Should You Use a Pen Name?
By E.A. Aymar
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Author's Note
New Releases (That I'm Excited About!)
Two Writers You Should Read
Events
It's Contest Time!
Other Writing
Should You Use a Pen Name?
Recently I was yapping with someone and they asked why I went with a pen name for They're Gone. And I thought, what a good question to address in my next newsletter! So I ran off and typed this up.
I probably should have answered that guy's question, though. Feel kinda bad that I just left him standing there. He'll get over it.
You used a pen name. Did you totally lurve it?
I did not.
Why didn't you lurve it?
Well, look. I can give you an honest answer or a dishonest answer.
How about a short answer?
The honest one it is. My two books that are out - The Unrepentant and They're Gone - weren't my first two books. My first two books were with a tiny press and I didn't know anything about the industry and they didn't do any marketing and, pretty much, those books were only bought by my family.
Well, that's nice of your family.
Sounds nice, but I have a small family. Anyway, I learned more about publishing and my next book, The Unrepentant, found a better home than those books did. Still with a small publisher, but one more versed in crime fiction and the industry. The book did well for a small press, both in reviews and sales. But a year or so later, when They're Gone was sold to a mid-size'ish (not a word) publisher, they looked at those first two books and were like, "Why doesn't anyone love you?" And they thought a pen name would be a good way to broaden my reach.
What did you say?
I said, okay.
Was it a good idea?
For some people, it is. You have to have the right attitude and the right approach. I had neither. I've done a ton under my name in D.C. and in the crime fiction community, so a pen name was a bit counterproductive to those efforts. And I wasn't that enthusiastic about it, so I kept my pen name a very open secret.
Which, you know, probably defeated the whole point.
Why didn't you didn't like it?
Mainly I hated having to explain at events (and I do a lot of events) why I was using a pen name. It's never a good idea to be negative, and I felt very negative when I said that my first two books with that tiny publisher didn't sell. So I came up with another story, that I was using the pen name because They're Gone was reaching a different audience and had a different vibe than The Unrepentant and...
Wait. Wait wait wait. Are you telling me that authors lie about WHY they're using a pen name?
Almost always! It's usually low sales. But, look, to be fair, we tend to be really good liars.
And to be even more fair, sometimes your name sucks and you want to change it. From day one, I've gone by E.A. Aymar, and not Ed, entirely because I don't like how "Ed" looks in print. What if your name was something awful, like White McRacist or Bumpy Shaft? You think anyone's touching a book with Bumpy Shaft scrawled across the cover? They are not.
And sometimes writers write outside their genre, and a new name truly is a good way to separate your audiences.
But why did you even use a pen name? If a publisher buys a book, isn't it their job to market and sell it, not yours? And if it doesn't sell well, isn't that their fault?
We don't talk about that.
Is there a tree nearby? Because I see some SHADE.
Ha, that's a good one. And I don't mean to come off that way. The truth is that most of the people I've met in publishing are wonderful. Every publisher I've ever worked with has been a champion of writers, and they put in a LOT MORE than they get out. And, look, when a book doesn't sell, it's not just the author who suffers. You don't last long in publishing, in any capacity, with a string of failures.
Sounds tough.
It is! Too often, writers fail to see publishing as a business and, beyond that, as the entertainment industry. We've all heard horror stories about Hollywood - listen to any actor or writer or producer, and they'll tell you about the shows that were cancelled after a season of low ratings, shows that were never given the chance to find an audience. Publishing really isn't any different, except our audience is much smaller. Aside from a very select number of writers, we're all a book or two from cancellation (in the traditional, not Twitter, sense of the word).
So why do it?
Because I love it.
Are you using a pen name for No Home for Killers (2/7/23)?
No Home for Killers is coming out under E.A. Aymar, and that makes me SO happy!
What's the best way to pick a pen name?
Well, back in the oldie days before there was an internet or electricity, people used to buy all their books from bookstores; paper palaces, is what we called them. And it was often thought last names that started with a letter from the middle of the alphabet did best, since they were often high in the stacks.
Is that true?
No. The truth is that, because Stephen King has written over 4,000 novels and writers think if their books are next to his, people may stick their book in their shopping bag and buy it by mistake. In the industry, we call this King-a-roo'ing. Heavily frowned upon.
Would you use a pen name again?
Maybe! I hope not, because that's not my mindset right now. But maybe in a few years I'll feel different, or I'll have a good reason to do it (a reason I completely, fully accept). In that case, sure! Pen names aren't inherently a bad thing. There are good reasons for using them. But you got to be committed.
