Sort-Of-Pseudonym

Since using my real name in publishing has made it increasingly difficult to pursue my true passion of being a spy, I have decided to use a pen name for future books.

Just kidding, but I do feel like a secret agent since I've decided to publish with another name...

I’ve always liked the idea of using a pseudonym. Who wouldn’t want to pretend to be someone much cooler than they actually are? It is like being a literary superhero. Angela Marshall by day, (insert catchy name here) by night.

There are a few problems with that.

1. I’ve never managed to think of a catchy name to insert there.
2. I think it would get confusing to have multiple identities.
3. People already seem skeptical when I hand them a book and say I wrote it. Imagine their faces if that book had a different name on the cover!
4. I already have a website that uses my real name.

So why am I switching to a pen name now?

Music.

I have plans to publish more sheet music soon, and my store pages on Amazon would get crowded with both novels and music in the same place. I also plan to publish books about piano teaching sometime in the future, and that is a very different audience than those looking for my novels. I want to make it clear to people which books are music and which are stories. The best way seems to be a slight name change to differentiate between the two.

So all my novels will now be published under “A.G. Marshall.” I like this for two reasons.

1. This is still my name. Not a separate identity. I work hard writing my books, and I want to take credit for them.
2. It makes me feel like a classy British author in the tradition of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and J.K. Rowling.

My main concern is that people will think my first name is Ag. And that seems unlikely. I'm probably overthinking.  If it happens, I guess I’ll just go with it.

My first novel under my sort-of-pseudonym will be out soon!