Q & A 36 Nom de Plume

If an author plans to publish under a nom de plume, should he use that name when contacting agents? If not, is there a conventional way to communicate to the agent that he does not wish to publish under his own name?

It's possible your agent will be sending you checks at some point. Unless you plan on framing them, you want them made out to someone your bank has heard of. You.

There are many reasons for publishing under a name other than your own.

1. Perhaps you have published several mysteries, and now you're trying your hand at a romance. You don't want readers buying your book expecting a mystery, and you don't want the fact that your romance tanks to drag your already successful career into the gutter.

2. Perhaps you don't want your grandma, shopping in Barnes and Noble, to happen upon your book featuring graphic sex, S & M, and a scene involving three men and a sheep.

3. Perhaps your name is Natty Bumppo Scilgelsteinometzger, and you want your readers to have an easier time requesting your book at the customer service desk. Or at least you want a name that will fit on the book cover.

Note that each of these motives comes into play after you've sold a book. Once you have a book sale, the conventional way to communicate to your agent that you wish to use a pen name is to tell him.