4 Reasons I Write Books Under a Pen Name

And how it is helping me make money.

Last year, I decided to start publishing books under a pen name.

I had previously used this pen name to write articles on Medium that I wasn’t comfortable sharing under my own name.

That pen name made me over $10,000 on Medium in 2021.

So, I decided it was time to take my pen name to Amazon.

You may be wondering… why not just keep publishing under your real name?

Well, I plan to do that. But there are some books that are better for pen names. Here’s why I moved forward with my pen name publishing.

I write under a pen name to protect my creativity.

By writing under a pen name, I do not need to worry about what my friends or family will think about my writing.

There’s too much sex. There’s too much cursing. Did you get an English degree to write this?

I can let go of the pressure to impress my family and friends.

They are (probably) not my audience anyway.

I can write romance books that have as much or as little sex, cursing, tropes as I choose, because I am writing to a market.

And the truth is that I have a lot of fun writing these books. I’m not in it for the fame or name recognition. I want to make an income from writing.

My pen name is getting me closer to that goal.

I write under a pen name to diversify my writing genres.

Pen names are a way to diversify the kinds of books that you write.

It is a strategy to write to your specific audience.

You may not want to publish thrillers and romance under the same pen name at the risk of losing readership.

With pen names, you can create a loyal following to the kind of audience you want to write for.

You can use as many pen names as you want for as many genres you want to write.

That’s a pretty freeing feeling.

I write under a pen name to make money.

Let’s be clear. I want to build an income from my writing.

By using a pen name and writing to market, I am building my writing empire.

Every month, with every book I publish, I watch my income build.

It is a pretty incredible feeling.

With Medium and my Amazon books, I am steadily building a writing income that I am proud to own.

Pen names can create wealth if you use them correctly. I am watching it happen with my own eyes.

I write under a pen name to minimize my investment in the results.

The other benefit of a pen name is that there is a distance between you and your writing.

When I publish under my own name, I feel more invested in the work.

It feels more personal to put my own name on a book.

When I publish under a pen name, I am less invested in people’s opinions of the book. I am less concerned with its failure or success, except from a data standpoint.

I am separated from the work and that’s a really freeing feeling.

It gives me more courage to put work out quicker and take more risks in my writing. Again, it helps my creativity.

So, would you try a pen name?

Have I convinced you?

Do you think writing under a pen name is worth it to you? And if you have written under a pen name, have you seen good results?

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Jenny Bravo writes books and helps other writers through trial-and-error. She’s on Instagram (@jennybravobooks) and Twitter (@jennybravobooks). You can hang out at her website, www.jennybravobooks.com.