Isabel

For my own, I love my pen name, actually more than I do my real name. Except for family, my pen name has become my first skin. I’m still wondering why my parents use the “other” name. Of course I’m one of those blessed with a boy’s name, which is actually worse than Shane, trust me. But I’ve been known as Haven for many years now. So when I started thinking of pen names I just had to think of a last name. Which is based on my last name.

All the odd people in the world is why I decided to take my personal site and make it what it is today. When I decided to start the author interviews I thought it time to remove the private things (like my children’s pictures). Before this wasn’t a worry, since the only viewers were my friends. Plus I figured it time to start putting the author in motion, since I’m getting closer to my finished MS and going to start on the other side of being published.

As to your question about favorites, Emmie, I wouldn’t say that my Shane Bolks book was my favorite. It just felt more like mine than the Shana Galen name. Now when I see Shana Galen, I know it’s mine, too. Maybe it’s like when you get married and start writing your husband’s last name instead of your maiden name (by the way, I’m not changing my name to my fiance’s last name when we get married–no more names!).

Legality of pen names…you’re starting to get into an area I don’t fully grasp because if you look at the copyright page on my Shana Galen books, you’ll see that the copyright is to Shane Bolks. I sign my contracts as Shane Bolks and the publishing house pays Shane Bolks (this is how most authors with pen names do it). Now, if you wanted a pen name to hide your identity (author Lydia Joyce comes to mind), you could probably set it up legally so that you were paid by that name, etc. I don’t know how that’s done, but I bet a good lawyer or agent could tell you (incorporation is my wild guess). Actually, I think that might be a good question for Jenna Petersen when she is here because I think she knows more about pen names than me.

As far as legal proof that I write my books. Oh, yes, there are many ways to prove that. I have rough drafts, critiques from my critique partners, my editor has seen the work in stages, I keep copies of drafts. There is ample proof. If someone else said they were Shana Galen, the author, the burden would be on them to prove it because so many people (agent, editor, publicist) know I am Shana Galen.

Isabel, you know, you should ask Julie about that Quinn/Quick thing because she told me before that was just a rumor and not true. I don’t think most authors pick their pen names based on shelf placement. I think it’s usually sentimental. They’ll use their maiden name or their kid’s name or their husband’s name (Jess Michaels [real name and husband's name] for Jenna Petersen). Actually, when my editor first had the pen name discussion with me, Avon had just lost Johanna Lindsay to Pocket, so she said, “How about using Lindsay? We don’t have one of those anymore.” I think that was a joke, but who wants to try and fill those shoes?

Thanks for the great questions! Tomorrow I’ll blog on the cover conference.

Shane

1) I’m known as “Michelle the Merry” on tha Avon board, as well as some others I frequent.

2) IF I get published one day, I want to sit next to Teresa Medeioros. Merry, Medeiros, can’t get much closer than that! lol.

When choosing a pen name, do you open a separate bank account, because your royalty/advance checks are made out to that name?

Another thing, I remember reading that you chose Galen as your last name for writing historials because that would place you between Gabaldon and Garwood. I also read somewhere else that Julia Quinn chose her last name so she would appear next to Amanda Quick. Is this commong practice, do you think?

Thanks,
Isabel

Couldn’t there be problems with a pen name to prove that something is really yours? Or do you record a pen name legally somewhere?

I’m just thinking if you write something as Shana Galen, copyright it to Shana Galen.. and then some (other) woman named Shana Galen comes along and claims she’s the real Shana Galen. Would you have legal proof somewhere that you’re the Shana Galen who wrote the book?

That might sound completely insane, but I hope the point got across.

There was never much of a choice for me. I think I’ll have to get published (knock on wood that it will still happen one day) under a pen name because my real name is the most unromantic thing I could possible imagine. (Magnusson.. very Nordic.)

You mentioned that it might be hard to associate to the name at first. Does this mean that when you got your first publications (one as Shana Galen and one as Shane Bolks) one of them somehow felt like a favourite because it was in some way more ‘yours’?