Publishing a Book - Pen Name or Real Name?
Hello fellow monkeys,
Wanted to start a separate account to talk about writing in finance. I've got another one on WSO with a couple of thousand bananas but wanted the extra layer of anonymity here.
Here's my dilemma. So, I'm getting close to publishing a fiction book about IB. Should I publish it anonymously with a pen name or use my real name? Let me know your thoughts.
Here is my pros and cons list so that you can better understand my struggle:
Pros - Using a Real Name
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Get to use my actual bio to accompany the book. People always want to know the author's background. I think this is particularly important for business fiction. Would Michael Lewis have done as well if Liar's Poker was written by an anonymous person at Solomon Brothers? If you're anonymous, whatever you say has a little less credibility and in this niche of fiction, it's particularly important.
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If I really want to push the book, it's much easier to do it with a real name. Everything from media to publicity is easier if you're not hiding behind a pen name, especially with the internet and social media these days.
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Have to admit that part of it is ego. Would you write a book which took hundreds of hours to complete if only a handful of people knew who you were? Up to this point, a small handful of friends and family know about the book and no one else. In fact, only one friend in the industry knows.
Cons - Using a Real Name
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The book is fiction, but at the end of the day, it doesn't paint the industry in the best light. Not sure if that's the ideal thing to have floating around the internet in terms of future employment. Note that I'm pretty far along in my career, but am no MD either. So, maybe this is not as much a risk as it would be for someone in early career, but it's still there.
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Again, the book is fiction, but like any book, the author draws inspiration from their own life. Not sure how I would feel about some former colleagues reading the book....even though it's fiction.
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Risk / return does not seem great. Honestly, I like working in the industry and don't plan on quitting anytime soon. I don't dream of becoming a writer. This is just a fun hobby for me. So, in some ways, I don't know if I really want to put my name out there and possibly do damage to my career if this is just a fun side project.
Monkeys...would really appreciate the help. I've been wrestling back and forth with this question for a full year and am still no closer to an answer. Give me your thoughts...
Is your firm going to support this or know? If not maybe you should hold off till decide where you want to go in the industry. Few people I known/came across who did this, all used their name. I would be surprised publishing houses wouldn’t make you use your name truly.
Haven't asked any superiors at my current firm, but I think that they would be ok with it. They might be confused on why I published a whole book, but would not fire me. The issue would more likely come up when searching for the next role eventually.
Pen name, always go for pen name. No one cares about Samuel Clemens, everyone cares about Mark Twain.
Pen name probably
I have previously published work under a pseudonym. Not an entire book yet, but working on it.
What kind of stuff do you write under the pen name?
I started writing short stories based on my personal travel and business trips, but with no content around finance or banking. Purely about people I met or a business they ran or something unique about them.
In 2019 I started with crime novels.
Used a pseudonym in case this would be a bigger outcome at some point in the future. I generally don't link my professional life with my personal hobbies or interests, even use a nickname (not my real name) for all hobbies or people I meet.
Reading through this I think you answered your own questions with 2 and 3 of cons since you want to stay in the industry.
As long as you're willing to keep your ego in check that's the move. I haven't spent hundreds of hours writing a book so I know that may be a harder proposition to deal with after putting in so much work.
real name
need the credibility in this genre
and could open up network/interesting to chat about with industry peers in future recruiting
Yeah, real name if you're perfect and Mitt Romney or something. This guy is creating a fictional account of something within the industry in a negative light at times.
My exact dilemma is this exchange here... [TommyGunn] is completely right...in this genre, credibility matters. However, could you imagine if Michael Lewis' Liars Poker did not sell a million copies and he had to reapply to another fixed income sales position....not a great scenario.
I read "young money" by Kevin Roose a while ago.
he's a journalist that followed some finance analysts first steps in to the industry (none of the four made is past 3 years If I remember correctly). he changed their names for anonymity.
what motivated me to read this if there was no credibility from the author or the cast? I think firstly it was recommended on WSO. and secondly what intrigued me was that he followed some real world examples, and takes out the finance career survivorship bias aspect of forum posts.
really depends on how your story plays out. it cant be the exhilarating nature of inputting data in to spreadsheet cells, so I guess it will be theatrical. in which case you could probably get away with a pen name. but if you want people to read and buy it, then you'd probably need buy-in from an online finance community.
Is the book any good? (have you heard feedback from people who are not *family and friends*?). Another "con" about publishing with your real name is if it sucks, everybody knows you wrote something shitty.
I've received three full manuscript reads from publishers. Haven't caught the fish yet but I'm getting some bites. So can't be that bad. Still waiting to hear back. Also, I've been published before in mainstream newspapers and online but just never in fiction.
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