Comments on: Your Turn: Real Names vs. Pen Names

By: Katharine Swan

Katharine Swan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:53:05 +0000

Julia,

I guess I must have been thinking of another platform, because checking the site now I don’t see what I thought I remembered it saying. It’s been a while, and I checked several different platforms at once, so that must be why.

Thanks for explaining the difference between the WordPress-hosted blogs and the .org download. I didn’t know about that at all.

Like I said, I have definitely heard many people say they like WordPress better. However, I have my Blogger blog set up just the way I want it — integrated with my site — and I can’t think of any advantages WP could offer me that would make me want to recode all that again. (Coding my Blogger template took some trial and error, and from what I hear WP code is a little different.) Blogger does what I need, so no reason to change it right now!

By: Audrey

Audrey — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:32:19 +0000

While my maiden name is my legal name, I publish under my married name. I just like the “sound” of it better in print.

By: Julia Temlyn

Julia Temlyn — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:46:13 +0000

Katharine,

WordPress has always been free, as far as I know. You may be mistaking it for TypePad or Moveable Type, which you *do* have to pay for.

(WordPress.com has blogs hosted on their own site, while WordPress.org is a free package you download and upload to your own site.)

However, WordPress is completely free– no varying advanced packages. You just need to upload it to your own site. My husband did it for me, but since then I’ve learned more about it and have been able to maintain it myself.

Personally, I find WordPress to be a lot more customizable and has tons more options. I highly prefer it to Blogger– in fact, my only qualm was that I didn’t move to WordPress sooner!

But that’s just me.

By: Katharine Swan

Katharine Swan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:24:21 +0000

The maiden/married name dilemma is such a problem for professional women — that is, women whose name plays an important part in their careers. Writers, doctors, psychologists, scholars, researchers, etc… These professionals all have to consider “branding,” because their reputations and their successes are so tied to their names.

This is one of the reasons why I did not change my name when I married, pen name or no. Besides the fact that I’ve had my name for 27 years — I’m rather attached to it.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:15:11 +0000

Interesting discussion. I’ve never thought about using a pen name for my freelance print articles, but I was unsure about the maiden name/married name once I got married. I decided to go with two last names for my byline (two separate names, not hypenated) for vanity purposes. By that I mean if someone knows me by my maiden name, but not my married name, I still want them to know I wrote the article.

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:52:56 +0000

I’d also like to know the difference between using WordPress.com and hosting your own WP in your own server.

By: Katharine Swan

Katharine Swan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:52:22 +0000

I’m also interested to know what you can do with WordPress that you can’t with Blogger. I’ve used WordPress on client blogs and I haven’t seen that much of a difference. I know the biggest complaint about Blogger is that all of the templates look the same, but there are ways around that. Look at my blog — you wouldn’t know that’s Blogger, would you?

By: Katharine Swan

Katharine Swan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:50:08 +0000

Deb –

I already have my own domain, though, and when I looked a while back I didn’t see a way to host a WordPress blog to my own domain without paying for their more advanced package.

By: Micah

Micah — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:48:11 +0000

That would be a great topic I would love to read about. Here here!

By: latoya

latoya — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:47:05 +0000

Deb, maybe we can have a discussion on Blogger vs. WordPress? I don’t want to muddy up this conversation with blog platform talk.

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:45:33 +0000

Perhaps it’s all a matter of preference. Maybe they like the widgets. I have a gripe against Blogger too. They had marked six of my seven blogs as splogs and locked them This was a year ago or so I think

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:39:08 +0000

Hi Katharine,

I think Blogger is a great platform, especially for beginners. I find WordPress more versatile, however. I can do a lot more with a WordPress blog than with Blogger, it’s as simple as that.

Also, you’re not paying WordPress – that’s free. You’re paying for your own domain.

By: Katharine Swan

Katharine Swan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:43:25 +0000

I know there are bloggers out there who are fierce defenders of WordPress. I, on the other hand, am at a loss to understand why I should pay WordPress for something Blogger gives me for free.

