Pen Names and New Genres

[Megan Duncan]

Alrighty, I got two questions.

I'm thinking of releasing a series of novels that are in a different genre than what I currently write in. I've never written in a Pen Name before and am wondering if there is a process to it.
Can I just choose a name and go with it or are there steps I need to take? Also, is it wise to tell my current readers my Pen Name when my new books are in a different genre?

[GGKeets]

I suppose your readers could know about your pen name but isn't the whole point of having more than one author persona to keep them speperate?

The only widely agreed on a rule for having separate names is if you're writing children's literature and erotica.

[Krista D. Ball]

isn't the whole point of having more than one author persona to keep them speperate?

Not always. Sometimes it is because you want to segregate specific genres from each other (i.e. your romance, your science fiction, and your science fiction romance).

[ShayneHellerman]

I suppose your readers could know about your pen name but isn't the whole point of having more than one author persona to keep them speperate?

The only widely agreed on a rule for having separate names is if you're writing children's literature and erotica.

Pen names can also be used as a tool to help readers differentiate between books of different genres, like J.A. Konrath writes horror as Jack Kilborn. He's never made a secret out of the fact that he's both J.A. and Jack, but readers always know that they get horror from the Kilborn pen name and crime books from J.A.

[Millard]

Not always. Sometimes it is because you want to segregate specific genres from each other (i.e. your romance, your science fiction, and your science fiction romance).

Kinda like Iain Banks (regular, mainstream novels) and Iain M. Banks (his sci-fi stuff).

[David Adams]

I publish erotica shorts under a pen name. I do this because, well, to me it's something to get the bills paid. It still gets the same diligence and creativity that my novels do, but the genre is one that's best written under a pen name unless that's all you're writing. I don't market them or really do anything other than enroll in KDP Select, schedule their free days, then let them go.

I look at a pen name as a "brand". A lot of high-class $250 fashion shirts, and also $10 Target stock, is made in the same factory; that just means it's a different target audience and is produced with different goals in mind. My SF work (Lacuna) is for adults, yes, but it's different in execution and style than the erotica, so it gets a different brand. When my readers are looking at something I wrote under my real name, they expect certain things; when they're looking under my pen name, they're expecting another thing.

I'd also consider a pen name if I was to write, say, a children's story... just because it, too, is too far removed from my SF. I'd probably go for something like "D. Adams" or "Dave Adams", or use a middle name such as "M. Adams".

Things I'd write under my real name:

SF (obviously)
Fantasy
Action
War
Thriller
YA
Autobiographical (lol, I am not famous yet...)
Nonfiction
Affectionate Parody (Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG, Lacuna ??, etc)
Mystery/Investigation

Things I'd write under a (separate) pen name:

Erotica
Children's books (primarily due to the above, plus the number of F-bombs I drop in Lacuna...)
Non-affectionate parody or satire
Works overly critical of living individuals, or deceased individuals with lots of power (such as the Walt Disney corporation... their assassins are everywhere)
Anything politically sensitive
Anything that would cost me my day job (whistleblower action)
Love poems to David Dalglish (... uhh... did I say that one out loud?)
Lost Chapters of the Necronomicon (encouraging the apocalypse by summoning the mad dweller in the deeps is not something I'd do under my real name)
Etc etc.

[Cheryl Douglas]

I write under two different pen names, one for contemporary romance and one for erotica. Although these may seem similar enough to warrant one pen name, I find erotica often attracts a very specific type of reader who is looking for that alone. My contemporary readers may be a bit shocked by the erotica, so I thought it best to keep it separate. That way everyone knows what they're getting and it eliminates the confusion. Good luck with your decision! 

[Krista D. Ball]

Kinda like Iain Banks (regular, mainstream novels) and Iain M. Banks (his sci-fi stuff).

*nod* and Kris Rauch, who has so many I'm sure she needs a spreadsheet 

[Alan Petersen]

There isn't any real steps, aside from just choosing the pen name. Then plug that name as the author in KDP or CreateSpace or whatever you're using to publish.

[flipside]

Just go for it.

And yes, you can tell your existing readers that's your pen name.