5 TIPS ON HOW TO CHOOSE A PEN NAME
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- Опубликовано: 19 мар 2018
- Hope these 5 tips on how to choose a pen name are helpful!
If you have any questions, please feel free to post them below!
Looking forward to chatting with you in the comments section.
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//A B O U T M E//
Pen names: Lyra Parish & Kennedy Fox (we're an author duo!)
I've been in the indie scene since 2011. I published my first romance novel in 2014 (Weak for Him). Under Kennedy Fox, we've made USA Today 4 times since 2017. With Lyra Parish, I've made top 100 several times on Amazon.
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Want to learn more about my books?
Lyra Parish - amzn.to/2rOHn9D
Kennedy Fox - amzn.to/2BEbpfG
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//R E L E A S E S C H E D U L E//
Taming Him - Jan 30, 2018 - O U T N O W!
Needing Him - April 17, 2018
Chasing Him - July 2018
Keeping Him - Oct 2018
My Week with the F*ckboy - End of 2018
My Week with the Playboy - End of 2018
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//2 0 1 8 U P C O M I N G S I G N I N G S & T R A V E L//
Book Bonanza - Denver, Colorado - July 20th & 21st
Romance Author Mastermind - Houston, Texas - Sept 27th - 29th
Renaissance City Author Event - Providence, RI - Oct 6th
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//S N A I L M A I L//
Courtney Young
PO BOX 1152
Groves, Texas 77619
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//S O C I A L M E D I A//
→ instagram: @lyraparish / @kennedyfoxbooks
→facebook: / lyraparishauthor
→ twitter: @lyraparish / @kennedyfoxbooks
→ email: lyraparish@gmail.com
→ newsletter: www.subscribepage.com/lyraparish
Hope these tips helped! If you have some tips, post them below! They might help someone else who’s trying to decide what to choose! ❤️
Tip: Give yourself sufficient time to choose your pen name.
😃This has been easy for me to create a name, but making sure it isn't already out there makes it hard! New writer here! Thanks for your videos! 💝
My full name: Linda Lincoln Grace. Sadly, common as dirt. Linda Grace. Taken. Lincoln Grace, Linda Lincoln, Grace Lincoln, taken, taken, taken. Aargh! Finally, in exasperation, I went to Google Translate and translated "to the future" into Finnish. Then, I subtracted letters until I had something pronounceable. I landed on "Tuvelais" (like Rabelais, the author). Job done.
Honestly, don't be scared to go through a string of pen names. You'll figure it out eventually as time goes on; there's no need to pressure yourself to come up with the best-sounding nom de plume of all-time the moment you write under a pen name.
(I suppose the same can be said of life. We figure it out eventually. In time. =D)
I'm about to start a blog that is based in my personal experiences. The concept is so others who've had similar situations can have someone to identify with. I'm writing with a very raw voice, and some of my stories include family. Watching this I realized that if I use a pen name, I don't have to worry about family members or friends having to deal with unintended consequences. I won't be naming any of them anyway, but this adds a layer of privacy I think will help me to open up even more. Thank you!!
Absolutely! Good luck with your book! Pen names absolutely allow you to keep your identity to yourself until you’re ready to tell people.
Great video!
I wasn't a big fan of my real name as there are a few negative connotations with it. So, I chose this name! Aila (I pronounce it a-luh, not eye-luh) in its Scottish gaelic definition means "from a strong place." I'm a women's fiction author and my leading ladies always get put through the ringer. I felt this was fitting for both myself and my characters. It's also a gentle nod to my Scottish heritage. Stephens is much simpler; it is the name of the county in which I was born.
I love your name! It’s pretty!
She: "I've seen some crazy stuff out there with js and ks. I'm not even kidding."
Me: "Ah, I see what you did there. Lol"
hahaha!!
I’ve been brainstorming a pen name for me. I googled my name and SO many Lisa Robertson’s popped up! My sister in law’s name is Lisa and I was known as Lisa #2, (which is not something I appreciated), until she got married.
Did you check amazon too? :) You totally want to be the only one so people can easily find you! ❤️
The Courtney Project I haven’t checked Amazon, but I’ll be sure to check there too! You are so inspiring to me!
My name is Lisa Johnson - I know your pain!!! (Fun fact - adding my middle name doesn’t help, because there are at least a few women with my exact name...and one’s an author!)🤦🏾♀️🤣
My birth name is Linda Lincoln Conaway, I married Joe Grace. So, I have four names to choose from. My brother conducts business under Conaway, and nobody spells it right, anyway, so that one's out. I write Regency romance. Well, Linda, Lincoln, and Grace are all lovely romance-fiction type names. This should be easy! Every single combination I could come up with (including initials) is already taken! "Grace Lincoln" already has 5 writers associated with it. Aargh! My names are as common as dirt. So I translated "future" into Finnish and subtracted letters until I had something pronounceable. I'm going to have to change it, though, because nobody can spell it.
