Whenever I find an author I like, I try to read all his or her works, but some have sooo many pseudonyms, it can very hard to find everything that person has written, especially when they cover many different genres. It can also make selling or collecting books a bit tricky as sometimes the true first edition of a book is under one name, but later re-issued under the author’s real name (or ‘current’/most famous pseudonym), making that book look like a first edition or printing, but it’s actually what is called a ‘first thus’ (a version that is different than the true original, but still the first of its kind…)
An example: J. D. Robb’s first book, NAKED IN DEATH, was issued as a paperback (the true ‘first edition’), but then it was later reissued as a hardcover with the author listed as Nora Roberts Writing as J. D. Robb. Many people, seeing that hardcover book with its complete numberline (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1) think it’s the first edition, when it’s not. (That’s an example of a ‘first thus’ – first time in hardcover, but not first time in print.) Either version is a good read, but the paperback version is the more valuable since it came first.
Some authors use pseudonyms to ‘remove’ themselves from an unwanted association with the past, such as Juliet Hulme: she changed her name to Anne Perry (using her stepfather’s last name and a new first name) after she had served time for her part in the infamous New Zealand murder of her friend’s mother and wanted/needed a fresh start for her life and writing career. Other authors use pseudonyms because they are so prolific that their publishers are afraid too many books from just one person would ‘dilute’ the market/’brand’ so they have the writer use different names when writing in different genres (such as ‘Nora Roberts’ writing ‘romance’ while ‘J. D. Robb’ writes ‘sci fi/crime’ novels.) Others just don’t feel their original names are ‘literary’ enough or want to sound more ‘neutral’ (not male or female so they appeal to all) so use just initials or change to something they feel will ‘sell’ better.
For just an idea of how fun it can be to try to find all the books by an author, here’s just a small list of some writers and their pseudonyms (some familiar and maybe not-so-familiar ones):
| Birth Name | Pseudonyms |
| Eleanor Marie Robertson | Nora Roberts, J. D. Robb, Sarah Hardesty, Jill March |
| Dean Ray Koontz | Owen West, Leigh Nichols, Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Brian Coffey, John Hill, Anthony North, Aaron Wolfe, David Axton, Richard Paige, Leonard Chris |
| Howard Allen O’Brien | Anne Rice, Anne Rampling, A. N. Roquelaure |
| Charlotte Bronte | Currer Bell |
| Anne Bronte | Acton Bell |
| Emily Bronte | Ellis Bell |
| Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin | George Sand |
| Stephen Edwin King | Richard Bachman, John Swithen |
| Joanne Rowling | J. K. Rowling |
| John Frederick Lange, Jr | John Norman |
| Robert Mayer | Joe Dalton, Robert Doherty, Greg Donegan, Bob McGuire |
| Ron Goulart | Frank Shawn |
| Harry Norman Turtledove | Dan Chernenko, Eric G. Iverson, Mark Gordian, H.N. Turteltaub |
| Christine King | Christine Feehan |
| Richard Patrick Russ | Patrick O’Brian |
| Juliet Hulme | Anne Perry |
| John Roswell Camp | John Sandford |
| Samuel Langhorne Clemens | Mark Twain |
| Daniel (David) Nathan | Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen, Barnaby Ross |
| Manford (Emanuel) Lepofsky | Manfred Bennington Lee, Ellery Queen, Barnaby Ross |
| Willard Huntington Wright | S. S. Van Dyne |
| Georgiana Ann Randolph Walker Craig | Craig Rice |
| John Holbrook Vance | Jack Vance, Ellery Queen, Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See, Jay Kavanse |
| Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob | Piers Anthony |
| Edward Dentinger Hoch | Ellery Queen, Stephen Dentinger, R. L. Stevens, Pat McMahon, Anthony Circus, Irwin Booth, R. E. Porter, Mr. X |
| Alice Mary Norton | Andre Norton, Andrew North, Allen Weston |
| Alice Bradley Sheldon | James Tiptree Jr, Raccoona Sheldon |
For anyone who is a rabid book collector or just a connoisseur of pseudonyms, then don’t forget to check out Hawk’s Authors’ Pseudonyms III
