# What's the point of a pen name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377 "2003-10-14T14:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377/21 "2003-10-14T23:28:22Z")
That should, of course, have been “_no_ doubt paid handsomely”.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![lucky\_henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@lucky\_henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucky_henry)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377/22 "2003-10-15T00:34:29Z")
Nice post, **slipster**. I publish under three different names. Each identity can be set up as a separate business venture. There are significant tax advantages. Why give Uncle Sam any more than you legally have to? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377/23 "2003-10-15T00:35:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*That should, of course, have been “_no_ doubt paid handsomely”.:smack: \*\* I had know doubt that’s what you meant. [sub]I’m such a kidder, and under my real name, too![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377/24 "2003-10-15T00:49:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*Another notable instance of this sort of arrangement is the work of Earl Stanley Gardner, who wrote numerous mystery novels under the name A. A. Fair. I expect the book discussed in the OP is probably a reissue of a book which was originally published under the pseudonym. \*\* As far as I know, Gardner published under the name of Fair only because he was publishing so much that his publisher wanted a new name for a new and different series. Both the Gardner and Fair books were published by William Morrow so no second publisher was ever involved. The same thing occurred with John Dickson Carr, who had to publish his second series about Sir Henry Merrivale under the name of Carter Dickson. Harper, his Carr publisher, didn’t think they could sell four Carr mysteries a year. The Dickson books have had an odd history as paperbacks, sometimes coming out as by Dickson, sometimes as by Carr, sometimes with both names on it. This is not the case for Robb, whose first edition paperbacks now say Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377/25 "2003-10-15T04:08:49Z")
I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society since it’s about books and writers. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377/26 "2003-10-15T07:14:31Z")
I know a number of authors who write under pen names for this reason: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\*But the big chains order by computer. So the publishers visualize a scenario in which a Nora Roberts starts an sf series and her sales are 90% lower than for her previous book. So the chains’ computers automatically order only 10% of their usual allotment of her next book - whatever that might be. > \*\* One issue here is that while SF readers are loyal, that genre isn’t as big as romance. So if J.D. Robb sold only 90,000 copies of her most recent SF title, then stores ordering a romance by that same author might very well say, “Oh, she only sold 90,000, so we’ll order 90,000 of this one,” when in fact a Nora Roberts might sell 350,000. (I’m guessing at these numbers.) It is a live person, not a computer, who makes the decision, but the live person has his or her job on the line, too. I know of at least a couple of cases where authors started using a pseudonym in the same genre. In one case it backfired, at least with regard to one copy of one book. Taffy Cannon had a series under one name, and started a new one under the name Emily Toll. I looked at it and wasn’t interested until I heard–and it wasn’t a huge secret or anything–that Emily Toll was Taffy Cannon. In that one instance, it would have changed whether I bought the book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-a-pen-name/207377.md?page=1)