Katrina N. asks: If I ever feel ready to publish a story of mine and I did all the research and such, and I got a contract and would be published I want to do it under a pen name. Legally what did you have to go through to do that? Did the publishing company know who you were in real life?
Legally, you don’t have to do anything. The copyright will be kept under your real name, unless you set up a company to hold the copyright for you, but you can slap any nom de plume on your book that you like. It’s just something you and your publishing company decide to do, and it’s highly unlikely that they’d object to your using a pen name.
The publishing company had better know who you are in real life! They’re going to make the checks out to the name they’ve got — and you’d like to cash them, right? Your agent will know your real name too. Most pseudonyms are pretty open secrets; few of them are intended to provide complete cover anymore. And these people are going to be working with you closely, hopefully for years and years.
Amy M. asks: What is the best part about traveling, and what has been the most adventurous place when you go to book signings?
The best part about traveling is the constant new sources of stimulation and inspiration. Though I like having a comfort zone in my own home and neighborhood, and being able to fall back on the familiar when I want, there’s something energizing about being in new surroundings. You have experiences you couldn’t have any other way, and you learn more about yourself as a result. I suppose the most adventurous place I’ve been so far would be Madrid, for the book fair there — oh, wow, was that only last month? Australia is a contender next month, though!
Sydney D. asks: When we will see audiobooks for some of your work?
Good question! Right now my publishing house owns the audiobook rights, but they haven’t sold them yet. That said, the rights will soon revert to me (if the publisher doesn’t sell them first), after which I intend to work hard to get some audiobooks for the EVERNIGHT series out there.
Kayli M. asks: Does being the author of the Evernight series take away from how easy it is to get lost in the books?
Well, yes. It’s not that I don’t love the books I’ve written, but I have a very different relationship to them than I do with the books I read. I remember the entire writing process, what pushed me toward certain choices, the various names I thought of for each character, so on and so forth — it’s always going to be different for me. (Though I wonder if maybe, 10 years or 20 years from now, I’ll be able to return to them with fresh eyes and have the readers’ experience in full.) But it’s no less wonderful! Just different, that’s all.
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And that’s it for this set of Q&A — but we’ll have to do this again sometime.
Check the blog again tomorrow for a brand-new contest!
