many reasons. sometimes they don't want one work to taint the reputation of some other work they have produced. for example, if stephen king, who is known for his work in the horror genre, suddenly wrote a children's book, he might give a pen name so as not to spoils his established reputation.
in other cases, an author may realize that what they have written is garbage, and simply don't want their name associated with the book.
lastly, an author might be afraid of offending friends or family they may have fictionalized in their book. an example is sylvia plath's semi-autobiographical novel the bell jar. she published it under the name victoria lucas to protect the real people referenced in the book.
I use a pen name in my published works. Mostly because it's more interesting than my real name but I think it's also important if you have a name that is hard to spell or pronounce.
Also, it's been shown that authors with last names starting with any letter from the first half of the alphabet have more chance of people buying their books. If you think about it it makes sense.
When you go to a book shop you generally start at the 'A' last names in the specific genre you want and search for good books from there, by the time you get half way through the alphabet you already have a selection of books that interest you and usually you don't bother to continue to the next shelf.
And also because they might write for different age groups and genres.
Most parents probably wouldn't approve of their children reading books written by the same author who specializes in adult pulp.
As thewriter said, having a masculine or gender neutral name will attract a wider audience since some males (at least younger or self-conscious ones) may be embarrassed about reading a book by a female author. NOTE- Not all men are like this and times are certainly changing this type of behavior.
Also, if a person is writing pieces that are contrary to their community's beliefs (for example, a KKK member publishing a book but not wanting his/her neighbors to come bothering them) may do so as a form of anonymity. It lets them express an opinion without the public backlash.
Many authors have very long names, or their birth names are hard to pronounce or spell.
Also, some author's names are already taken by other published or successful writers.
Some authors want anonymity, or if they have previously written for another genre and are moving from say, romance to murder mystery novels, they don't want their old reputation to follow them.
Similarly, there is the common assumption that girls will read novels by boys, but boys will not read novels written for girls. Changing a name to make it more masculine (such as J.K.Rowling did for Harry Potter) or to make it more feminine (say if a male was writing a romance series...) will make the novel more appealing to its target audience, and it will generally sell better.
In days long past, many women used male pseudonyms so their books would be taken seriously and be published. In the 19th century George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin) were both women.
a lot of times its because their name might not appeal to the people they're writing to. like J.K. Rowling, she used a pen name because she didn't want boys to shun the book because a girl wrote it.
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many reasons. sometimes they don't want one work to taint the reputation of some other work they have produced. for example, if stephen king, who is known for his work in the horror genre, suddenly wrote a children's book, he might give a pen name so as not to spoils his established reputation.
in other cases, an author may realize that what they have written is garbage, and simply don't want their name associated with the book.
lastly, an author might be afraid of offending friends or family they may have fictionalized in their book. an example is sylvia plath's semi-autobiographical novel the bell jar. she published it under the name victoria lucas to protect the real people referenced in the book.
I use a pen name in my published works. Mostly because it's more interesting than my real name but I think it's also important if you have a name that is hard to spell or pronounce.
Also, it's been shown that authors with last names starting with any letter from the first half of the alphabet have more chance of people buying their books. If you think about it it makes sense.
When you go to a book shop you generally start at the 'A' last names in the specific genre you want and search for good books from there, by the time you get half way through the alphabet you already have a selection of books that interest you and usually you don't bother to continue to the next shelf.
And also because they might write for different age groups and genres.
Most parents probably wouldn't approve of their children reading books written by the same author who specializes in adult pulp.
-Pascha
As thewriter said, having a masculine or gender neutral name will attract a wider audience since some males (at least younger or self-conscious ones) may be embarrassed about reading a book by a female author. NOTE- Not all men are like this and times are certainly changing this type of behavior.
Also, if a person is writing pieces that are contrary to their community's beliefs (for example, a KKK member publishing a book but not wanting his/her neighbors to come bothering them) may do so as a form of anonymity. It lets them express an opinion without the public backlash.
Many authors have very long names, or their birth names are hard to pronounce or spell.
Also, some author's names are already taken by other published or successful writers.
Some authors want anonymity, or if they have previously written for another genre and are moving from say, romance to murder mystery novels, they don't want their old reputation to follow them.
Similarly, there is the common assumption that girls will read novels by boys, but boys will not read novels written for girls. Changing a name to make it more masculine (such as J.K.Rowling did for Harry Potter) or to make it more feminine (say if a male was writing a romance series...) will make the novel more appealing to its target audience, and it will generally sell better.
These are a few of the reasons I can think of.
Hope this helps!
For flexibility sometimes.
So they can write different types of books.
You could use the same one, but say you write a children's book and then another book about sex, you may want a pen name for one.
Also to avoid the discrimination of gender is common.
In days long past, many women used male pseudonyms so their books would be taken seriously and be published. In the 19th century George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin) were both women.
Pen names protect writers from identity theft.
a lot of times its because their name might not appeal to the people they're writing to. like J.K. Rowling, she used a pen name because she didn't want boys to shun the book because a girl wrote it.
maybe because they dont like their real names... or maybe they have a boring name... like Mark Twain- his real name is Samuel Clemens...
cuz. one) they r weird. two) they dont want their real name there. and three) well idk but there is a third one though!!!