By: Katina Mooneyham

Katina Mooneyham — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:41:53 +0000

When I started out writing, I thought I needed a pen name. But instead I used my real name. At the time I wasn’t married. Now I use my married name and often see my “other” name out there. In fact, a few places I have never changed the name to my married name (except for the paycheck of course!).

So I guess it’s sort of like using a pen name…

By: latoya

latoya — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:38:03 +0000

I use my real name for non-fiction writing, just because it’s easier. I don’t really care about seeing my name in print, but I guess it’s a nice to have. I’ll likely use a pen name for fiction writing because I want to choose a name that “rings” with the genre of writing I choose to focus on.

Micah, you must be using WordPress.com (free blog). Upgrading to a WordPress.org (paid hosting required) blog will allow you to monetize your blog with Adsense. See this article (http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingplatforms/p/wordpressvs.htm) for a more detailed description.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:16:28 +0000

I write quite a bit about ID theft. Stealing identity from a byline should be of no concern. Heck, you can Google my name (first and last) and get a lot of hits.

That’s brought me work. Using another name would not be as effective, unless I had done that from the beginning, long before ID theft was ever thought about.

People are going to use phishing, hacking, dumpster diving and more devious ways to steal your id, your byline won’t help them.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:13:40 +0000

I like to use my real name or my initials. If I wasn’t proud of my work I wouldn’t put it on the internet for everyone to see.
I’m not worried about ID theft because people would need a whole lot more than just my name ti steal my ID. Plus, my name, address, and phone number is in the phone book and you can’t steal someone’s ID that way either.

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:44:44 +0000

Dani, that’s actually exactly why I’m being careful. Though it’s been months ago, I’m still a little wary.

By: Dani

Dani — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:25:49 +0000

I use a pen name. I am a single mom, and I had a stalker (never found), so I do all I can to protect my identity and privacy.

By: KZG

KZG — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:43:21 +0000

I watched a friend learn a lesson about this the hard way.

He kept a personal, oftentimes explicit, blog, started when he was in college, and used it as a public diary. He then went to work as a teacher and his district was tipped off to the blog by an anonymous source. They launched an investigation against him, and although they admitted he did nothing illegal, his story was on the local news and the paper. It was an awful situation and seriously affected his career.

I’m just relieved that he used a pen name for his paid explicit blog gig.

By: Ann G.

Ann G. — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:07:58 +0000

Lots of authors use pen names. Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) uses his first and middle name. JD Robb/Nora Roberts, Stephen King/Richard Bachman, Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters, etc.

I use two names myself. Real writing is under my initials and maiden name, but I also teach an online class and for that I use my real name for tax purposes.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:38:06 +0000

I work mostly in journalism, but have done an increasing amount of PR support work in the last year. This has sometimes required me to interview via the phone people fpr PR purposes (ghost-written features) some people I’ve also interviewed as a journalist. I use a pen name (or pen identification because article carries end client’s name) for those interviews.

Pen names are also good in those instances one works for different publishers who may be in very close areas, like banking and insurance. While you may ethically feel there’s no competition, publishing executives may not see it that way and, therefore, may refuse your services if you’re working “for the other guy (or gal).”

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:18:24 +0000

I don’t get the whole pen name thing myself. I’m proud of my name and what I write so I leave my name on everything.

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:42:01 +0000

Brandon>> One of the reasons why I intend to use pennames for different events is similar to yours. I do intend to build different brands associated with different names. All my pennames have their own persona and genre and I find that it helps when I’m writing under one. For example, if I’m extremely cheery today and I have to write horror fiction, I would assume the persona of this particular penname and that usually does the trick. It’s still me, only I’m tapping into a certain part of my being.

By: Judith in Umbria

Judith in Umbria — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:33:43 +0000

Many years ago when I started my first business, the most successful man I knew told me, “Use your own name, because then no matter what people say about you, you’re getting PR.” I did and made sure there was nothing evil to say about me.

Were I to write a scandalous tell-all about someone like him, I’d use someone else’s name.