{"id":"6020","date":"2020-11-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/?p=6020"},"modified":"2020-11-03T13:32:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T21:32:22","slug":"choose-a-pen-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/choose-a-pen-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Which One Won? The smart way to choose a pen name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>bell hooks. Mark Twain. Pablo Neruda. Maya Angelou. What do these four famous author and poet names have in common? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re all names of authors who decided to choose a pen name. Their &#8220;real&#8221; or original names: Gloria Jean Watkins, Samuel Clemens, Ricardo Eliecer Neftal\u00ed Reyes Basoalto, and Marguerite Annie Johnson, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authors use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. Neruda used a pen name to avoid bringing his family shame \u2014 they didn&#8217;t approve of his poetry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>bell hooks chose a name that honored her great grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks, but styled it in lowercase to shift attention toward her ideas more than her persona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever the reason, choosing a pen name can be hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PickFu can help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>One author <a aria-label=\"recently took to PickFu  (opens in a new tab)\" class=\"ek-link ek-link\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/books\/author-bios\/which-pen-name-do-you-like-more-context-i-write-histories-biographies-and-historical-fiction-VNRHU5RJ\" target=\"_blank\">recently took to PickFu<\/a> to ask 50 people who listen to audiobooks and read at least one book a month to decide on their favorite of three pen names. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The author asked, &#8220;Which pen name do you like more? Context: I write histories, biographies, and historical fiction novels for men and women aged 25 to 50.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three pen name choices are as follows: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Option A: John Davis<\/li><li>Option B: John Jackson <\/li><li>and Option C: John Paine<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you guess which one won?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:200px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And the winner is&#8230;Option C! Options A and B both received the same score \u2014 24 \u2014 but Option C earned a score of 52. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s find out why. <\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"choose-a-pen-name-that-isnt-generic\">Choose a pen name that isn&#8217;t generic<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Respondents found that the names &#8220;John Davis&#8221; and &#8220;John Jackson&#8221; sounded too bland to incite any sort of intrigue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Said one reader, &#8220;I\u00a0prefer the last name &#8216;Paine&#8217; out of the three options. It sounds the most unique and least generic. The name &#8216;John Jackson&#8217; is my least favorite because it sounds way too made up.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another agreed, adding, &#8220;John Paine sounds like a fun author name, it makes me intrigued about the subject matter. John Davis and John Jackson are way too generic.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A third respondent pinpointed a notable difference between the three names: &#8220;John Paine is better because it has a little more personality to it. The other names are a little too plain but Paine has a second meaning so that makes it a better option to me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a reader sees the last name <em>Paine<\/em>, they&#8217;ll naturally make a connection to <em>pain<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that simply makes for a more interesting name. <\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"choose-a-pen-name-with-historical-connections\">Choose a pen name with historical connections<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>While you could argue that any of the three names can be found in the annals of history, some respondents felt that &#8220;John Paine&#8221; had a nice, historical ring to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One respondent mined her knowledge of American history and came to this conclusion: &#8220;&#8216;John Jackson&#8217; reminds me of Andrew Jackson \u2014 a little too masculine. &#8216;John Paine&#8217; reminds me of Thomas Paine \u2014 a worthwhile person to emulate.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A male respondent agreed, writing, &#8220;I like John Paine the most because I feel the name fits in really well with early American history (various founders named John, as well as Thomas Paine).&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the author&#8217;s niche is history, historical fiction, and biographies, it makes sense to choose a pen name that directly reminds readers of historical figures.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-takeaways-for-choosing-a-pseudonym\">Key takeaways for choosing a pseudonym<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a pen name that fits the genre you write, PickFu&#8217;s respondents can help you narrow down your choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you bring your options to a poll, think about how well the choices fit your genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you ready to test your potential pen names on PickFu? <a aria-label=\"Create your poll (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"ek-link\" href=\"http:\/\/pickfu.com\/ask\" target=\"_blank\">Create your poll<\/a> today, select <a aria-label=\"an audience of readers (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"ek-link ek-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/audience-targeting\/\" target=\"_blank\">an audience of readers<\/a>, and get results back in as little as 15 minutes. <\/p>\n","protected":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>bell hooks. Mark Twain. Pablo Neruda. Maya Angelou. What do these four famous author and poet names have in common? They&#8217;re all names of authors who decided to choose a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":""},"author":"9","featured_media":"6022","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":"","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":"","_editorskit_reading_time":"0","_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":"","_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":["21","15"],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Which One Won? The smart way to choose a pen name - The PickFu blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you know that PickFu can help you choose a pen name? 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