Finding your romance alias: The journey to your ideal pen name

Choosing the right pen name is kind of like finding your one true love–it’s critical to your long-term happiness and often requires exploring lots of options before settling on the perfect fit.

Back in the days when I attended in-person romance writing meetings (RWA and then our break-off group), we had heated debates about why a person would want to publish under a made-up name. Some people felt it was important to hide their true identity, while others believed just as strongly that people who used a fake name were communicating that they had something to hide—which felt unethical.

A few romance authors who publish under an assumed name

• Lorraine Heath aka Rachel Hawthorne & J.A. London & Jade Parker
• Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb
• Sarah MacLean
• Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Sophie Kinsella
• Sylvia Day aka S.J. Day & Livia Dare
• Tessa Dare
• Victoria Holt

Reasons to use a pen name

If you haven’t thought about using a nom de plume—you’re planning to publish under your real name—my intention is not to convince you to do otherwise. But, if you haven’t thought about these reasons other authors have chosen to use an alias, it can be fun to at least play with names that might be a better fit for your author brand.

Whether you choose to go by your real name or opt for a pseudonym, what matters most is that you feel comfortable and confident in your author identity.

Privacy

Pseudonyms protect personal identity and maintain a boundary between professional and private life.

Branding

A well-chosen pen name can resonate with a target audience, ensuring books are easily identified and associated with a specific writing style.

Creative freedom

Pseudonyms offer writers the liberty to experiment across genres without compromising an existing brand reputation.

Meeting reader expectations

Separate pen names can prevent reader confusion, especially for authors who write in different sub-genres (steamy contemporray and sweet small town, fo instance) or entirely different genres.

Legal contraints

Publishing contracts might necessitate the use of a pen name.

Step 3: Aim for simplicity

When it comes to pen names, simplicity is key. Avoid names that are too long, difficult to spell, or hard to pronounce. You want readers to easily remember and recognize your pen name, so they can both find your books easily and tell their friends about the great author they just found.

Another great tip I was advised (and ignored!) was to choose three-syllable name—first and last together. Three syllables is said to be easier to remember than longer names and has the benefit of (very likely) taking up less cover real estate, leaving more room for your future bestseller status line!

Even though a pen name like Valentina Kissingwell, Fanny Tickler, or Bella Lovejoy would be memorable, I’m not sure any of those would be taken seriously in the competitive world of romance writing. While full creativity is always encouraged during brainstorming, dial it back if the names you start thinking of sound like a joke or a parody. Save those fun names for your characters!

Step 4: Time to brainstorm

My own hindsight advice is to write all your ideas in a notebook you plan to hold onto. Make a list of first names that appeal to you. Make a list of family names that you’d love to have on a business card—and book covers!

If your list is short or you’re not feeling inspired, try what I ultimately did to figure out my perfect pen name. Put your full real name into a tool that will make it into an anagram and see if anything sparks joy. Don’t be too precious about creating a true anagram, though! You’re allowed to add letters to create the perfect-for-you name. (If I hadn’t done this, my pen name would have been Danika Blo … not a great last name to project the feeling of success!)

Once you have your starter list, the actual hard work starts!

Step 5: Avoid duplicates

The goal now is to eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. Pop back over Amazon.com and search for the top ten names on your list. While it’s fine to choose a name that doesn’t have a unique first or family name, you do want to be careful that the complete name you choose is not identical to, even too close to another author’s.

I was published in non-fiction under my real name back in the late 90s and as recently as 2021 (tin English) and 2022 (in a Korean translation). My real name is as common as muck so I wasn’t surprised when another non-fiction author started mixing up with the books assigned to me on Goodreads. It’s frustrating on many levels.

Step 6: Steer clear of potential lawsuits

Once you’ve determined the name is not being used by an author, check Google to make sure it’s not already claimed by any famous or high-profile people (or products!). While having a birth certificate that shares the same name as someone in the public eye is defensible (my real name is also “owned” by a famous Christian singer), it’s risky to choose the same name as someone who might have already—or could one day—copyright the name (yes, pen names can be copyrighted but our real names cannot be, weird as that is).

Step 7: Test your pen name

Once you’ve come up with a list of two to three potential pen names, don’t rush into a commitment just yet! Test-drive your pen name in different writing circles, forums, or social media profiles. See how it feels to introduce yourself with that pen name and how others react to it. Make sure you absolutely love your pen name! It should feel like a perfect match for your writing style, genre, and author persona. Your pen name should make you feel excited and proud to be associated with it.

A piece of advice I got from my friends when I was going through the process was to pick a name that sounded close enough to my real name that, if someone called to me at a conference (or in a shopping mall— we can all dream!) that I’d register it as mine and react. She spoke from embarrassing first-hand experience of having ignored people calling her pen name.

Need help picking your nom de plume?