So you’re browsing through the bookstore. Any bookstore. Not looking for a particular title, just a good read.
And you spot a new novel by one of your favorite authors. Let’s say John Grisham (or insert name of your fav). You grab it, run home, eagerly dig in—and find it has nothing to do with the law, or conspiracies, or underdogs, or anything you usually associate with that author. Maybe it’s about a young couple establishing a worm farm.

Or maybe it’s Emma Holly sans sex. Or J.K. Rowling writing about a group of middle-aged people, murderers all. :poof:

Whatever. :shock:

Do you give it a chance? Toss it? Do you buy the name? Do you keep reading because it’s one of your favorite authors and you like their writing, or figure you wasted your money because you expected something else?

The subject is pseudonyms.

I’ve been considering pubbing non-erotic romance under a different name.
Why?
Because the common belief is that readers not only have definite expectations from certain categories and lines, but from the authors they’ve previously read. If you’re Jane Doe, and you write erotica, and that’s what they like, they’ll look for you. That’s the ‘heads’ side of the coin.

On the ‘tails’ side, if your name is already attracting a following, they’re likely to follow you to another arena. But if it isn’t the show they thought they were paying for, they may be pissed or disappointed, may not stay.
Then again—they might.

I haven’t quite made up my mind, and yes, I’m interested in your thoughts, if you have an opinion.
This whole subject gives me hives. Dammit, why can’t we just write??! :neutral: