Adriel Arias
Pen Names
Have you ever read a book then checked the authors' name when you finish or just simply
check what the author of the book is? Well, if you do there is a possibility that the authors' name
is fake. Authors sometimes make up fake names and don’t use their real names to hide their
identity or for other reasons. Authors such as Stephen King, Benjamin Franklin, Eric Blaire have
all done this. These made-up names are called Pen names or pseudonyms.
Authors would also use pen names because of the circumstances there in like women
discrimination. Did you know that the author of Harry Potter, J.K Rowling is a pen name? The
authors' real name is Joanne Rowling. In Source 1 “What’s in a Name” states, “Rowling’s
publishers feared that young boys wouldn’t take the book seriously if they knew it was written
by a woman.” Since the book became so popular and Rowling became highly successful and
famous, she wanted to use another pen name “in order to write detective novels.” (Stated in
Source 1) Rowling's new pen name was Robert Galbraith. She thought of the pen name as a
“fresh start and a chance to explore a new genre without the pressure of her Harry Potter fame.”
(Source 1). There are many other reasons why authors use pen names. For example, Benjamin
Franklin used the pen name Silence Dogood because they would not allow his book to be
published. The Source “What's in a Name" said, “Eric Blair, author of Animal Farm and
Nineteen Eighty-Four, adopted the name George Orwell because he feared his early work would
embarrass his family.”
Have you ever read a book made by the author Richard Bahman? If you have that is the pen
name Stephen king used to write some books. He used that name because he wanted to publish
more books. Back then authors would only publish one book per year so if King used another
name, then he could write double the number of books. King's pen name also showed him how
success affects book sales and popularity. In Source 4 “Who is Richard Bachman?" states “King
also embraced the Bachman pseudonym because it allowed him to analyze his own success in his
writing career: was he successful because of his talent or successful because of luck?”. “Thinner,
a book released under Richard Bachman’s name, sold about 28,000 copies. When it was later
released as a Stephen King book, it sold more than ten times the Bachman version.” (Source 4)
King created a background for Richard Brahman. King was eventually exposed but that didn’t
stop him from writing with that name and then after all that King was then allowed to publish
more than one book a year.
In conclusion, the use of pen names is all different. Pen names are used by a lot of authors like
Stephen King, Joanne Rowling, Eric Blair, etc. They all had their reasons whether it's to publish
more books or to hide identities. Pen names can really affect the author and the book like how
Stephen King got more sales using his own name rather than Richard Brahman. Just think about
if the author is really the true author when reading a book.