If you’re a self-published author, chances are you’ll be offering your books for sale on Amazon.com. Whether or not you currently have an account, there are a few things you should know about navigating Amazon’s Kindle platform most effectively as a published author, particularly if you choose to use one or more pen names.
However, before we dive into the meat of the matter, let’s go over why and when you would want to use a pen name, how using one affects your publishing accounts, how to approach social media and other important considerations for using a pen name.
Why and when to use a pen name?
A “pen name” or pseudonym, is an assumed name that many writers choose to use instead of their real name. But why would anyone, especially you, want to do that?
There are a gamut of reasons that many authors give for why they use a pen name at some point in their career. However, some of the most common are:
To safeguard their real identity.
To not be restricted by using their real name.
To distinguish between the different kinds of books they write.
These are all excellent reasons to decide on a pen name and then use it to set up your author account.
How does using a pen name affect your publishing accounts?
Once you make the decision to use a pen name instead of your actual name, there are a few restrictions you’ll have to deal with as a publisher on Amazon’s platform.
You can’t use your pen name to create verified reviews.
You can’t comment or use the discussion boards with the pen name.
You are restricted to using a single name in Amazon discussion groups.
This is because Amazon has strict rules that only allow accounts with verified payment methods to complete certain actions. This leaves you very limited in certain respects if you use one or more pen names.
How should you deal with social media when using a pen name?
It is one thing to use your pen name to set up an author account and on the cover of your book, but how do you use it for other areas of book publishing and promotion, such as with social media?
Facebook – You can only set up one main Facebook page using your real name. However, you can set up single pages to promote your books using each one of your pen names.
Twitter – It’s easy to set up several Twitter accounts for each of your pen names so you can keep your book promotions separate.
Goodreads – This platform only allows one main profile for each author, so if you want to promote using different pen names, you’ll have to set up several individual accounts using different emails.
How to Set Up Your Author Page with a Pen Name
Here are the steps you should take to set up your Amazon Author Page with a pen name.
In order to set up your Author Page you must already have a main Amazon account and at least one book already listed and available for purchase on Amazon.com.
If you don’t already have a main Amazon account, select the sign-in option that says “No, I am a new customer” and follow the instructions to set up a new account.
If you don’t already have a book listed on Amazon, use the Kindle Direct Publishing page to upload your first book.
Once you have Debi Pearl page Amazon account created and your book uploaded, use the following steps to set up your account with your pen name.
Advertisements Share this:
