What if an Author Has Your Name?

[Wayne Mack]

What are the issues that may arise if there is an already published author with your name, even the same middle initial? I don't think there would be any genre confusion, but what concerns should I have if I ever tried to get published myself?

 

[alexvss]

What are the issues that may arise if there is an already published author with your name, even the same middle initial? I don't hink there would be any genre confusion, but what concerns should I have if I ever tired to get published myself?

Unless you have the exact same name/initials of authors like JK Rowling and George RR Martin, I don't see why you should have any concerns .

Maybe, if you have the same name of a very famous author, write under the same genres, and you want to get published by the same publishing company as him... then, they'll probably ask you to write under a pen name. People would mistake you for him.

 

[The Big Peat]

This sounds like a topic for @Dan Jones

No, not the historian.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

This can be really annoying. Best bet is to Google what's out there and then decide whether or not to use a variant or a pseudonym. My novels are first ascribed to the American psychiatric writer, then to me. :/ In recent years I've had to change the attribution every time.

 

[reiver33]

I ended up adopting a middle initial as there were two other established authors; one covering Italian history and another producing legal thrillers. Plus there is a snooker player, but he hasn’t written an autobiography yet.

 

[Harpo]

Sometimes it can get ridiculous. I have a violinist friend who used to perform under the alias “Geoffrey Sick” for several years, until he discovered there is another violinist of that name on another continent.

 

[Astro Pen]

My real name is both already taken and pretty bland . Inventing a new pen name is both fun to do and enables you to craft something more appropriate to the genre you write in. My non sci-fi (political thriller) will be going out under the name Robert Stratton.
I have yet to think of one for sci fi but it isn't too challenging to come up with. Something crisp like Jon Voss perhaps?

 

[Valtharius]

Winston Churchill (novelist) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Biskit]

This is not a problem I've had as Huntley-James does not seem to be a common surname , but if it turned out that there was another one I would probably use Biskit, or trawl through the rest of the family names for something that felt right, perhaps switch to my middle name and embrace the Irish side of the family and become Liam Ahearne.

You could try sticking in a bogus middle initial - a variation on the author C. J. Cherryh, who added the silent 'h' because apparently her first editor thought Cherry sounded like a romance writer. You would be in fine company - Iain M Banks/ Iain Banks used the two forms to differentiate genres.

 

[sknox]

It doesn't have to be a pen name utterly different. I don't know your middle initial, but let's suppose it is K, for no particular reason. Wayne K. Mack and there's another writer by the same name. You could add another initial. Wayne S.K. Mack, for example, or any other combination. This has the advantage of keeping the total name relatively short, to the relief of cover designers everywhere.

 

[Biskit]

This has the advantage of keeping the total name relatively short, to the relief of cover designers everywhere.

 

[Dan Jones]

This sounds like a topic for @Dan Jones

No, not the historian.

My ears are burning!

Dan Jones the historian and I do share the same name, it's true, and whenever I've brought it up with agents or people in the know, they've said it's not really a problem. The only slight problem is very occasionally we get tweets and emails intended for the other one, which is mildly amusing if anything.

However, I sense that it's not a problem simply because he = famous, me = not so much. If got a reasonably decent publishing contract somewhere then it might be something to think about, but for now I'm sticking by my name. After all, I had it first (I'm one month older than he is, so I win!)

 

[Pyan]

You could always use Daniel Jones, as the other Dan Jones actually uses Dan Jones on his book covers...

 

[Dan Jones]

You could always use Daniel Jones, as the other Dan Jones actually uses Dan Jones on his book covers...

Too late!

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

It happens. When I first pubbed I made sure to google my name and found two other Gregory Curtis' One is a Republican legal guy and the other wrote art history books. So I shortened my name to Greg and have used that form of my name ever since - though there are now two others who have come along! However you can try a full middle name, or perhaps a nickname in the middle of your name.

The only thing I can say is whatever name you use - stick to it. Your name is your brand. I know some say you can use different pseudonyms, but I don't buy that in most cases. So make sure you're happy with whatever form of your name you settle on.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Toby Frost]

I know of two other Toby Frosts - a Baptist preacher and an architect. I intend to duel each of them in a thunderstorm, following which I will absorb their power until I am the only Toby Frost. There can be only one!

 

[HareBrain]

Jan Dones?

 

[Phyrebrat]

Judith Jones?

 

[Dan Jones]

I know of two other Toby Frosts - a Baptist preacher and an architect. I intend to duel each of them in a thunderstorm, following which I will absorb their power until I am the only Toby Frost. There can be only one!

Have you considered a career in politics?

 

[Toby Frost]

Well that's a very interesting question, Dan, and I'm glad you've asked it. In fact, it's very important that we all ask interesting questions at this particular moment in time, if I may say so. Questions like that which I shall be considering with great thoroughness - leaving no stone unturned, you might indeed say - and to which I hope to provide a full and complete answer in due course, when, in a manner of speaking, the metaphorical dust settles and it becomes feasible to do so. Thank you for your time.