ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve… More Than One Magic Bakery
Authors desperately need to learn branding. It is a major promotion tool when done correctly. Just saying…
Authors also do not realize that the name above the door into their magic bakery is their author name. Not their publishing name which is for business like licensing agreements.
No one ever cares about a book title, they only care about author’s names, even when the writer is only on their third book. All systems of searches boil down to the author’s name.
So Dean, how do pen names work here in the magic bakery world of 2025?
My first knee-jerk answer is that you have to write twice as much as you do with only one name. Sadly that has a lot of truth in it. The cliche of 20 books to 50K in income is per author name.
Let that sink in for a moment.
For many writers, working under a pen name helps them write more. If that is the case, great!
So what you do is you set up another magic bakery right next door. If you want to have the pen names be attached in the back of your books and on your web site, that is basically setting up an archway between the two stores. (Of course they would share a kitchen.)
Realize that often if you write under a pen name, no reader will know which is your real name or your pen name, in essence, both become pen names. Make sure you answer to both names without grinding your teeth.
Rarely is cross promotion between the two names very valuable, unless one name becomes wildly more successful than the other.
Basically, if you decide for any number of a thousand reasons you want to write and publish under two names, or three, or four names, realize that with each name you need to brand.
There are no magic bakery or copyright issues with multiple names. None. Both stores work exactly the same.
You just have to work twice as hard to have both names move forward and fill the shelves in two stores instead of only one.
I used to say don’t do it because of branding, but now with multiple websites being easy, with very smart readers being able to keep books, genres, and names separate, and with multiple Shopify stores possible, if you really want a second pen name for some personal reason, fire away.
Just expect your overall progress in getting a name known for increased income to be twice as slow as it would be with one name.
5 Comments
Natalie K.
Hi Dean, I’ve been greatly enjoying this series. Thanks so much for posting it!
My question is, do you HAVE to do pen names if you write in a variety of genres? Earlier this year, I read The Productive Indie Fiction Writer by Tracy Cooper-Posey (I actually got it in The Write Stuff Storybundle back in 2024, which I think Kris curated). In it, Tracy claims if you write in a variety of genres, you need to have pen names for the different genres you write in, because otherwise, the Amazon algorithm gets all messed up and doesn’t know what to recommend.
I’d much rather have all my fiction under one name, even though I write science fiction, psychological thrillers, paranormal romance, and spy thrillers (so far—there are definitely other genres I want to experiment with, too). It sounds like it’s much easier to have a magic bakery under just one name… but then I keep thinking back to Tracy’s book and am not sure what to do.
dwsmith
Better for sales and branding to leave it all under one name. Everything but erotica.
Then make sure you learn how to do covers that are branded to a genre after first branding to your author name, and of course good sales copy to make sure the readers are clear. You know, like in the sales copy, flat stating the genre.
Steve Perry
When I started writing, I wanted a pen name, just because I thought it would be cool. So I took my initials, SCP, and added a “J” to the front and an “l” to the end, sorta. “Jesse Peel.” Thought I was passing clever.
After I’d sold a few stories under the nom de plume, I decided I’d rather use my own name.
My editor as Asimov’s said, You have a following under the pseudonym. Why don’t you ease over to your own name by doing a collaboration.
So I did that.
Got a fan letter. Dear Jesse — I appreciate you helping this Steve guy get started, but, honestly, I can tell where you left off and he picked up. You’re a much better writer than he is …
dwsmith
Steve… LOL!!
Mangala McNamara
I’ve been advised (elsewhere) to use separate names for my fiction and non-fiction because the reader groups are so distinct and the “goal” would be for readers to find what they want on a search. King of like trying to sell regular baked goods to people who only need or can handle gluten-free, I suppose.
I didn’t think about this initially, so I used my 2 first names on both… and am now separating the two by giving one first name to fiction (Mangala McNamara rings a little better anyways and fits better on the cover) and one to the non-fiction. My website won’t really even have an archway between after the current revamp.
OTOH, my name and books are what come up first in a Google search on either name… so I’m doing okay with that…
(Assuming I can get those searches happening!)