite a lot on the author loops I frequent.)

:) And thanks again for the welcome.

In a couple of cases, Kate Elliot for sure, and JD Robb, probably, an established writer wrote under a new name because their old name would not have sold.

Kate Elliot had a bad track record with one series. The new series was a winner, so the publisher decided it would do better under an unknown name. Which it did. She now writes all of her books under that name.

In the case of Nora Roberts, she at that point had only written very short formula romance novels. The publisher was taking a chance with a futuristic mystery series with a hint of romance. So they tried a new name, and it worked.

And I'm pretty sure that the Amanda Quick name came to be that way as well.

I knew of a lot of these, but am shocked to find out that Kim Harrison wasn't always Kim Harrison...LOL

I find it anoying as all heck especially when they say "so and so writing as so and so"...why bother changing the name if you are going to tell us it is really the other person anyhow????

GEESH!

What I find funny about Kim Harrison is that although I figured out pretty quickly that this could not possibly have been her first books, I never saw what name her earlier books had been published under before this thread.

That makes almost no sense. By the time JD Robb got to this many books, the fact that she was also Nora Roberts was no longer a secret. The secret about Kate Elliot was out by book 3 (although there was a lot of talk over it in the then very new online world).

One would think that the publishers would know that her old fans might be willing to try her new books and that her new fans might want to take a look at the old books. Even if there are two publishers, everyone sells more books that way.

Personally I think that the PUBLISHERS are the ones who are a little--um, well, lets say "slow" rather than us. Otherwise they'd have already figured this out for themselves.

LOL Ann...very good point!!!!

Jessie wrote: "I knew of a lot of these, but am shocked to find out that Kim Harrison wasn't always Kim Harrison...LOL...."

I have to say learning that here was a big surprise to me too! So what is the author of Dead Witch Walking's real name then? Is it Kim Harrison, Dawn Cook, or something else entirely?

This is what Kim has on her FAQs regarding this topic...

Well you have completely shocked and amazed me I can't believe your the same author that wrote both the Truth and Princess series. Mainly because most authors I read no matter how many series they write always seems to have the same formula, voice, and clichés/archetypes in their books and you didn't. [ ... :]. Also, since your in the industry and therefore would know, could you tell me if authors writing under different names are common and if so why do they do it ?

5/27/09 -- [ ... :]You asked why authors write under pen names? It is EXTREMELY common, but most don't come out of the closet so the reading public never knows. The reasons are varied, but the most common is because the author wants to write more books than their publishing house can market, and to avoid the legal entanglements of the original contract, it's easiest to write under a second name when you move to a new publishing house. That's the original reason I took mine. A second reason is that big book retailers have a habit of purchasing only the same number of books that an author sold on their last release. If it was a bad release, then the store will only by that many books of the next release, but if it's an unknown author, the stores will buy more in the hope that it will be a blockbuster. So you write under a different name, and get a better shot at selling through your books. (This also figured into my decision) A third reason an author might take a pen name is because they are writing for a different audience. Going from high fantasy to urban fantasy isn't a big jump, but if the writing style changed dramatically, as you pointed out that mine had, a pen name might prevent disgruntled readers from leaving the very author that they enjoyed. A final reason some authors take pen names is that they have high-powered jobs, and if it were known that they wrote fiction, it might damage their credibility. To get around it, they take a pen name. Hope that helps. --Kim

Cool. Thanks Jessie.

It kind of makes sense to me to use different names when writing different genres. Judy Blume comes to mind; she got very famous writing young adult novels, but when she wrote adult novels, they were nearly ALWAYS shelved in the YA section. That name became pigeonholed. And like Marie said, some readers who are big fans of an author's genre work might not like it when that author starts writing a new genre.

On the other hand, I do think it's silly when publishers pull the old "So-and-so writing as Blah blah!" trick. It's a pretty transparent play to get more sales.

I'd forgotten about the high powered job reason. There was a prize winning SF author who wrote under a pen name and hid the fact that she wasn't a man called James Tiptree because she was hiding the fact that she wrote fiction from her mother. She was a well known college professor in her real life. She came out of the closet only after her mother died.

lol Starling. That reminds me of a story. I won't use the correct name, but at a scifi convention back in the early 60's there was a panel on the works of E. E. Jones (names changed to protect the guilty. :oP) One of the panel members was talking about how much they LOVED Jones work--except that Jones just could NOT write a believable female character. The panelist raved on about 5 minutes about this "short-coming" then sat down so that the next member of the panel could do their part. The woman next to him stood up and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm pleased to meet all you nice people here for this panel. My Name is Evelyn Elizabeth Jones. I write scifi books using my initials. E. E. Jones."

I was told that story by an older friend who'd been in the panel meeting (he didn't say so, but I really do believe that "he" was the panel member who'd been complaining.) After I heard this story I went and got some of "Jones" books and read them. And ya know--she really could NOT write a believable female character.

Jessie wrote: "I knew of a lot of these, but am shocked to find out that Kim Harrison wasn't always Kim Harrison...LOL

I find it anoying as all heck especially when they say "so and so writing as so and so"......"

That happens after both the original name, and the new name have developed fans. At that point the publishers are willing to see if the old fans will read the new books, and if the new fans will read the old ones. And at that point, in many cases, they will.

Ann, I think that is a James Tiptree story. I'm not sure but I think that happened when she finally came out of the closet.

We are talking multiple Hugos and Nebulas here, that she had never picked up.