I'm a High School math teacher who wants to write M/M romance (in the process of my first novel), and I definitely cannot use my real name, or any name that I have public (such as my middle and last name, my initials, and last name), so I need to come up with a name I love and that I know will be mine for a long time. Thank you for the advice.
Thanks for the information. I didn't realize most of what you said and will look into all of it. I chose my pen name of AK Stein in honor of my great grandmother. I was named after her. I knew her when I was a child and not only loved her, but liked her as well.
Thank you so much !!!!! this helped me a lot, keep doing the good work and once again thank you so very much :)
So glad to hear it! Thank you!!
Love your videos. I'm author and poet Until... Named myself that at 12 years old. It one of my favorite words. That's why. 😊
I've love to see you do some up to date videos on motivation and tips on dealing with fear, procrastination, perfectionism or Comparisonitis (feeling like every other author is better than you).
What tips would you give someone just getting into writing romance in the current climate especially on amazon.
Thanks for comment, Mica! I'll have to add these to my list of videos to do.
I picked Dorothy the Shadow Dolphin. I know it's kinda crazy, but I love my name, and my name on Wattpad for the past 3 years has been Shadow Dolphin (doggo name + favorite animal), so I just went with that, lol.
Great practical tips! Thanks!
Thanks so much!!
Super helpful❤
Sooo I SHOULDN’T go with “Tchoupitoulas”? Duly noted
😂
Do you think my name is a good name? My real name is Laura Garcia and I only took the surname of my grandfather.
I think if you like it and there aren’t a million Laura Garcia’s out there, go for it! It means something to you which makes it that much better! ❤️❤️
Thank you! This video helped mainly because I've been trying to decide whether or not to use a pen name at all. Now I just need to figure out domain names and social media handles. Question: When you use a pen name, do you use it on Linked In too?
You might be able to just add it as a “job” under your real name. I know LinkedIn is more of a professional network and I don’t a profile for my pen name. I’m not super invested in that platform so I might not have the best answer.
Thank you for sharing this video.
I think my pin name would be Selena Hazel. It's the same initials as my real name which makes it easy for signing.
I've been going through a lot of your videos now that I'm purposely trying to write to be a published author. I think I want to go to self publishing route as well.
I know I'm late to the party (comment wise) but I just found this video. It was awesome by the way. I have two pen names picked out for when I hope to be published later this year. The first one is Cheyenne St. James and the brand is "Sweet Romance Across Genres". I wanted a name that sounded, maybe not hoity-toity, but at least a little classy. Cheyenne is the name for my daughter I've had pick out since high school. Since I am 38 (will be 39 on June 3rd) and have yet to get married and have kids, I figured might as well use it for something, right? And my books will be my babies so there ya go. lol When coming up with the last name I search around at other author names for inspiration and saw Eloisa James. I thought oh I love her books! How about Cheyenne James? After subsequent google and amazon searches, I found a Cheyenne James already writing. I was a little bummed as I loved that name, but then I came across Emma St. Claire and I thought, hmmm, I wonder... So I google and amazon searched Cheyenne ST. James and found nothing. Yay! I looked to see if the domain was available and it was. After getting everything for Cheyenne, I thought about my story ideas that are not "sweet" romance. I wanted a name that was a little more spicy and bold like the stories would be but I still wanted it obvious that they were connected. So, after more google, amazon, and domain searching, I came up with Roxi St. James; Cheyenne's sassy sister. lol Her branding is "More Heat Than Sweet". Now Roxi is set to come out with a story before Cheyenne! lol Funny how life works. Sorry for the uber long comment, but thanks for all your videos and sprints. They help me immensely and have been the highlights of my week.
Actually, I came up with a pen name{ Shawn Berretta) gives the impression of a Disco-thriller vibe for instance from first names like Wyatt by compared exaggerate aliases such as plants, clothing, minor things etc... and blurring the vowels into other letters for similar pronunciation of the original name.while Ensuring a tone That sounds like someone familiar is writing a unique genre to read! Concise enough to be an easy way.
Ive decided to use a unisex pen name but im really struggling to come up with one
Hey are you supposed to register or copywrite pr something your pen name...n how to do it
There is a fear of mine that using a penname would allow someone else to pretend to be me. OR that I wont get paid cuase I cant prove penname was mine like what if the publisher double crosses me. Idk a penname is stressful
No. That doesn’t happen. You back your pen name with legal documentation like a DBA or LLC so you can legally make decision for your business. I’ve had a pen name since 2013, and I’ve had zero issues.
Hello
I’m using my maiden name which is really common so now I’m wondering if I should change it. I know there’s another author with the name Jennifer Campbell. I just love my name and don’t want my work to be tied to my ex in any way. What do you think?
