Why do authors use pseudonyms?

[Aida]

Didn't you ever want to be someone else?

Actually, there are several reasons. Some simply want to protect their privacy, although J. D. Salinger and Thomas Pynchon manage to have all the privacy anyone would want while writing under their real and rather uncommon names. Others, I think, would be embarrassed or downright ashamed for it to be known that they write the kinds of things they do.

Some are well known in other fields and want to save their real names for their scholarly or professional writings. (Isaac Asimov was a real, serious scientist, but because he published sci-fi under his real name, most people who know of him know him only as a sci-fi writer, and his name wouldn't carry much weight as a scientific authority with them!)

Some think that their books would sell better if their names reflected the opposite sex or a different ethnicity. Back in the 1960s, when gothic romances were very popular, many of them were written by men using women's names. The sci-fi writer Andre Norton, on the other hand, is really named Alice. In the 19th century, George Eliot, George Sand, and Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell were all women. And some years ago a writer whose last name was James hispanicized it to Diaz because he considered the market for ethnic writers more open.

Some writers publish under their own names AND pen names, because they write more than one type of book. The archaeologist Barbara Mertz writes romantic, slightly supernatural thrillers as Barbara Michaels and mysteries with archaeological settings as Elizabeth Peters. The historical novelist Edith Pargeter wrote the Brother Caedfael series and a series of contemporary mysteries as Ellis Peters. Erle Stanley Gardner wrote his non-Perry Mason novels as A. A. Fair. (I could go on here!) In most cases the second (and third) identities were open secrets, but many readers had definite preferences as to which of an author's personae they preferred.

Incidentally an author who really wants to keep his or her pen name a secret evidently can. No one yet knows definitely who "B. Traven," who published The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in 1927, was. More recently, a former colleague of mine was known to have published several pseudonymous novels, but she would never tell anyone the titles or her pen name, because, she said, "I can't write anything but trash"

[Heather S]

Not necessarily. The pseudonyms are to preserve anonymity -- sometimes from the author's own family and friends.

[Rae]

There are lots of reasons why.

Some female authors (for example, J.K. Rowling) use a pseudonym to appeal to both genders. It sounds sexist, but it's been proven that some people would rather read a horror or fantasy book written by a man rather than a woman.

In addition to that, some men use pseudonyms to appeal to the female population. Again, it's been proven that a woman would want to read a romance written by another woman, rather than a man.

Some people have difficult names to pronounce or spell.
Some people have names that are boring.
Some people write in several genres, and don't want to confuse their fans.
Some people have names similar to already-famous people.
Some people just don't like their names.
Some people would just like a little bit of personal privacy.

Pen names are just for media purposes.
The publishers, agents, and editors all know the author's real name.

Why would an author choose a pen name and NOT make it public?
It's like a mask; a subtle disguise.

The author is able to tell whoever they want what their real name is (such as family and friends).

Hope this cleared some stuff up for you.
Cheers.

[Lynci]

I can only speak for myself. I've written two esoteric fantasy novels of Atlantis. They are romans a clef, a French term for books in which actual people are portrayed fictitiously; my characters are my own alter ego as well as family and friends; their identies are thinly veiled -- names are slightly altered. Anyone who knows me would recognize him- or herself in the novels, however. Since my characters are slightly disguised, I wanted similarly to veil my own true identity as the author. Additionally, I wanted a pseudonym which would be meaningful as the author of my magical books. I chose the pen name Lyric LaMage; besides easily identifying me as a magician, numerologicaly the name equals the number seven, as does my real name. I think that sometimes writers use pseudonyms when they writer certain types of material; perhaps they don't want their true identity to be associated with what they've written. Often authors of erotica, for instance, refrain from using their real names. Of course, their publishers know who they are! If they become well known later for their writings, they will generally claim authorship of those works published under a pseudonym.

[Lynci]

I can only speak for myself. I've written two esoteric fantasy novels of Atlantis. They are romans a clef, a French term for books in which actual people are portrayed fictitiously; my characters are my own alter ego as well as family and friends; their identies are thinly veiled -- names are slightly altered. Anyone who knows me would recognize him- or herself in the novels, however. Since my characters are slightly disguised, I wanted similarly to veil my own true identity as the author. Additionally, I wanted a pseudonym which would be meaningful as the author of my magical books. I chose the pen name Lyric LaMage; besides easily identifying me as a magician, numerologicaly the name equals the number seven, as does my real name. I think that sometimes writers use pseudonyms when they writer certain types of material; perhaps they don't want their true identity to be associated with what they've written. Often authors of erotica, for instance, refrain from using their real names. Of course, their publishers know who they are! If they become well known later for their writings, they will generally claim authorship of those works published under a pseudonym.

[Serendipity]

What Report away Snitch said. =)
What I was about to say, but better.