Creating Your Author Platform: Your Name is Your Brand Authors’ names are their brands, and satisfied readers exercise brand loyalty. They shop for titles by author name, and when they come across a real find, they recommend it to friends. Those friends do the same, and the chain continues. But a book is more than a cover or jacket. It is the embodiment of a human voice to which the reader seeks connection. Thus, loyal readers attend book signings, subscribe to newsletters, and use Facebook, Twitter, Google +, or LinkedIn to make contact with favorite authors. The deeper the social connection between reader and author, the more likely the reader will act as the author’s sales agent. In creating your author platform and establishing your name as your brand, you want to be consistent and constant. If your name is Bob Anderson, your personal email will be bob@bobanderson.com; administrative email will be bobanderson@gmail.com; your website will be www.bobanderson.com; your blogsite will be www.bobanderson.com/blog; your twitter account will be @BobAnderson; and your Google + and Facebook Fan Page will be, drumroll please, Bob Anderson. Do not use the title of your book. Do not use any catchy taglines or slogans. Use your name. But first check that your name is available as a domain and as a company registered to do business in the U.S. Since there is more than one Bob Anderson, you must use a legal and customary variation of your name to make it distinct: Bob Anderson, Ph.D., Robert Anderson, Bob Q.…

French for ‘pen name,’ a nom de plume is a fictitious name under which an author publishes. Mark Twain was the nom de plume of Samuel Clemens. George Eliot sounded more serious than Mary Ann Evans.  Theodore Geisel was known as Dr. Seuss. In 1899 William Sydney Porter took the name O. Henry so editors might never know the stories were submitted by a convicted felon. Eric Blair become George Orwell as a shield from critics and cranks. A fascinating collection of stories about authors who took pen names can be found in Carmela Ciuaru’s Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms (Harper, 2011). Why some of the most well-known writers sought privacy and anonymity tells us as much about the times as the temperament of the artist.  Patricia Highsmith penned her lesbian novel as Claire Morgan in the 1950s. Vampire novelist Anne Rice wrote erotica as A. N. Roquelaure in the 80s’ to avoid scandalizing her father, but her ruse didn’t last long. Sylvia Plath first published The Bell Jar under the pen name Victoria Lucas because she feared it would offend her mother. The reasons for taking a nom de plume are as varied as the writers who do it. And the times have changed. J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts, Jill March, and Sarah Hardesty are four pseudonyms used by author Eleanor Marie Robertson. She uses a different name for writing romance, suspense, fantasy, and for titles she publishes in the U.K. For prolific genre writers, it’s one…