The Use of a Pseudonym by Elle M Thomas

Today I introduce Elle M Thomas to the blog. She tackles one of the issues I struggled with when I started writing, whether or not to use a pseudonym. However, after a brutally frank discussion with my mentor, Peter Robinson, I decided to use my own name. There are many reasons for not doing so. Elle M Thomas explains hers. Thank you for your time today, Elle. Tell us why you took a different decision to the one I did.

Thank you for inviting me to your blog today, Val. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to share my writing with your readers. As you know, I write steamy, contemporary romance and decided early on to do this under a pen name for a few of reasons. Initially I wanted to be able to hide (in case everyone hated what I wrote), another reason was privacy; my children were still in school when I began, my ‘real’ job in the public education system, and the necessity to create a social media presence for my author self.

My children were in high school and although they would share the fact that I wrote prior to me ever publishing (it was my daughter who first encouraged me to publish on Wattpad to see if there was a market for my books), I didn’t doubt that the subject matter could cause embarrassment or discomfort should their friends gain access to my books. As they moved into higher education both they and their friends were wonderfully supportive and as far as I am aware none of them have read my books.

The idea that not all books are for all people is something I truly believe, however, it sometimes seems that writing about sex can be controversial and as such I felt I needed to protect myself professionally in the event that parents, governors, those in authority felt the subject matter of my books brought me and/or my profession into disrepute. This in turn could have had huge implications for me, and as much as I would love to be a full-time author, my employment continues to pay my bills.

A pen name allowed me to safely explore my writing and also move into various sub-genres that could court controversy within certain circles. Also, it can often be assumed that what authors write is based on first hand experiences and whilst those closest to me might know the aspects that I would have drawn on personal experiences to write, others would not and might feel that they knew me and more of my life behind the books than they did.

Social media presence is a must for indie authors, although I will be honest and say that I am not overly proficient at it, but I quickly discovered that I would need to have a variety of social media platforms for my author persona. By having these separate to any personal profiles allowed me to engage with other authors, bookish folks and readers without exposing my personal life and family entirely – I would say that many of those people are fully immersed within my personal life now and have become close friends, often moving between my real name and pen name, which can be both confusing and amusing.

My reasons for choosing a pen name all come down to the same thing I suppose . . . privacy and protection for the person behind the books whilst allowing the person writing them to fully access and explore the world of writing, publishing and authoring in general. And in case anyone is wondering how I chose my pen name; I used a bit of a play on my initials and my dad’s name to create Elle M Thomas and allow her to create her steamy stories.

The Author

Elle M Thomas is a UK, 50+ author who has written for much of her life and finally took the plunge into the world of self-publishing in 2017 with her debut novel, Disaster-in-Waiting that she describes as being an affair with a difference.

Prior to self-publishing, Elle wrote on the online platform Wattpad where she found her readership many of whom are still avid readers of her work.

Elle writes steamy contemporary romances across a variety of sub-genres and tropes that include single dads, affairs, millionaires, CEOs, love after loss, workplace romances, traumatic backgrounds, forced proximity, to name a few.

She describes her books as stories filled with chemistry, sensuality, love and sex that she always wanted to read with flawed, three dimensional characters.