Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Why do writers use pseudonyms?

Zane hit the main ones: desire for personal privacy the other primary reason I know is marketing - same as actors, some authors will adopt snazzier-sounding names to sound good on the bookshelf. B...

posted 13y ago by Standback‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T20:05:56Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/3126
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T01:41:59Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/3126
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T01:41:59Z (about 5 years ago)
[Zane hit the main ones](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/3117/why-do-writers-use-pseudonyms/3122#3122): **desire for personal privacy** the other primary reason I know is **marketing** - same as actors, some authors will adopt snazzier-sounding names to sound good on the bookshelf.

Beyond that, you've got a lot of exceptional cases - [Joe Hill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hill_%28writer%29) is a pen name to avoid the otherwise-painfully-blatant connection to his father; [Alice Bradley Sheldon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree,_Jr) probably falls under "privacy" but in a very extreme manner, etc. etc.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-06-18T19:26:19Z (over 13 years ago)
Original score: 7