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!