Why did I choose anonymity? Simple, really. I wanted to put no pressure on family and friends: “Uh-oh. He’s given me his book to read, but I don’t have the time. Damn.” Or: “I’m embarrassed. I’ve read his book and I don’t know how to tell him I don’t like it.” So, I decided to put my books out pseudonymously. Perfect strangers could then tell me what they felt about the writing. No embarrassment there: strangers are utterly truthful in their response because they don’t owe you.
As it stands, apart from a handful of kind reviews from friends who uncovered my pseudonymity, many reviews on Goodreads, Amazon and Audible have fed back to me honest responses from readers–who don’t know me–about what they have liked and what they have not liked in my writing. I’ve learned from their comments and try to build upon them. I’m grateful for the time readers have taken to tell me their thoughts, and I’m indebted to them.
Before I’d written more than half of my first book, I was advised by a member of the family to eschew any thoughts of writing under a pen-name. I’d mentioned that I was “working on something” and hoped one day to publish it pseudonymously. The advice was given with some passion, as I recall, along with a few emphatic superlatives: “it’s ABSOLUTELY the wrong thing to do”, “it would be a DREADFUL mistake”, and “NOBODY these days should do that when embarking on their first novel.” At the time I suppressed my instinct to mention the pen-names of a few contemporary writers like Elena Ferranti, Robert Galbraith, Jack Harvey or Max Wilde; or to note that Lee Child is Jim Grant; or to mention the pen-names of writers ranging from Henrik Ibsen through the Bronte sisters; or utter the names George Eliot, George Sand, Karen Blixen, Barbara Vine, and countless others.
No, I thought. Advice to writers is always welcome, but some advice is based on preconceptions and assumptions rooted in one simple fact: these people know me and they will read anything I write through the filter of what they know about me (or what they think they know about me).
So, I threw myself pseudonymously upon the mercy of “innocent” readers who would respond to my writing directly and not through the filter of what they “knew” about me.
The most rewarding thing, thus far, is that a couple of cops discovered my first book and decided to set up a chat-room discussion on Goodreads. My favourite comment from that discussion is the question–because I apparently described their working environment quite well–whether I might be one of them.
Maybe I am. Go figure.
I also write under a pen-name, for exactly the reasons you enunciate. It makes sense and I have found it very rewarding. I absolutely LOVED your book ‘Death Dealing’. I’m not reading them in sequence, but in time I’ll get to them all. Lovely thriller, I have to say.
Thank you so much, Arabella.
I thought this all made sense. I hadn’t considered the issue but it was interesting reading your thoughts. I think I’ll also use a pen-name when my own book is ready. I came to this website because I read your quartet (and reviewed it, if you’re interested: – https://www.audible.co.uk/a/listener/A7ZQZ9CKNI5D0 )
Thanks, Ricky. Much appreciated. Good luck with your own book. If you DM me your pen-name, I promise not to divulge it.
How interesting. That makes sense. I had never thought about pen-names, but if I was an author I would do the same, after reading what you have said here. I read your four thrillers, by the way, and reviewed them on Barnes and Noble (https://tinyurl.com/y73xn9h8). I then came looking for info on you and found this website. You should write more reviews – I also visited your Goodreads site and saw your lovely review of Tolkien.
Thank you, Lucille. Glad you liked the quartet. I’ll do my best on writing more reviews, too (‘But at my back I always hear Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near’).