: Re: Do I need a pen name? And how do I pick a good one? Try having the name 'James Thompson'. It doesn't really sound like a name a professional writer would have, does it? Because I don't

@Annie587

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Of course if you want to use a pseudonym, go right ahead. But "James Thompson" seems like a perfectly usable name to me.

Normal reasons to use a pseudonym include:

You don't want friends or business associates to associate you with this book. Like if you're writing pornography, or extremist politics. Perhaps you're afraid of repercussions of one kind or another.
You're name is difficult to pronounce or strange enough that it would be distracting to potential readers. Like if your name is "Poopy McSnotface" and you're writing technical chemistry books.
You think your name sounds inconsistent with the type of book you're writing. Like your name is "Bambi Loving" and you write technical books.

"James Thompson" sounds like an ordinary, respectable name to me. I don't know what your problem with it is.

But given that for whatever reason you don't want to use it ...

If you're publishing through a traditional publisher, you just tell them you want to use this pseudonym and they should handle the details.

If you're self-publishing: Put your pseudonym on the spine, title page, back cover, wherever you put author name. When you file your copyright registration, in the US the form has a place to say that this is a pseudonym. You then may, but are not required to, give your real name. Copyright registrations are public record so if you put your real name there, someone could research and find it. If you don't put your real name, I'd guess this makes suing someone for copyright violation more difficult as you'd have to prove that you are the author. I don't use a pseudonym and I've never sued someone for copyright violation so I don't know the details of that.

If you're not in the US, I don't know how they handle pseudonyms on copyright registrations in your country. You probably would want to look into it, just to make sure there are no gotchas.

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