Using Pen Names as a Marketer
July 23rd, 2008 | 
Author: Hi everyone!
One of my subscribers emailed me a great question and I wanted to share my thoughts about it with you.
She asked:
“I know that I am going to sound extremely uncreative BUT, how do you figure out your pen names, and how/when to go into anonymity? They say to build credibility we should use our real name, but sometimes that makes me EXTREMELY nervous.”
I totally understand where you’re coming from. In fact, I’ll let you in a little secret – I know of a huge marketer who has built an empire in the make money niche and she never brands her name. I asked her why and she admitted to me that it made her nervous.
But what, exactly, made her nervous? For her, it was fear of failure. For others, it might be that you just want to keep your anonymity in what you’re doing.
Doesn’t matter WHY exactly. So let me answer your question.
First, if you’re digging into multiple niches, I recommend you use a pen name. You can use them in ALL niches if you want to. It’s not your REAL name that matters at all – it’s branding A name – any name, as long as you brand it.
With my weight loss blog, I was going to use Abbie Edwards. I just felt the name Abbie sounded friendly and I happened to read a book where the character’s last name was Edwards and I thought, “that fits nicely!”
But now I’m shining the spotlight on myself, so I decided to use my own name. The reason I suggest multiple niche pen names is because you don’t want to dilute your expertise.
You might find it hard to be Abbie Edwards – expert in wedding planning, dog training, forex marketing, cooking, etc. With the importance of social marketing, you don’t want your peers catching on and spreading the word that you’re just hacking into all sorts of hobbies and topics. Online peer groups can get vicious – we all see how grown men and women can turn into 5 year olds on a forum fast and furious.
So what I do is whenever I buy my domains, I use private registration for them. That way they see the domain proxy name and contact info and not my own.
Be consistent with your branding in a niche, too. If you’re focusing on something in any way related to money, for example – use the same name – whether it’s eBay, affiliate marketing, or even secret shopping. Brand yourself broadly as a “make money pro.” But when it branches off into something completely different – like dog training, switch to a new hat.
You can have fun with this! Create characters for your niches and dig into who that target audience would want to follow. In our industry, we like ethics, honesty, entertainment, and freebies. Dog owners would want someone with authority and friendliness – someone who understands their pet is like a child to them. Connect to your readers through your pen name and persona.
You have to have the character down pat – feel free to make a cheat sheet if you want where you list the details of your pen author – name, age, likes, dislikes, etc. Part of good marketing is personal connections, so you’ll be storytelling, too – might want to keep track of those stories so you don’t forget them!
Tiff 
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What about using pen names that don’t even sound real or are silly? This is especially common on forums and social networking sites. For example, thefluffanutta is obviously not my real name, but I use it for (almost) everything I do online, and I totally ‘own’ that brand on Google.
I’ve seen other’s use keyword rich pen names, like DogFoodKing or MakeMoneyOnline. These are clearly a) not real and b) picked to boost their presence in the niche.
What’s your take on these?
Good question! I personally don’t recommend using it as the name. With you, for instance – I’m always wanting to talk about how much I admire your site, but I have to call you fluff because I can’t ever remember exactly how you have your name.
Yours is a silly name – but the ones like DogFoodKing – they’re branding with keywords. Instead of doing that, I recommend using a real name and branding it as “the dog food king.” – like I became Tiffany Dow, “Ghostwriter to the Gurus.”
If all they are is a username, it’s not a very strong connection to the audience. Every loved discovering who was behind the Rich Jerk – they NEED to know. lol
Hi Tiffany and all,
One trick I learned from some ole pros, was to be sure it was a unique pen name. For each niche, keep it the same, but use different ones with each niche.
How do you know it’s unique? Search it with Goolge using “” marks.
Why? Cuz now, 6 months later, you may be interested to find out exactly how far you have penetrated the niche. Go back to Google and search it again. When it comes up with 500 links, you now know that your articles or message, so to speak, has reached 500 other sites in one form or another.
If a name isn’t unusual enough, give it a middle initial. Just be sure in all articles you submit, or lenses you create, it’s included.
