Today we are pleased to share with you a guest post from Lauren Carr, best-selling author of the Mac Faraday and Lovers in Crime mystery series.
An Author By Any Other Name ….
By Lauren Carr (aka
Jack’s wife, Tristan’s Mom, Beast Master, Gnarly’s Keeper)
Occasionally, I
receive an email from an author terrified of using Facebook, the Internet, or
any social media for fear of friends and relatives identifying them. Once, I
received an email from an author afraid to promote his upcoming book. “I have
relatives out there who I don’t want to find me,” he said. I’m certain there’s
a great story behind this, but he refused to tell me.
Last week, I conducted
a publishing class on using social media for book promotion where most of those
who attended were equally fearful of promoting their books online. So, I offer
this solution: Use a Pen Name!
Read on to learn about
my not-so-secret identity.
My husband has been the financial director at our church for
almost twenty years. Yep, this mystery writer, who spends her days researching
how to kill people is a middle-aged church lady. Since I am somewhat a local
celebrity, our church’s gift shop carries some of my books. While we don’t
endorse murder, my mysteries are clean of profanity, graphic violence, and
explicit sex. Therefore, our senior pastor (a fan) allows my titles to be sold
in our bookstore.
One afternoon, I was coming down the hall outside my
husband’s office when I heard the administrative assistant telling a woman in
her office, “You really should ask Terri about that. She might be able to help
you.”
“Who’s Terri?” the woman replied.
“Jack’s wife,” Jill answered.
Hearing my name, I stepped into the office and a woman, a
church member who I had known for years, turned around. When she saw me she
said, “That’s not Lauren Carr. That’s Marilyn, Jack’s wife.”
Laughing, Jill explained, “She’s all three of them. Lauren
Carr is a pen name. She’s also Jack’s wife Marilyn, but her real name is
Terri.”
The woman’s eyes got wide. “Jack is married to Lauren Carr!”
Judging by her expression, you would have thought I was Nora Roberts (another
author that uses a pen name) living undercover as a middle aged church lady
called Marilyn by her close friends.
The truth is my true identity is not exactly a state secret.
Yep, Lauren Carr, Jack’s wife Marilyn (which is another story), Tristan’s Mom,
Ziggy and Beagle Bailey’s Mistress—Gnarly’s Keeper–they would all be me.
Pen names are nothing new. Authors have been using them for
centuries. Some names are famous: Mark Twain was really Samuel Clemens and Dr.
Seuss was Theodor Geisel. Ann Landers was Esther Pauline Friedman. O. Henry was
William Sydney Porter.
Why would an author change his or her name to hide his or
her identity from the real world rather than step forth and take all the glory
they deserve for having completed the daunting task of writing a book?
There could be any number of reasons:
In Mary Ann Evans’ case, she was writing at a time when
books written by men were more successful than those written by female authors.
So Evans assumed a man's name (George Eliot) to relate better with her readers.
Likewise, award winning mystery author L.C. Hayden, says
that when she first started writing by her real name of Elsie Hayden, she received
rejection after rejection until she changed her name to L.C. to give publishers
and readers the impression that she was a male writer.
Another author I recently worked with used a pen name because
his first book, fiction-based-on-fact, said some not so nice things about some
real people and he wanted to hide his identity. During my career, I have met
more than one writer considering the use of pen names for just this reason.
In the case of Stephen King (Yes, even Stephen King used a
pen name!) he didn’t want to risk saturating the market with Stephen King
books. At the beginning of Stephen King's career, publishers limited authors to
one book a year. In order to increase his publishing, he convinced his
publisher, to print a series of novels under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
My reason for using the pen name of Lauren Carr is not quite
so grand, or even interesting. Frankly, I don’t like the name Terri. I never
did. That’s why my husband calls me Marilyn. (No, that is not my middle name. … It’s a long story.) When I was
growing up, I realized that since I wrote fiction, which is not real, then I
was free to take on a not-real name and I could be any one I wanted.
What a kick!