I like monikers a lot, to be honest. If I used a pen name again, I'd do something cool and drastic, maybe just one name like a rock star. Something tough, like Pipe. I haven't thought this through.
And I'm not thinking that far into the future. I like where I'm at, amigo.
I like how you called me "amigo."
Aw. We had a moment.
EA
Check this out! This month, Amazon has discounted Midnight Hour, an anthology I have a story in, for the entire month. Stories from this anthology have been nominated for every crime fiction award and it received favorable reviews in the trades, the Times, and other places. You can learn more about it HERE.
My Annihilation
Fuminori Nakamura
With My Annihilation, Fuminori Nakamura, master of literary noir, has constructed a puzzle box of a narrative in the form of a confessional diary that implicates its reader in a heinous crime.
Delving relentlessly into the darkest corners of human consciousness, My Annihilation interrogates the unspeakable thoughts all humans share that can be monstrous when brought to life, revealing with disturbing honesty the psychological motives of a killer.
Somebody's Home
Kaira Rouda
Julie Jones has left her suffocating marriage. With her teenage daughter, Jess, she’s starting over. Their new house in Oceanside is the first step toward a new life. Even if it does come with the unexpected. The previous owners, a pastor and his wife, have left something—or rather someone—behind…
Tom Dean has a bitter hatred for the father who considers him a lost cause, and for the woman who’s moved into their family’s house. The only home he’s ever known. He’s never going to leave. She thinks he’ll be gone in three days, but Tom has the perfect plan.
For a newly single mother and her daughter, a fresh start is the beginning of a nightmare. Before the weekend is over, somebody is going to get exactly what they deserve.
The Other Ones
Dave Housley
In The Other Ones, Housley tracks the actions and reactions of multiple characters in the wake of a cataclysmic event — a coworker winning the lottery. For better or worse, what can you do? Some coworkers dig in, some quit, some go...more than a little crazy. One commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the office, then returns as a ghost to haunt the winners. Funny, tragic, and real, The Other Ones shines a light on our contemporary relationships to money, work, and each other.
The Accomplice
Lisa Lutz
Owen Mann is charming, privileged, and chronically dissatisfied. Luna Grey is secretive, cautious, and pragmatic. Despite their differences, they form a bond the moment they meet in college. Their names soon become indivisible—Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen—and stay that way even after an unexplained death rocks their social circle.
They’re still best friends years later, when Luna finds Owen’s wife brutally murdered. The police investigation sheds light on some long-hidden secrets, but it can’t penetrate the wall of mystery that surrounds Owen. To get to the heart of what happened and why, Luna has to dig up the one secret she’s spent her whole life burying.
Find Me
Alafair Burke
She calls herself Hope Miller, but she has no idea who she actually is. Fifteen years ago, she was found in a small New Jersey town thrown from an overturned vehicle, with no clue to her identity. Doctors assumed her amnesia was a temporary side effect of her injuries, but she never regained her memory. Hope eventually started a new life with a new name in a new town that welcomed her, yet always wondered what she may have left behind—or been running from. Now, she’s leaving New Jersey to start over once again.
Manhattan defense lawyer Lindsay Kelly, Hope’s best friend and the one who found her after the accident, understands why Hope wants a new beginning. But she worries how her friend will fare in her new East Hampton home, far away from everything familiar. Lindsay’s worst fears are confirmed when she discovers Hope has vanished without a trace—the only lead a drop of blood found where she was last seen. Even more ominously, the blood matches a DNA sample with a connection to a notorious Kansas murderer.
With nowhere else to turn, Lindsay calls NYPD homicide detective Ellie Hatcher, the daughter of the cop who dedicated his life to hunting the Kansas killer. Ellie has always believed there was more to the story of her father’s death twenty years earlier—and she now fears that Hope’s recent disappearance could be related.
In pursuit of answers, the women search for the truth beneath long-buried secrets. And when their searches converge, what they find will upend everything they’ve ever known.
Scot Free
Catriona McPherson
March 2020 and Operation Cocker is a go! The owners of the Last Ditch Motel, with a little help from their friend Lexy Campbell, are preparing to support one another through the oncoming lockdown, offering the motel's spare rooms to a select few from the local area in need of sanctuary.
While the newbies are settling in, an ambiguous banner appears demanding one of them return home. But who is it for? Lexy and her friends put a plan into action to ward off the perpetrator, but the very next night, a resident disappears and a message scrawled in human blood is found.
