I am not sure there will be a right or a wrong answer to my question, so your opinions and guidance is what I am really seeking. My book is ready, so I am in the process of looking for an literary agent to represent me. The question is, should I use my real name or a pen name? The reason I am asking this question is, there is already an Adrian Spalding out there writing books. Admittedly, they are about butterflies and insects, whereas my genre is thrillers. So unless I am going to write a book about killer butterflies ( there's a thought, make a quick note of that one), there should not be too much confusion. Yet a change might still be called for. Plus is the name Adrian Spalding, with all those syllables not racy enough for the cover of a thriller? Would a tighter name, hook an agent, or is it solely those first three chapters? As I said, I doubt there is a right or a wrong answer, but I would be very interested to hear your opinion.
Thanking you in advance
Adrian Spalding or maybe Tom Butler.
As well as writing, I also run a small self-publishing collective, and I persuaded one of our authors to use a pen name. I felt her real (double-barrelled) name would look a little clumsy on the front of her books, and especially on the spine.
She had an easy solution – her maiden name was perfect, which meant that she could continue to be known as 'Jane' to all. If you can, I'd suggest you stick to something that's close to your real name for the same reasons. Do you have a middle name that could be used as a surname? Something like 'Adrian John' or 'Adrian George' would sound good. Or could you be known by your initials?
And the good news is that if you make it big, you get a little privacy. J. K. Rowling credit card bills don't go to a 'Ms Rowling'!