Sunday, July 7, 2019

What's in a name?


We authors need to get our names out there. If no one knows who we are, we’re most probably not going to sell many books. But the process of becoming “known” to readers is a daunting one, especially for small press and self-published authors.

When my first Malone mystery was accepted by a publisher, my mother asked me what pen name I was going to use. “Maybe,” she said, “you should choose a name that’s easier to pronounce than Gligor. Don’t most writers do that?”

Our conversation reminded me of an article I once read. It was an interview with actress, Jacqueline Bisset. When the interviewer told Jacqueline that he’d heard several variations on how to pronounce her last name and asked her which was correct, she replied, “Biss-It, like Kiss it.” I think that answered his question.

So, back to the answer I gave my mother. While I don’t see anything wrong with using a pseudonym (sometimes a writer has a good reason to do that), I prefer not to. Why? Because Gligor is my family name and I’m proud to have it. As far as the pronunciation goes: Gligor rhymes with tiger

 
So, when you’re looking for a new (to you) mystery series to read, I hope you’ll remember my name and check out my books.