This is a great thread!
Man, I can't stand when they do that. It can get so confusing.

A chick lit author I love is Sophie Kinsella--funny as it may seem, I loved all BUT the Shopaholic series. I only read the first one and decided not to continue--maybe I will give them another shot later... But she also writes under another name--Madeline Wickham--when her first books didn't do so well, she changed her name and Wa-La, success!

Did you guys know that Stephen King also writes under another name? Richard Bachman

And of course, let's not forget the "Queen of the Damned" herself, Ann Rice wrote her little naughty, nasty, dom/sub-bondage-porno trilogy (i recently read the first--forgive me father, for I have sinned...) under pen name A. N. Roquelaure. Finally, she wrote 2 more novels involving BDSM and the darker side of the romance scale under the pseudonym Anne Rampling.

oh! and let it be known that I was not a fan of the little porno trilogy Ann Rice wrote. I was actually a little embarrassed to have it on my shelves.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure 12/01/09 ☆☆ My Review

Tonya wrote: "Hi Marie and welcome!!! Personally I think it's pretty dumb to have numerous different pen names. For me when I find and author I like I tend to obsess with them and read pretty much everything the..."

I'm a little late in this discussion, but I thought I'll put in my 2 cents.

I'm a big Jayne Ann Krentz fan...and I'm pretty familiar with her more popular pseudonyms. Jayne Ann Krentz is always contemporary, Amanda Quick is always historical and Jayne Castle is always futuristic.

The series that is probably confusing you is her Arcane Society series which jumps from contemporary to historical and I'm thinking soon it will have a futuristic counterpart. So the story's setting matches the expected pen name.

LOL...I hope I didn't confuse you further.

But since I'm a fan, I pretty much read any of her books, never which pen name it is published under.

I was amazed by how many different versions of Katie MacAlister there were ;)

Katie MacAlister -- paranormal / contemporary / historical romances
aka real name = Marthe Arends -- historical 1 book
and Kate Marsh-- mystery paranormal
and Katie Maxwell -- kids books

I know Flib--trying to find all the series she writes is sometimes hard. And I've enjoyed everything of hers I've read.

Yz wrote: "Tonya wrote: "Hi Marie and welcome!!! Personally I think it's pretty dumb to have numerous different pen names. For me when I find and author I like I tend to obsess with them and read pretty much ..."

You are right YZ, it is the Arcane Society series. I just think it's silly to use different names for books in the same series.

Wow, thanks everyone for all the info and reasons why. I guess I understand the reasons why but as I posted above, to have different names within the same series is just stupid.

Why is it do you think that the authors name makes a difference in why a book would sell or not? I guess I don't give the authors name much thought, maybe I am in the minority however. It's all very interesting.

Tonya wrote:You are right YZ, it is the Arcane Society series. I just think it's silly to use different names for books in the same series .."

You are right. For someone unfamiliar with her previous works, the different pen names can really confuse a new reader.

She has been writing under several pen names even before the creation of the Arcane Society series, so I guess that is why they decided to keep the pen names based on the time setting.

Still, I hope the confusion will not prevent you from reading the series, which is very loosely connected to each other.

Yz wrote: "Tonya wrote:You are right YZ, it is the Arcane Society series. I just think it's silly to use different names for books in the same series .."

You are right. For someone unfamiliar with her pre..."

Nothing stops me from reading something that sounds interesting. I will give this series a try but I need to look for the 1st and 2nd book since I have the third. At least I know how to find it, or should I say which name it's under....lol.

Tonya,

If this helps, here is the order for the Arcane Society series:

1. Second Sight - Amanda Quick
2. White Lies - JAK
3. Sizzle and Burn - JAK
4. The Third Circle - Amanda Quick
5. Running Hot - JAK
6. The Perfect Poison - Amanda Quick
7. Fired Up - JAK

Yz wrote: "Tonya,

If this helps, here is the order for the Arcane Society series:

1. Second Sight - Amanda Quick
2. White Lies - JAK
3. Sizzle and Burn - JAK
4. The Third Circle - Amanda Quick
5. Ru..."

Thanks YZ!!!

By the way, for the most part, the Arcane Society novels are stand alone novels in a universe that spans time. There are these little bits that are fun that you see if you've read other books, but you don't need to have done so and you can read the books in any order.

Although others don't agree, I think all of the futuristic books also belong to the Arcane Society series although there is no contact at all between those books and the ones under the other two names.

I thoroughly agree on your assessment, Starling.

The Arcane Society books can pretty much work as stand-alones, because the connections are pretty loose.

I'm also with you with regards to the Harmony Books. I think it was at the 5th book Dark Light, that the Arcane Society was actually mentioned...so yes, I think they also belong as part of the Arcane society general line.

I love those dustbunnies :)

Not having read this series I have to ask--are they evil dust bunnies that will attack your ankles if you aren't careful? That's what my CAT insists happens to explain the scratches on my ankles and legs. SHE wouldn't scratch Mommy.

Ann wrote: "Not having read this series I have to ask--are they evil dust bunnies that will attack your ankles if you aren't careful? That's what my CAT insists happens to explain the scratches on my ankles a..."


LOL...Well, they are actually predators, and they do attack when provoked. But when they are in their normal state, they are fluffy.

There are several videos on youtube with these precocious dustbunnies.

Here is one:

For the right people, they make wonderful pets. And they like pretties for their "hair".