The tricky art of a pseudonym

If you follow this blog you'll know that I am writing a story with Amber – an MF romance. This is a new direction for me, but I am also writing a Hayley story as an offshoot from Texas, so MF is definitely a part of my future alongside my MM.

So, this is how it went.

I decide on a pseudonym – Rozenn Scott and my logo is a heart made of Roses. I also wanted to be familiar as R Scott…

Then when it came to begin writing something felt wrong. I am RJ Scott. I don't really want a seperate identity for my writing, whether it is gay romance, or straight romance. At the end of the day it is ALL romance, and love is love.

BUT, thing is, I see reviews where it was obvious someone didn't read a blurb, or look at cover art, so I need to have Rozenn in case one of my readers who only read MM pick up one of my MF by mistake… to have a brand identity… all of these things are relevant.

But, you see… I write LOVE with a capital L. Sometimes my heroes are SEALs, or Cops, or rich guys, or construction workers, or admin guys, and sometimes I write vampires and werewolves. If you are reader and you don't like a certain genre, you check certain things before you buy…

• The category the book is being sold under (MM, romance, gay, contemporary, paranormal, etc etc)
• The cover art
• The blurb
• Reviews
• Friend recommendations
• Price
• Whether the author is on your autobuy list 
• The publisher
• A previous read

So, if you look at an RJ Scott book and any of the above things are not what you want, then I imagine you don't buy. Or at least you find the compromise that works for you.

My contemporary writing outsells my paranormal writing, so there will be people who buy my contemp but not my para. They use the criteria above to make that decision. So why would anyone think these awesome readers wouldn't be able to tell the difference between MM and MF…

Not me, I shouldn't.

On Facebook, when I asked if I should have a separate pen name, Sunne commented that it shouldn't matter what I write under the same name. Because, having another name separates the *different* kinds of love, and becomes a divisive thing, I must admit I agree. Although, I need to be sensitive to it all.

So, upshot of it is… I am keeping Rozenn because it is pretty, but I will be, wherever it is used, RJ Scott writing as Rozenn Scott, and people will always know that it is RJ Scott who switches. 🙂

What do you think?