I write in several genres – and at times, that’s hurting my marketing and my Amazon author page…
so I thought I might change things up.
Several authors I’ve seen use a slight variance on their name when they write in a second genre. I never did this because i wanted all the eyeballs headed to the same place…
but that might be a mistake.
Thriller eyeballs want to easily find more thrillers.
Horror readers want to quickly find the next horror book.
One author I saw writes thrillers under a name similar to LG Austen but writes her second genre under a name like Lisa Gene Austen. They are ion separate Amazon author pages; you don’t see any LG Austen books when you are checking out books by Lisa Gene Austen.
In each Amazon author bio she mentions that she writes other genre as well, and gives the other name.
So…
IF I were to employ that strategy, WHAT names would be best to use – and for what genres?
Other variants of my name are:
- (Feel free to suggest another variation)
Genres I write:
Horror – I will continue to create new horror stories and anthologies
Family Humor – I have written several books in this genre but do not anticipate continuing to do so; nonetheless, they exist and a different name would help alleviate confusion and instill some clarity
Romance – I have written one book in this genre and will not likely be doing more, but I’d like to keep the option open
Time Travel – I have written one book in this genre and will not likely be doing more, but I’d like to keep the option open
Children’s books (Illustrated and non-illustrated) – they are fun and they are good, but I’m pretty much done writing these
That’s pretty much it. You can group the “pen name” to several genres that are similar audiences. I’d like to stay with 2 names, maybe three at the most.
My books are HEREon my Amazon page, if that will help.
D Paul Alatorre. It has a rather literary ring to it. 🙂
For which books?
Horror — that was my first thought.
Cool. Thanks!
D P Alatorre seems like it might work for romance, imo. You could use just “Dan” for the humor- more casual. Maybe for the Children’s books, too, since childrens and family humor are different, but kind of fit together. Then your full name for horror. Those are just my thoughts- however you do it, it seems like a good plan!
Interesting. Great insights! Thank you!
I like D P Alatorre for the horror. My wife has been nagging me since I started writing to change my name as it gets confused with Adele Parks, romance writer, which I am not lol. I think I might as she is still talking about it when I write this comment to you. lol
I think any change will seem odd for a while and then you’ll just get used to it. People who knew you under one name will know you under the other and not make a big deal of it; people who are just discovering you will see in the “about the author“ section that you write under different names for different genres and it won’t be too hard for them to find you because you’ll tell them the name right there.
That’s my plan.
But I think it’s a subtle difference that will allow people who are just looking for your stuff in a certain genre to be able to find it quickly and easily. Then if they decide they want to explore, you’ve made it easy on them as well. But it should ultimately unclutter my author page for anybody who’s just finding out about me.
Hi Dan, I use the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle for my adult and supernatural books. I have one novel and one anthology under that name. My new book, A Ghost and His Gold will also be published under that name. I use Robbie Cheadle for my children’s books and poetry. There are some challenges to having two variations of your name. One, you have spent a lot of time and effort building your author brand, when you change your name, you basically start over. Even if you have a head start because you have a good following, you still have to work hard at it. I did it early so I think that has made it easier for me and I’m glad I did it now that my adult brand is more established. Secondly, I had to create second profiles for everything, Twitter, FB, WP, Goodreads and AMazon, although my two Amazon accounts are linked so if you find my Robbie Cheadle account you will find my adult books and vice versa. You have to rebuild your relationships on each and every one of those profiles. It is hard work. Worth it if you don’t mind doing the time. I also have to maintain both. I have two computers and each one is set up with the different profiles to make my life easier. There is no way I could flip between two profiles on one machine.
You are part of what gave me the idea. When I saw this lady do it, too, I was like, that’s what I should do.
As far as all the profiles and all that, I don’t do enough social media to really worry about it. Setting them up will be the hardest thing. I see you doing a lot on various social media outlets but since I know you under all the different names, I just know it’s you and never give it a thought as to which version of you is actually doing it! Maybe that’s why I see you so much.
You are probably right about that too. I do have a bit of help with my social media on certain platforms. Otherwise I would never cope.
Paulo Alatorre – thriller. Might make you sound exotic or mysterious
Nice.