I've always felt a strong resistance to using a pseudonym when I write. But how one feels and the needs of the industry can be incompatible, so now I'm trying to come up with a catchy pen name. Two, actually. Let me know if you have suggestions. "Dirk Diggler" is taken.
Because I'm concentrating now on writing for children, I may well want a different name for publishing certain other things. I've written 3/4 of a novel that's decidedly inappropriate for the 12-year-olds who will read my forthcoming medieval mystery. Much as it pains me, I'll need to market the adult novel under a pseudonym, or else children's publishers (and the parents of America) will avoid me like carrion.
A live chat with a much-published author at ICL pointed out another reason to pick a second name: prolific and varied output. If I produce a children's novel per year, a single publishing house might like all of them. But they're unlikely to be willing to over-saturated their catalog with the works of Anne E. Johnson, lest it look like a one-woman show. The problem would be fixed if I had another identity for half the books.
How about "Haby S. Corpus"?
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