10 Best-Selling Authors Amongst Pen Names

Still buzzing inward the tidings is the leaked tweet revealing that J.K. Rowling had used the pen name Robert Galbraith as the author of her novel offense novel, The Cuckoo's Calling. News reporters together with the populace at large reacted amongst both daze together with intrigue at her using a fictitious name. The large enquiry is, Why? This has stirred upwards discussions inward the literary earth on the dependent champaign of pen names.

What is a Pen Name?

At its heart, a pen advert is merely a fictitious advert used past times authors to sell their novels together with literary works. Some, but non all, pen names are closely related to the author's actual name.

Why Use a Pen Name?

Reason 1: Authors mightiness create upwards one's hear to purpose a pen advert if they write inward a different genre. This helps continue their readership together with fan-base separate. Avid readers of armed forces sci-fi mightiness experience mislead or duped after buying their favorite author's novel mass exclusively to encounter that it's a steamy romance novel.

Reason 2: An author may want to save his or her anonymity when writing a mass that's rattling different all the other books he or she has written before. An author who is writing erotic romance novels for women may desire to purpose a divide pen advert when writing erotic romance novels squarely aimed at middle-age men.

Reason 3: An author may withdraw a pen advert due to pressure. J.K. Rowling decided to purpose the pen advert Robert Galbraith for a few reasons:

she did non desire to experience the pressure level of writing a novel amongst the entire earth waiting inward breathless anticipation for its release;
this novel is a difference from her Harry Potter mass serial together with targets a different readership together with age; and,
she wanted to have critical unbiased feedback together with reviews on her writing agency from the populace together with pop critics.

Once her pen advert was leaked to a London paper together with revealed publicly, sales of her novel novel soared 507,000 part on Amazon.

There are many reasons to withdraw a pen name, together with many famous authors withdraw maintain done it. Below is a quick listing of 10 pen names that come upwards to mind, along amongst the author's existent name, together with why he or she used a fictitious name.

Real name: Joanne Rowling

Pen name(s): J.K. Rowling, Robert Galbraith

Many people don't realize that J.K. Rowling is itself a pen name. When Rowling was originally writing Harry Potter, her publisher decided that using the initial 'J' instead of her starting fourth dimension name Joanne on the encompass would brand her advert gender-neutral together with withdraw maintain a amend run a jeopardy of selling the books to immature boys, the potbelly of her readership. The publisher likewise asked her to purpose her middle initial every bit well. Rowling didn't withdraw maintain a middle name, then she borrowed the 'K' from her grandmother's starting fourth dimension advert Kathleen.

Real name: Stephen King

Pen name: Richard Bachman

Known to the residue of the earth every bit the main of horror novels, Stephen King originally started writing brusk stories nether Richard Bachman. In interviews King revealed that he had used this pen advert inward the belatedly 1970s because publishers would non convey to a greater extent than than a unmarried mass a yr from an author, together with he didn't desire to await similar he was churning out poorly written novels. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 pen advert allowed him to write 2 or to a greater extent than novels inward a year.

Real name: Eric Arthur Blair

Pen name: George Orwell

When Blair wrote his memoir Down together with Out inward Paris together with London (pub. 1933), he worried that he'd embarrass his line of piece of occupation solid unit of measurement amongst his in-depth reflection together with emotional turmoil of living inward poverty every bit recounted inward this novel. To avoid strife betwixt him together with his line of piece of occupation solid unit of measurement (and peradventure harsh criticism from unopen acquaintances), he used the advert 'Orwell' from the famous English linguistic communication river, 'The Orwell River' together with the advert 'George' from 'Saint George,' the patron saint of England. In afterwards years, yet using the pen advert George Orwell, he would write the best-selling classics, Nineteen Eighty-Four (pub. 1949) together with Animal Farm (pub. 1945).

Real name: Agatha Christie

Pen name: Mary Westmacott

Known much to a greater extent than for her mystery offense novels nether her ain advert of Agatha Christie, she used this pen advert to write together with position out vi romance novels, a difference from her bread-and-butter genre, the mystery detective novel. During her prolific writing career, Christie wrote 66 mystery offense novels together with established 1 of the largest readerships of this genre.

Real name: Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski

Pen name: Joseph Conrad

Conrad is the Anglicized version of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Korzeniowski used this pen advert every bit a agency to shorten his nascence advert because it did non agree aesthetically on mass covers or their spines, nor could readers pronounce or retrieve it. He likewise used the pen advert to reach greater credence from the English linguistic communication reading populace at large together with to sell to a greater extent than books. Conrad is best known for his novella, Heart of Darkness (pub. 1899), which inspired pic producer Francis Ford Coppola to create the 1979 blockbuster, Apocalypse Now.

Real name: C.S. Lewis

Pen name: N.W. Clerk

C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis) was a masterful Christian novelist, story-teller, together with theologian, well-known for his fiction plant (The Chronicles of Narnia, pub. 1956) together with his non-fiction plant (Mere Christianity, pub. 1952). He used the pen advert for his non-fiction book, "A Grief Observed" (pub. 1962) inward which he reveals his most personal emotions together with struggles nigh the expiry of his wife. He did non desire his regular younger-generation fiction readers to associate him every bit the author of a personal, memoir-style adult non-fiction book.

Real name: Stanley Martin Lieber

Pen name: Stan Lee

Perhaps Stan Lee, famous for creating Spider-Man together with X-Men, was saving his existent advert for when he hitting it large every bit a best-selling mass author. He didn't desire to waste product it on silly, flimsy comic books. Stan Lee, a cheaper to a greater extent than generic version of his name, was used instead. Of course, the contrary happened: he has larn the most successful together with highest paid comic strip author of all time. After a string of comic mass successes together with a growing readership, he legally changed his advert to Stan Lee inward 1941.

Real name: Nora Roberts

Pen name: J.D. Robb

Nora Roberts was a pop author earlier she always used the pen advert J.D. Robb. As the author of over 200 romance novels, her publisher was nervous nigh her making a transition to detective novels, then she wrote them nether a to a greater extent than male-sounding name. Roberts has likewise used other pen names: Jill March for brusk stories and Sarah Hardesty for novels published inward the United Kingdom.

Real name: Louisa May Alcott

Pen name: A.M. Barnard

Famous every bit the best-selling author of the novel Little Women (pub. 1868), Alcott used a pen advert when she starting fourth dimension began writing brusk novels called "potboilers," to continue her financially stable then she could write the form of fiction she actually enjoyed.

Real name: Isaac Asimov

Pen name: Paul French

Known globally for writing compelling scientific discipline fiction plant together with respected past times academic scholars every bit an intelligent author of non-fiction scientific discipline books, Isaac Asimov was asked to write a fiction novel that was meant to serve every bit a footing for a novel boob tube series. Fearing that the TV producers would mangle his move horribly, Asimov used a pen name. The boob tube bargain eventually savage through, but Asimov decided to purpose the pen advert to write v scientific discipline fiction novels for immature adult readers.

I welcome y'all comments, suggestions, or corrections. Please purpose the Comments shape below.

Sincerely,

101writer101