Then when you make a marketing effort, it kind of keeps score as to how well it worked.
When in 8 months you have 800 links, your recent efforts have added a few, or your former efforts are still paying off at least. Just be sure it isn’t going down!
Just my $.02 and probably worth every penny!
Best,
Corky
Hi Tiff –
Very interesting. I have thought of this from time to time and wondered how often it’s used. I imagine more often than we suspect.
I can see you point about venturing into other topics. Especially if there are quite a few diverse areas you work on. People may begin to view you as some one that knows a little about everything but an expert of nothing.
I like your idea of assuming a name the suits the niche and target audience. I think people do sometimes associate a name with a personality type. I would definitely opt for a cheat sheet for that useless your name is Sybil. lol
Thanks – John
Great input!!
Love this board!!!
L.
Hi Tiffany,
I use CameramanJim for my weblog on Wordpress because I do photography and my real name is Jim.
I use Jim Juris in my signature on my blog, forums, and on my Inexpensive Jewelry Photography ebook web site.
I want to build up my name, even though there are 2 people with the name Jim Juris. The only difference is our middle name. We are not related to each other.
Hi Tiffany,
How do you work in the pen name with privacy statements and all that stuff? Do I use the corporation name or what?
Thanks for all the help.
Well I use my corporation. If someone wants to go into detail and find your real name, they will (like rich jerk). But what I want to do is let them get to know me – and my corporation (Write Consultants, Inc.) is a good base for it. You can use a business name in privacy statements, even if it’s something you create that’s not a corporation, although I highly recommend incorporating.
If you’re writing genre fiction, sometimes you have no choice. Your publisher will make you use a pen name for a series, especially if you are very prolific. It’s just the way it is.
Great post Tiffany, that’s something I always preach. Your self branding is one of the most important things you can do in internet marketing, besides products, list, blogging, your name is what people really remember, and credibility and trust is built from that. BTW, I like your blog layout, text friendly and useful content.
Terrance Charles
http://www.terrancecharles.com
Hey Tiffany,
Im really glad I came across this post. Coincidently I have been pondering the subject of pen names myself recently. Your post has shed some liight for me. Thanks!
Chad Flick
Great post Tiffany! I have a question regarding pen names and submitting writing samples to potential clients. How would it work if a potential client asks for published writing samples or a link to your blog, but your blog and published works are under your pen name? How do you prove to them that you are the actual writer?
Well they’d have to trust you OR, you could post those same samples on a password protected page of your own website I guess.
Tiff – I’m still trying to decide on this pen name thing. I am about to write my first eBook and am tempted to go under a pen name. I want to do a bio page though with a picture to make readers more comfortable. Would I use my own photo or a stock one?
If any other readers could share their thoughts I’d appreciate it.
Hi Clare!
If you’re using a pen name, I’d use a stock picture. Save your real pic for your real name.
Tiff
Hi Tiff,
what if the person on the stock picture comes out and says it’s HER???
Any danger of that?
Any recommendations for stock photo companies that would be good to get such pictures from?
Thanks.
Elisabeth
Hi Elisabeth – by stock picture, I mean I would probably use a niche picture – not necessarily have a person’s photo representing you.
ie: dog niche? Have a picture of a dog “this is my baby Fido” or whatever. It can be an abstract picture.
Other options: Rich Jerk – have a cartoonish image created.
I don’t prefer those.
tiff
Oh forgot – I use http://www.istockphoto.com for my stock pics – use the smallest one cuz they’re pretty big and only $1 each usually.
In looking for pen name info I must say, that Tiffany has the best content on the subject – and a very nice blog. There are some good comments here too.
There is just something very uncomfortable about using my own name. ANYONE can find you and see your life or business. It could be – a nut case – people going through your yearbook – ID thieves – hackers – a jilted lover – someone bent on revenge – anyone from your past – competitors in all niches – the IRS … and I’m sure I forgot a few.
The bad thing about hiding is that old friends that you may want to hear from can’t find you. All said, protecting your identity in this screwed up world beats the alternative.