Cozy Discussions #1: Why Authors Use Aliases?

  As an avid reader of cozy books, I love being able to read different books and have only recently learned most of the books I loved were written by the same author, which led me to look more into why authors go under other names.  It all began with Miranda James who I have loved Cat in the Stacks and for a while I thought Miranda James was a she it wasn’t until I was looking on Goodreads that I discovered Miranda is a guy named Dean James, so I asked him why the alias and he explained if you google Dean James you get the famous actor who died whom everyone knows either by his movies or reference in other movies James Dean, then I found out the second reason he went as a female as his publisher said women authors sell and thus Miranda James was born.  Another author told me there are books work for hire,  that is how Avery Aames was born in the Cheese Shop Mysteries.  She also writes under her name Daryl Wood Gerber she writes the Cookbook Nook Mysteries.  

   

   Sometimes in certain cases like Jim and Joyce Lavene the publisher wanted something fresh and that is how J.J. Cook was born. Some authors in the case of J.D. Robb aka Nora Roberts J.D. Robb is the alias to Nora Roberts because she writes In Death Series which is a mystery series.  Then she writes a lot of books under Nora Roberts which some are thrillers, romance, and on and on.  

Some use aliases in the case of Karoline Barrett she uses one because her married name is hard to pronounce she uses a variation for her books.  Ann Parramond uses the alias Ann Myers because she has another hard to pronounce name.  And she penned a name she liked her grandmother’s name.

  

   In the case of Dean Koontz he has several different names one being Leah Nicols, because his author didn’t think he should release two books a year, the same thing happened with John Sandford, who also writes under John Camp.  Also as many know Stephen King writes under an alias due to writing so many books.  Sometimes in many cases the publishing company will ask a writer to write a series and the company will own the series and the authors name.  Edith Maxwell who writes Local Foods Mysteries and she proposed a mystery idea for a series to her publisher Kensington.  Her editor wanted her to use a pen name and that is how Maddie Day was born.  It seems in a lot of cases they want a new author for a new series and that is the requirement.  A lot of authors don’t have much of a choice to either do it with a new name or no series.  Which I have found to be a common answer in this discussion.

   

   Victoria Hamilton writes under the name Donna Simpson or Donna Lea Simpson that author has a long running romance writing career.  As Victoria doesn’t want to confuse the readers.  She writes as Amanda Cooper because she signed on to do a work-for-hire series (Teapot Collector Mysteries) She also writes under her name for the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries.

  

  If anyone would like to help me work on a project to help me compile a list of authors and their lists of books written by them as I am confused like many get with the various names everyone has.  I want to take the time to thank so many people that helped with getting this answer.

Thanks: 

Daryl Wood Gerber aka Avery Aames, J.J. Cook aka Jim and Joyce Lavene, Victoria Hamilton aka Donna Simpson aka Donna Lea Simpson, Edith Maxwell aka Maddie Day, Glenda Moore, Ann Perramond aka Ann Myers, Karoline Barrett, Dean James aka Miranda James 

Special Thank you to the Save Our Cozies group on Facebook you all rock!!