Pen names in modern times

Hi folks – J. Blake Myersmann isn’t my name.

Well, it is sort of my name, but not exactly. Step 9 of The Checklist has some guidance on pen names, but everyone’s mostly saying the same thing. I wasn’t concerned about anonymity or genre conventions, but I did want people to be able to easily find me when searching. 

Most people would recognize me by a name like this author, but once I found him I decided not to fight him for SEO. However, going down the line hunting near-pseudonyms was an exercise in futility. I quickly found another author that was similarly named, a political scientist, and a progressive Catholic Archbishop. These three also had LOTS of books published, which meant even more SEO competition.

Unable to use my real name, I knew I’d need some kind of pen name but I didn’t want to use a completely made up name (though Calvin Montressor was tempting). I went down a deeper rabbit hole of legal questions, registered trademarks, copyright, and more. I started adjusting budgets to pay for a license (DBA or FBN) and generally became more and more disheartened. I even tried combining the names of my pets into a new surname and struck out there, too!

In what will soon become a recurring theme for me throughout this process, I realized I was spending far too much time trying to find a “perfect” pen name and agonizing over all the legal details. When I calmed down and dived a little deeper, I found that you only need a DBA if you plan to do business as your pen name (obvious in post-anxiety retrospect), like if you want your royalty checks made out to your pen name. Furthermore, US copyright is such that the creation of the work grants it copyright, and registering it is just an added layer of protection.

So, don’t overthink it. If you also want to use a pen name, pick something distinct that you feel a connection to (trust your tingle, Peter!) and get back to all of the other self-publishing efforts. They’re much more important and demanding of your time!