I thought long and hard about my name. I gave as much
thought to it as an expectant mother, because that was who I was going to be,
even if only on the cover of a book. I chose Lauren because my sister’s name is
Karen. I was convinced that if my mother was thinking straight, that Lauren,
not Terri, would have naturally followed Karen. Don’t ask me why or how I came
to this conclusion, I just did. Carr was my late stepfather’s last name.
So, I became Lauren Carr, a pen name that I have had longer
than my real name. I was Lauren Carr before I married my husband and took on
his name. Little did I realize that as my career has grown, that Lauren Carr
would become a whole other identity, which is also a kick.
Is it fun? Sure is.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a mystery dinner theater in
the small town where we have lived for close to a quarter of a century. I
hosted the event. During the performances, I would be introduced as Lauren Carr
to the audience. Jaws did drop. Many people in the audience had read Lauren
Carr books, written by the local author, but they didn’t know Tristan’s mom and
Jack’s wife wrote murder mysteries. She seems so normal!
Other questions that writers considering using pen names ask
me:
What about when
customers write checks? Do you have to make them sign them under your real
name? No. I contacted my bank and explained the situation, which they
thought was cool. Customers write out their checks to Lauren Carr. I simply
deposit the whole amount into my account, which is under my real name.
Warning: Do let your
bank know that you and your pen name are one and the same before you start
accepting checks made out to your pen name. Not all banks are the same. When
we opened an account at a different bank for Acorn Book Services, they stated
that they would not take a check made out to Lauren Carr.
Post Office: Let
the post office and your mail carrier know that mail addressed to your pen name
is for you. Otherwise, it might be returned as wrong address.
Email Address:
Very simple. Many people who don't have multiple identities have more than one email
address. I have one email that I use for my personal accounts. Another (writerlaurencarr@gmail.com) for my
social media accounts (which I rarely check); and yet another for my publishing
company (acornbookservices@gmail.com)
(which I closely monitor).
I also have different signature lines set up in Outlook. If
it has to do with writing, the signature line is from Lauren Carr, author. If
the subject is publishing, then it is Lauren Carr, publisher. If it is a
grocery list to my husband, it is Marilyn. Terri doesn’t have a signature line.
Social Media: For
book promotion, I have a Lauren Carr account and a separate personal account
for my personal life. Not too long ago, a friend said that she had to friend
Lauren Carr because I never used my personal account.
However, I don’t put truly personal information out there on
the social media. The foremost reason I use it for promotion. Therefore,
never—I repeat—never put anything personal out there on the Internet that will
reflect poorly on your public image. Example: You have a fight with your
husband—don’t go onto Facebook to announce that you married a doofus and then
provide a blow-by-blow account of your side of the fight. That’s not going to
sell books and will alienate some of your readers. Constantly think about your
public image and how you want to present yourself. Don’t upload that video of
you wearing the beer hat and dancing naked on the kitchen table while singing
“I’m a Little Tea Cup.”
Security is a big thing that most authors are concerned
about in using social media. We have all heard stories about maniacs hunting
down people who they have been following on the Internet. A couple of years ago,
I received a phone call at home from someone who had found my mailing address
on the internet. He knew he lived in the same town where I lived and
GoogleMapped it. He claimed he lived only a few streets from me. After a few
long emails from him and phone conversations, I went on the Internet and
removed my address from everywhere I could find it.
Make an effort to not give away too much about your personal
life even if you aren’t trying to hide from long lost relatives. I don’t post
pictures of my house. I refrain from posting pictures of my son and my husband.
Not too long ago a reader who realized she lived in the same town I did posted
questions on my timeline on Facebook trying to find out where I lived and if we
knew the same people. At one point, when she had put it together, instead of
sending me a message off-line, she posted on Facebook “Are you …” I refused to say yeah or nay. If she had sent
a message off-line instead of my timeline where everyone could read it, I would
have answered her.
What’s the point, or the fun, of having a pen name if you
don’t get to live behind a veil of mystery? As an author, with a pen name, you
can be whoever you want to be.
What do I want to be called? Call me anything.
Just don’t call me late for ice cream.
About the Author
|
Lauren & Gnarly |
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday and Lovers in Crime Mysteries. Her upcoming new series, The Thorny Rose Mysteries will be released Spring/Summer 2015.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.
She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Contact Lauren or visit her website and blogs at: