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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » The Writing Life

The Writing Life

When You Share a Name With Another Person

By Steve Laubeon May 19, 2025
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A great question came our way:

Although I have been cultivating my online presence as a writer, I have found that someone who shares my name already has a significant online presence. This person does not live a Christian lifestyle: in fact, I would be terribly embarrassed and my professional integrity could be harmed if anyone mistook me for this individual. Perhaps other authors may face the same dilemma.

Are there any suggestions for a new author who has to overcome the presence of another online? Would it be necessary to write under a pseudonym?

That is a tough one.

When Karen Ball worked for us an agent, she was also an accomplished novelist. She discovered that someone by the same name was a practicing psychic. So when she created her website she used karenballbooks.com since karenball.com was taken at the time. (Later, Karen dropped that site and created a wonderful new site for writers called WriteFromTheDeep.com.)

You could do something like JohnSmithWriter.com or RememberJohnSmith.com (to be “memorable”). Or add your middle initial to the domain name.

But if the other person is well known, or their site is terribly “flagrant” (if you know what I mean), you could decide to use a pen name. But if you’ve already gone far down the path under your real name, then it’s too late.

If you only just started writing or have a limited online presence, website-wise, then you have an opportunity to reboot.

Be careful before jumping into using a professional pen name. Read from others who’ve done it well. (Linked here is a good article from the Science Fiction Writers Association.) Check what the rules are in social media for using a pen name because using a fake name can be problematic, for obvious reasons.

We have several clients who write under their maiden names. One was because her married name is unspellable. Another was for protection. Another did it that way because she published before she got married; she had started her career and social media presence under that name and had no trouble keeping it that way.

Ultimately, it is your decision. But once you make it, stick with it.

And one little reminder to everyone: If you have a domain name, make sure that the email associated with your registration is up-to-date. (Double-check with your domain registrar today!) We had a client whose domain name was his real name (like stevelaube.com), but the registration expired. He had changed his email address a couple of years earlier but did not update his domain registration. The registrar sent him a notice saying it was time to renew his site, but he never got it. The day his domain name became available, a “Date Older Women” site took it and redirected all the traffic intended for his author website to something very unseemly. It took two years for him to get the domain name back.

Don’t let that happen to you!

 

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Category: Book Business, The Writing LifeTag: Author Names, The Writing Life

Writing for Others

By Dan Balowon May 8, 2025
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Failure to be published traditionally or unsuccessful self-publishing often results from writing what you want, rather than what readers want, to read. This is common in book publishing, where the market’s randomness and subjectivity create a disconnect between authors, publishers, and readers. Every step along the publishing process attempts to predict the desires of the next step. More …

Read moreWriting for Others
Category: The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

You Probably Won’t Get a Book Deal. We Still Need You to Write: Guest Post by Darryl Dash

By Guest Bloggeron April 28, 2025
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DARRYL DASH is the pastor of Grace Fellowship Church East Toronto and cofounder of Gospel for Life. He has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and has over 30 years of ministry experience. He is the author of two books published by Moody Publishers. Darryl is married to Charlene and has two adult children, Christy and Josiah. You can find Darryl online at …

Read moreYou Probably Won’t Get a Book Deal. We Still Need You to Write: Guest Post by Darryl Dash
Category: The Writing Life

How to Write Your Novel From the Middle With James Scott Bell

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 8, 2025
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  Are you starting your book in the wrong place? I’m not referring to giving too much backstory. I mean, are you starting your story in the wrong place? Pantsers often start at the beginning and just let the story unfold. Plotters often want to outline the entire story from beginning to end before they write the first page. But what would happen if you started writing your book from the …

Read moreHow to Write Your Novel From the Middle With James Scott Bell
Category: Craft, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Writing Craft

A Writer’s Prayer on Beginning a New Project

By Bob Hostetleron April 2, 2025
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Abba, Father, thank you for the work you have given me to do, for what I am about to write. I begin in fear and trembling, not at all sure that I can start well, let alone finish well. But your grace is sufficient for me, in writing as in all of life, for your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Take my weakness, all of it. I give it to you. Take my strength, what little I have. Take my mind, …

Read moreA Writer’s Prayer on Beginning a New Project
Category: The Writing Life, Theology

Am I Head-Hopping or Is It Omniscient POV? – Guest Post by Kathy Tyers

By Guest Bloggeron March 24, 2025
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One of our regular readers asked, “What about the Omniscient Point of View? It exists, and some of us use it, but today’s writers aren’t taught the difference between OPOV and head hopping in a limited POV. ” I thought I’d ask an expert! I’ve had the honor of working with Kathy Tyers for over 25 years. She is the author of Writing Deep Viewpoint: Invite Your …

Read moreAm I Head-Hopping or Is It Omniscient POV? – Guest Post by Kathy Tyers
Category: The Writing Life

Commercial Writing (The Word Count Question)

By Dan Balowon February 27, 2025
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One of the common questions I get as an agent relates to how long a book should be. Many aspiring authors think about a target number of pages and chapters when they need to focus on word count. Using pages as a metric for book length likely comes from those who self-publish and are accustomed to being charged per page for their book. Depending on the type of project, there is an optimum word …

Read moreCommercial Writing (The Word Count Question)
Category: Book Proposals, Pitching, The Writing LifeTag: word count

Evaluating Surprise Contract Offers

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 19, 2025
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If you don’t work with an agent and you receive unexpected interest in your books, here are guidelines that may keep you from signing a contract that doesn’t further your career: Make no hurried promises over the phone or email. Take the time you need to assess the offer and interest. Legitimate book publishing normally moves slowly, so anyone demanding immediate decisions should be regarded with …

Read moreEvaluating Surprise Contract Offers
Category: Contracts, Get Published, The Writing LifeTag: Scams

Upon Further Review

By Dan Balowon February 13, 2025
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Every author or publisher assumes that the response will be positive when they send an about-to-be-published book out to professional book reviewers in the media. This is partially correct since many media outlets won’t comment on or publish a negative review. To illustrate, years ago I recall hearing from a book reviewer at a major Christian periodical that they would not publish a review because …

Read moreUpon Further Review
Category: Reviews, The Writing Life

Beginnings and Endings of Novels With Angela Hunt

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on February 11, 2025
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Have you ever started reading a book and just couldn’t get past the first few chapters? Or maybe you enjoyed the book, but the ending left you feeling empty inside. It just didn’t quite work. Beginnings and endings can make or break your novels. If you want your reader to finish your book, you’ve got to start well. You’ve got to hook them in with a beginning that piques …

Read moreBeginnings and Endings of Novels With Angela Hunt
Category: The Writing LifeTag: Angela Hunt, Characters, Writing Craft
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