- The author wishes to keep his or her privacy.
- The author writes controversial or sensitive subject matter, such as erotica.
- There is, by coincidence, another author with the same name, or a similar name.
- The author has a name that is confusing, hard to pronounce, or with an unusual spelling.
- The author writes in more than one genre, and wishes to build a separate brand for each.
The latter two reasons apply to me.
When I wrote my first book, Anna’s Kitchen, I thought my legal name, Gayle Martin, was perhaps too common. So, I included my maiden name, Homes. However, there was a problem. Before I was married to a Mr. Martin, I spent my life having both a first and a last name with unusual spellings. Gayle Homes. I was constantly having to spell my name for people, and they were still getting my name wrong. They all thought I was, “Gail Holmes,” and no, it didn’t exactly do wonders for my self-esteem.
Once Anna’s Kitchen was published, I realized that the troubles of the past had come back to haunt me. The name, Gayle Homes, with or without, Martin, simply left too big of a margin for error for a keyword search. Had I not picked up the name, Martin, along my life’s journey, I would have used a pen name from the get-go. That said, we learn from our mistakes. So when I started publishing my Luke and Jenny series of historical novels for young readers, I dropped the name Homes and published as Gayle Martin. It worked, and I successfully built my brand as a children’s book author. Then came the next problem.
Why I switched to a pen name
As much as I loved my Luke and Jenny books, I wanted to branch out into the romance genre. Most readers in this genre expect some steamy love scenes. However, this would present a real problem if young Luke and Jenny fans, or their parents, bought my newer books, thinking they too were written for younger readers. So, I created a pen name, Marina Martindale, which is simply a play on my middle name, Marie, and my last name, Martin.
Ultimately, it’s up to each author to decide whether or not to write under a pen name. If you opt to do so, I highly recommend creating one that’s easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and memorable.
Gayle Martin
or is it
Marina Martindale?