Who here checks the copyright page of their books and the name next to "Copyright @"? I don't systematically do it, but from time to time, I'll stumble across it... and it's always fun to find out the true name of authors :) It's also surprisingly easy when you think about it!
Just for fun, try to guess who are the following authors: Linda Howington, Loretta Chekani, Susan Macias Redmond, Julie Koca, Jodi Koumalats, P.F. Besley, Cheryl Griffin and Katherine Smith.
It's no secret that many authors choose to go with a pen name and there are many reasons to do so. On top of my head, there's privacy... but also clearly, marketing. Making your name sound more American/generic, choosing a pen name to fit a genre specifically, hiding your gender... Also, how many authors we've heard of who write multiple fiction genres or sub-genres and therefore need different pen names: Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb, J.R. Ward and Jessica Bird, Sylvia Day and S.J. Day and Livia Dare. Or authors who need a start fresh?
For whatever reasons the authors do it, it's valid and all very interesting :) And I bet a lot of thoughts go into it choosing a pen name... So what's my issue? Why am I writing this post? Well... Is it me or recently, there's been a lot of similar names popping up? It's as if new authors are purposely choosing pen names that are similar to established authors to confuse the readers :( I'll see posts on blogs and forums and be like: "Oh, I didn't know this author had a new book out" and turns out I read the author's names too quickly. I'm sure that for some authors, they want to use as close as their real name as possible... so I'm not ranting at all the Jennifers or Susans since I know they are popular names. But in some case, I wonder. For example, this morning, I came across Holly Kinsella. Of course, it reminded me of Sophie Kinsella. Was that the purpose? If you had the chance to choose your pen name, wouldn't you try to pick something as unique as possible? It's already hard to keep titles and covers straight, but now, authors' names too?! And it seems more prominent because of all the self-publishing going on...
Perhaps I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but it's something I noticed lately and it's been on my mind. So I thought I'd share and see what were your thoughts :) Agree, disagree, no opinion? How do you feel about that?
