Wicked Wednesday - pen names

Do you write under your real name or a pseudonym? Or do you publish under both? I'm curious as to why you chose to do so, because I debated whether to use a pen name or not with my newest stories.

There are many good reasons to use a pen name: boring or hard to pronounce real name, real name already the same as a famous person, the desire for personal privacy, identity protection, writing in a different genre than you're known for, and giving yourself a second chance.

Many famous authors have used pseudonyms. It's not an unusual thing in this business. In fact, it could be a good marketing decision.

Some hide the fact they use a pen name while others let their readers know they've something published under a different name. Again, neither is out of the ordinary. We're in a world where it is acceptable for authors to use various identities. Use it to your advantage.

I've become known for writing The 13th Floor, a paranormal romance series. I'm now approaching a time in my career where I'm publishing something that is not in that genre. It is still contemporary and adult romance, but not supernatural. Who is Christine Rains without the otherworldly stuff?

I publish all my short stories under my name. They encompass a wide variety of genres. But that isn't the same as the world of novellas and novels.

I had to decide if Christine Rains was only a paranormal romance author or something more? Did I want a different name attached to my books in another genre? I waffled back and forth. I even tried to think of a great pen name. I was unsuccessful, but it didn't deter me from considering still using one.

In the end, I decided not to use a pseudonym. The new books may be a different genre and they may be completely different in style than the 13th Floor series, but they're still adult romances. I believe the majority of my readers will like the new books. I would also like to attract readers who pick up the new books first to read my paranormal romances next.

Wicked Wednesday - creating an author tagline

I once dedicated Wednesdays to topics dealing with paranormal romance. I've talked about various things that link to it too, but I wanted to keep my focus on that genre since I dubbed it part of my author brand.

Things change. I have a manuscript in consideration by one publisher and another accepted by a second press. Neither of the stories are paranormal romance. So lately, I've been working on changing my author brand. This includes changes to my blog, profile, and my website. (I finally have a new website design, and my husband is in the midst of programming it. Yay!)

One of the most important ways to establish your brand is to have an author tagline. What's this, you ask? An author tagline is a sentence or two (usually no more than 5 to 10 words) that describes who you and your books are. It must be short and attention-grabbing.

This is no easy task. I have enough trouble creating taglines for my books, but for me? Yikes. Where do I even begin?

Here are some tips to help you create your own author tagline:
- Who are you? What's important to you? Not your writing, but you.
- What is your writing like? The genre(s)? Are there any themes? What's your style?
- Focus on what makes you unique.
- Pick about a dozen words that describe you and your writing. (Or 50 like I did!)
- Ask for opinions from other writers, friends, and family. How do others see you and your writing?
- Narrow it down to a few words, play with them together, and come up with various phrases.
- Pick your favorite one, and remember, taglines aren't forever. You can change them, and you most likely will as life goes on.

What's important to me: Family, friends, creativity, and my geeky interests.
What's my writing like: supernatural, dark, witty, twisty, romantic.

I used a thesaurus to produce a bunch of words that I played around with. Here are some of my rejected taglines. Feel free to laugh all you want!
- Otherworldly flirts and courageous spooks.
- Heroes, haunts, and heart.
- Geeks, freaks, and EEKS!
- Flirting with what goes bump in the night.

Horrible, I know. And why was I so focused on alliteration? I had a lot like that.

I wasn't satisfied. So I went back to the drawing board. Or, rather, the crumpled and scribbled upon piece of paper. And I had a good brainstorming session with a fellow writer. (Thanks so much again, Graeme!) I had to accept I could not capture everything about me and my writing in one tagline. That was the hardest thing for me to accept.

What makes me unique: I'm add twists to whatever genre I'm writing, and I'm character driven.

Here is my final choice. Let me know what you think, please!

Paranormal intrigue with a twist.