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!
This calls to mind William Barrett, a Marxist (and later existentialist) professor of philosophy who wrote ‘readable’ introductions to European philosophy, and William Edmund Barrett, so beloved for Lillies Of The Field and The Left Hand Of God, who cohabited the same time frame. The first you’ll find most commonly as William Barrett; the second as William E. Barrett.
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What’s in a name’s a query
holding more than it would seem,
and so, author be wary
and don’t let it kill your dream,
for it is possible you share
the name you’d like to call to mind
stout Christian life and humble prayer
with writing of another kind,
so if you’ve got a middle name,
let it or its initial stand
to let folks know you’re not the same
and another in the writing-land
and so define the public You
as one author, and not two.
My website isn’t actually my name since I use it for MORE than just my author site. I use a sort of pen name online (it’s my middle name) since I like having at least some privacy, and “Allie Lynn” sounds like a better author name than my REAL last name XD. But yeah, if you google “Allie Lynn author” it’s usually me at the top (and I’ve tried with different servers and computers and search engines). The only other Allie Lynn doesn’t actually have a website, and seems to be mostly a poet? *shrugs* either way, my website’s getting better traffic than the sites she’s on.
I, too, had another author who wrote under my same name (that I’d already published under). My “twin” was my same age, lived in the same state I did at the time, and even had written with her sister as I had done for two non-fiction books. The worst that came of it was that when I would go to a booksigning, the bookstore would have ordered copies of the other author’s book which had curse words in it and were non-returnable! I felt awful. The steps I took to remedy the problem included:
• Making sure to claim all my titles on Author Central so when people click on my name or follow me on amazon, only MY books show up.
• Warning book stores long BEFORE I arrived to a signing to NOT order the title from the other author.
• Buying up every version of my domain name possible (the other author, thankfully, did not have a website apart from her vanity press’s site).
• Putting a notice on my website about the book that was NOT mine (in the most tactful way possible).
Thankfully, that was years ago, the author never wrote another book, and the problem has ceased to exist. But it was a real concern for a while!
Adding a middle initial, or a middle name, is probably wise for a writer. Jerry B. Jenkins delineated himself from other Jerry Jenkinses by using his middle initial. My mother—who had worked for an attorney—said he advised her to use her maiden name as her middle name when she married. So, I did the same, and it would be unlikely for anyone to mistake my name for anyone else’s.
When I prepared to buy a domain, I Googled my name and discovered another writer with the same name. I knew I’d need to do something to differentiate myself from her, as she writes erotic romance books. So, I added my middle name to my domain and all my social media. As I’ve begun speaking, I’ve ensured that all my advertising includes my middle name. A couple of times, younger folks have checked my online presence and questioned me after reading a blurb about the other author. It makes for an interesting opening line when I speak, “In case you wondered, I do not write erotic romance novels….”
Great post, Steve! I experienced a similar issue when I entered the music scene in 2011: an up-and-coming race car driver shared my name. Since then, more individuals with the same or similar name, including a broadway singer, have become notable.
With the rise of AI components in search engines, however, name confusion is becoming less of an issue. At the time of this writing, typing my name in Google will yield the following Gemini-generated disambiguation note at the top of the search page with embed links (I’m #3):
“Cole Powell can refer to a few different people. It’s important to clarify which one you’re interested in. Here’s a summary of the most notable individuals named Cole Powell:
1. Cole Powell (Stock Car Driver): A Canadian professional stock car racing driver who has competed in various series, including NASCAR.
2. Cole Powell (Offensive Tackle): A football player who committed to Eastern Michigan University in 2024.
3. Cole Powell (Singer-Songwriter): An award-winning singer-songwriter from Jayess, Mississippi.
4. Cole Powell (Actor): An American actor, Isaac Cole Powell, who has appeared on Broadway in productions like “Once on This Island” and “West Side Story”.
5. Cole Powell (Men’s Soccer Player): A defender for UC Davis Athletics.”
I’m not the biggest proponent of AI, but I certainly find this feature helpful!