What does this person write? If it’s the same genre, you should seriously rethink it.
great tips! :D
Thanks so much!
I'm into genealogy, so I picked one name from my mother's ancestors, and another from my father's. I LOVE naming things. Even my cars are named. So having a pen name was just another excuse to have fun with a weird obsession.
Haha, that’s freaking awesome!
This is a great idea. The problem is my father's side is traditionally Portuguese, and I'm writing romance novels and going to say many of the names are not pronounceable. I may try to find a surname from my father's side that might fit. However, I'm very drawn to traditional Portuguese names (MC1 has a common first name and Portuguese last name, with his brother having Traditional first and last Portuguese names).
@@joshuafurtado2299 I love the idea of having a Portuguese MC for a romance novel! So cool!
@@smeastwest Thank you. I hope I do my family proud. Being half-Portuguese myself, I have a lot of experience and expectations. hehe.
Im thinking of doing my nickname: Dimps but idk if I should do it. I need someone else's thoughts!!!
I'm unpublished, but have had a pen name in mind for a while. At the moment it is available on Twitter and Amazon, but taken on Instagram with an account that has 1 old photo. 😐 Back to the drawing board.
My second choice pen name is available, hopefully it still will be available when I come to publish.
Not a pen name, but my nickname was Sampleguy because I used to try many food samples at different grocery stores. 😁
My real name is hard to spell and pronounce, and I also don't want my real name being on my books so I want to choose a pen name but I'm having such a hard time trying to figure out what it should be!
Thinking about a pen name
People always have pronounced my name wrong (and spelt it wrong) so imma use that
I like to use my first name and a different surname
Hey Court, can you do a video on KDP vs IngramSparks?
I will as soon as I have more experience with it. :) Ingram Spark is a great place to be if you’d eventually like to get your indie books in bookstores.
The Courtney Project thank you! Also, I’d like to add Barnes and Noble Press and LuLu to this list lol. I was up researching this all night and I am surprised at how little these are discussed.
I’ve used Barnes to do paperbacks but they basically use Ingramspark. Lol. I don’t know too much about Lulu because I believe they use Ingram spark to distribute too and to order paperbacks is more expensive than IS and Barnes. They’re the most expensive!
To help you now...lol. Make sure you use the same ISBN on Amazon. What most people do is put their paperback on amazon using the same ISBN as Ingram spark. Then also upload on Ingram. Amazon should see the duplicate ISBN and not publish two versions. This gives you the ability to let amazon fulfill their orders (using amazon prime which is much quicker) and then you’re on all the other sites globally as well. Ingram distributes to Barnes and so you won’t need to add it to Barnes too.
Also, please excuse any typos! LOL, I’m on my phone.
The Courtney Project no problem! I am too! My question was more about how the paperback and hardback proofs compare and the pricing. I can not find any good quality comparisons in videos or blogs. Also, I know everything varies by page/word count, but I just need to see someone use one book as an example 😂. The struggle!
hey, i’m thinking about trying out a pen name. the name “hayley clark” is very common, and i was thinking that if i ever publish, i could publish under the name “haedin clark.” i chose it because it’s very rare, unlike my given name. what are your opinions on that? is it too hard to spell?
Hi! I have trouble in choosing a pen name or my real name due the genre I want to write (multiple genre) do you have any advice that will suit for any genre? Thank you in advance.😊
I’d focus on writing in one main genre and establish yourself there first before writing everything under the sun under one pen name. That way, you’re not confusing your readers and can build a brand. ❤️
@@TheCourtneyProject Thank you for the adviced.😊
How do you use a pen name with social media sites like Facebook where you have to use your real name.
I just created a facebook profile under this name. I've not had any issues. I also have a certificate from the state of Texas saying this is a fictitious name so I've shown that to facebook before when trying to verify!
Another thing people might want to think about is length. Signing a really long name over and over could get tiresome and painful.
Hi! When you use a pen name is there any legal documentation that you have to have?
I got a DBA in my state that way I could file legal documents if I needed and open up a bank account as Lyra Parish. Our other pen name is registered under an LLC. Some states have Assumed Name forms too. There are a lot of people who don’t do anything at all but I like to keep my business expenses and income separate from my personal things, and run it like a true business.
@@TheCourtneyProject omg thanks so much for all the information. I feel much more comfortable using a Pen name now. I think I'll do the same as you. I want everything separate from my personal life as well.
Great tips, but the jumpy video drove me nuts!
Lol this video is 4 years old. 😂😂 I’m sure it sucked.
69th comment
You cannot use your real name No, you should not use your real name. One is a definitive statement, and the other is a subjective statement. You can choose to use your real name as an erotica author. There's no rule against it.
too much blabber
Appreciate your feedback. 🥱