As California shuts down, the Last Ditchers make another gruesome discovery. They tried to create a haven but now it seems as if everyone's in danger. Is the motel under attack from someone on the outside? Scary as that is, the alternative is worse by far.
The Great Shatter
Kim Alexander
A unicorn walks into a bar...except there are no unicorns or bars in the court of the Unseelie fae, which sucks because Marly could really use a drink.
Honestly, going from human to vampire, to something not quite mortal would drive anyone to drink. Being hounded by a grudge-holding kitsune didn't help, either. But when the king of the Unseelie fae declared Marly his queen and the hope of his people, it seemed her troubles were over, and off they went to his magical kingdom in a reality-tv-worthy happily ever after.
Except it's more hard landing than happy ending. Marly is thrown into the crosshairs of ancient hatreds where war masquerades as etiquette, shadows must beg for light, and things with tentacles are just waiting for something to go wrong. And something is going wrong...very wrong.
With every misstep, she stumbles closer to the edge of a darkness waiting to consume her, and the king's love is like a poison that can cure or kill. Her only hope is to unveil the truth dancing in the great mirrors in the sky, even if that sky comes crashing down.
Symphony Road
Gabriel Valjan
Trouble comes in threes for Shane Cleary, a former police officer and now, a PI.
Arson. A Missing Person. A cold case.
Two of his clients whom he shouldn't trust, he does, and the third, whom he should, he can't.
Shane is up against crooked cops, a notorious slumlord and a mafia boss who want what they want, and then there's the good guys who may or may not be what they seem.
It's a cliche to say a writer "burst onto the scene," but Yasmin Angoe absolutely did with her debut, Her Name is Knight. The thriller about an elite assassin who is determined to topple a human trafficking ring resonated with both readers and reviewers, earning starred reviews from trades and praise from none other than David Baldacci. I've been reading Knight in advance of an event Yasmin and I have coming up in a few months, and it's one of the most assured debuts I've read in years.
And a writer Yasmin Angoe recommends?
A writer you should definitely read is Jane Igharo, a Nigerian-Canadian author of romance/women's fiction. Her books are so lovely and her debut Ties that Tether, then the following The Sweetest Remedy were breaths of fresh air from the usual thriller/suspense reads I devour. Jane writes about love, family, and finding one's true self while delving into their Nigerian cultures. I just really enjoy the worlds and characters Jane creates for her books.
Another book I love is These Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall which takes place in Los Angeles about twenty-something-year-old Mickie Lambert who creates "digital scrapbooks" for to immortalize the lives of clients who have passed. The idea of digital scrapbooking alone sold me, but I love a story that dips into history while interlacing that backstory with the character's present drama as she tries to figure out who doesn't want her looking through one client's past. Rachel's books are always a compelling read, but These Toxic Things really hit home for me.
To learn more about these authors, click on the photos above.
Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival
I'm so excited to be back at the Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival! This is such a warm and welcoming book conference, even online, and it always features a wonderful selection of mystery writers. I don't have a book to promote this year, but I'm leading a discussion with two of my favorites - Alex Segura and Eliza Nellums about their upcoming and recent novels, Secret Identity and The Bone Cay, respectively. These are absolutely two of the best books I read this past year, and this discussion is going to be a dream. Click HERE to register and learn more about the festival.
It's contest time! The monthly contest winner wins copies of the books listed in my "Two Writers You Should Read" segment. And the winner is...
bry___ler@yahoo.com
I also ran a second contest for new subscribers. And the winner of a $50 Amazon gift card is...
Naj______ni@gmail.com
Congrats, and keep your eye out for a separate e-mail from me!
Hey girl, you like newsletters? Well, my most recent column for the Washington Independent Review of Books is all about writers' newsletters, including three you should definitely subscribe to. You can read it HERE.
And I wrote a few months ago about a contest I was doing called PitchWars. Basically, aspiring writers enter completed manuscripts in a competition and a small group of traditionally published writers each pick one, work with the writer on it for a few months, and then the manuscript gets entered into a showcase where hundreds of agents review them. Out of the hundred manuscripts I received, I picked Here Comes the Bride by Sian Gilbert, a thriller about a hen party on a deserted island that is far more than first seems. It's an astonishing book, well told and exciting with a rich cast of characters and Sian has been an absolute dream to work with. During the last weeks of PitchWars, leading up to the Agent Showcase, Sian and I did an interview for the site about working together and her book. You can check it out HERE.
Until next time, much love and happy reading!