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In the world of social media, how possible is it to become an author or even a reviewer, using a pen name?

I have a few reasons for not wanting to share all my writing with the 500 odd acquaintances I have on Facebook.

Some of what I write is based on my life, but altered in a fairly disturbed, twisted way. I'm not sure I want someone I know personally reading it, and wondering if they can trust me anymore.

I currently work in diving, which is a happy, smiley type of activity. Trying to mesh a profile that includes that, and psychological thriller writer seems just plain crazy.

The big question is, how to gain a following without using your real life followers to start?

I would think that it would involve a fairly simple understanding between you and your publisher that a pen name will be used instead of your own. I think things get complicated when the book proves to be successful and you are required by contract to go on book signing tours. I don't know what you do then .... perhaps wear one of those Groucho Marx disguises?

Wouldn't it be the same as using your real name? As long as the people publishing the book know the difference, what does it matter what name is in the by line? Just look at all those well known authors who use pseudonyms. As long as the name you use isn't an "internet name" that features numbers in place of letters and way too many X's, you should be fine.

My main issue is that a lot of building a following is dependant on social media. The starting point using my own name would be to share with my contacts, who then share with theirs. Using a pen name, there would be nobody to share these with until I have a published book and a following from it.

You're right. Anymore authors have to 'brand themselves' which all starts with the name. I too, shared your dilemma at first. After weighing the pros and cons (which I almost always do in any big decision), I chose to go with my real name, so far. I say that because I'm writing Children's books. But I'm also working on books in other genres like spec fic, and historical romance, so I've considered using my initials with my last name instead.

If you don't want anyone who knows you knowing about your books, then you'd have to start from scratch. Not easy, I know. You'd need to start new social media pages in that name- a facebook author page, twitter name, pinterest, goodreads, amazon, Instagram, and any other social media sites you frequent. One good thing is you can choose a name that will be tops in a google search. My real name is so unique I know have at least the first three google pages pretty much to myself. I didn't check beyond that, but that may be a great perk for you. I wish you well, whichever way you decide to go.

Thanks Lesa.

I wonder if maybe it's something I just need to get past, I mean, nobody thinks Stephen King is about to go out and create a massacre right?

You can use you middle name or initials to create a slightly different identity. This would allow you to create new social media accounts and pages. You can then have your current friends like and follow your author identity. It is nice to be able to keep your life separate from your hobby/work.

I do the same as KS Crooks suggested, though in part it's because I want to publish papers under my real name as well and don't want people searching for those to be drowning in fictional writing instead. Imagine what they'll think if I was applying for a research grant or something. XD So the keeping personal and work/student life separate is more of a functional reason there, but I use my middle name as my penname here and whenever I do fictional writing. But if people at uni or work are interested in my fictional writing, I'm happy to give them my penname and see what they make of my stuff.

As for developing a reader base, I use the same penname across platforms that relate to my fictional writing in some way - here, scribophile, fictionpress, my blog and twitter accounts, goodreads etc. So I do book reviews under the same name, napo etc. And both book reviews and napo help get new followers for my blog, so when I finally get around to publishing something, there'll be a (albeit small) audience there. I guess networking's the same regardless of what sort of name you use. It's just the starting point that differs.

Used my initials to start. My first name, maiden name, and my whole last name gained in marriage. I decided to change it up and use the nickname, just my name shortened from Jessica to Jessie. that I had in high school and still go by because my best friend and I share the same first name, and my middle name. Which is also my username for here. I prefer that to using my given name and last name that I carry. I can help a little with keeping your professional life of writing from your private life. Depends on how much you share with your readers.

You can always create a different page for your writing while still using your real name. Using a pen name is a good alternative, but personally, I like my name on my work. I like taking the credit for it. Maybe create a facebook page for your book?

I think the biggest issue would be that you already have a following of 500 and you are talking about having to rebuild that from scratch with a pen name. It is certainly doable, but my oh my, it is also a lot of work.

I think using a pen name is no problem. But be prepared that in the modern world, it's hard to keep your real identity a secret for long.