Comments on: Guest Blogger - Beth Kery

By: Beth Kery

Beth Kery — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:54:19 +0000

Hi Denise!
Just what I need to hear–an author who feels confident about the issue (and rightfully so.)

Thanks!

By: Beth Kery

Beth Kery — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:52:42 +0000

Hey Vivi,
Yeah, I don’t think my content is different enough to warrant changing my brand/name. I think that’s really at the core of what I’m getting at with the post. At what point does it become ’significantly different content?’ Opinions on that could vary, but for now, I’m going to trust my gut on the issue. Thanks for the feedback.

By: Beth Kery

Beth Kery — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:47:56 +0000

Hi all! Sorry I didn’t get back sooner. I was at my parents and they don’t have internet.
Anyway–hi Amie! Sorry if I sounded “black and whitish” by saying “factory.” I was just sort of thinking aloud on this issue. It’s not the hugest dilemma in the world, I know, but I have been thinking about it a lot lately.
I’ll be the first to admit I might change my opinion tomorrow, but for now, I’m sticking with one author name.

By: Denise A. Agnew

Denise A. Agnew — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:52:36 +0000

Beth,
I think I’m with you on this one. I write all my books under my own name regardless of genre or heat level. Most of the readers I’ve talked to say they want a Denise read…they know what I’m giving them.

Denise A. Agnew

By: Vivi Anna

Vivi Anna — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:28:19 +0000

Hi Beth. I think author branding is important. But it doesn’t work for everyone. And if you’re writing books that are close enough together in the genre spectrum or even the heat spectrum, I don’t think you need to add another name.

It’s when an author completely deviates from what they originally were writing and became known for that the change in name is important. JR Ward/Jessica Bird, Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley McGregor, Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Lori Foster/LL Foster

It’d be like me all of a sudden going off to write light contemporaries. I’d definitely have to go with a new name.

By: Amie Stuart

Amie Stuart — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:16:26 +0000

I dont think you “become a factory” if you take two pen names. Lori Foster did it to differentiate between her two styles of writing. Nora Roberts did it; Sylvia Day did it. You even say you like writing two different kinds of stories, and maybe i’m looking at this wrong, but a reader can know what to expect when they pick up a book published under one pen name vs another. And I think it’s in a writer’s best interest to be versatile–it keeps us from getting bored and can keep us published.

All that said, if you keep one name, you could do your readers a service by sorting the two types of stories on your website so they know what they’re getting into with story type a vs story type b.

Ok that sounded kinda…pretentious…and I totally don’t mean for it to. It’s an interesting dilemma to be sure