Your Name, Your Choice

I don't have much of a ROW80 update. I seem to be struggling through all of my remaining chapters and have no idea when I will be finished my second draft. I'm not sure why they are harder than the preceding ones were. Perhaps I did my worst writing at the end when I was rushing to meet the NaNoWriMo word count.

There is something on my mind though.

I thought what I put on my book cover was up to me.

There's a movement afoot to have women authors publish under their full names. While I agree with the sentiment that women shouldn't be afraid to publish under their full, real names if they want to, I also believe we should have a choice free from judgment and disrespect.

Women fought long and hard for the ability to be taken seriously in the boardroom and today women can become CEOs. This is fantastic! What isn't fantastic is that women who choose to become housewives and mothers today are often made to feel like they are lesser.

All of these movements mean nothing if women are made to feel like they have to choose to be a CEO when they really want to be a homemaker. It's for nothing if I'm not freely allowed to put my initials or a pseudonym on my covers rather than my full, real name.

Women should be supporting each other regardless of what choice they make. 

I am choosing to publish using my initials. This isn't because I want to dupe people into thinking I'm of a different gender. There's actually more males on this list than females.  This has nothing to do with feeling like I need to pretend to be anyone other than who I am.

It's not about blindly following authors I admire either. Some of my idols include Anne Rice and J.K. Rowling. One uses her full name and has a net worth of $50 Million. The other uses pseudonyms and initials and has a net worth of $1 Billion, but this fluctuates constantly as she gives so much of it away to charity. To get an idea of the net worth scale, Dan Brown's net worth is $140 Million, Stephanie Myer's net worth is $125 Million, and E.L. James' net worth is $80 Million. E.L. James is not someone I admire. I just threw hers in out of curiosity.

There are many reasons authors don't use their real name and choose to stay anonymous. Lawsuits are one reason. Personal safety is another. Writing content one's family may be upset about (erotica, horror) is yet another reason.

I like the look of initials. They take up less room on the cover, giving a minimalist feel. This also means they can appear in a larger font than my full name could. Hey, marketing is a thing all writers who publish need to care about.

It's easier to remember R.G. Roy than it is to remember Raeanne G. Roy. Most people can't say or spell my name and while this used to anger me as a child, I've learned to accept that many people just can't handle the amount of vowels that are lumped together in my name.

Maybe this seems selfish, that I'm choosing to stick with initials instead of following this movement. This probably even seems like I disagree with the movement. Wrong on both accounts.

I agree with some others that it is the culture mindset that needs to change, which is so far beyond the name on one's book covers.

And I don't think of myself as a female author. My gender isn't what's important, what I write is. I feel that if my writing is of good quality, people will read it regardless of what bits are in between my legs.

Ciao,
R~