Was my second name a really bad idea? It seems like lately I've been hearing a lot of commentary from authors on how hard it is to promote multiple names. This sets fear deep into my bones, since I made the decision to separate my paranormal romantica identity from my more mainstream romance, mystery and sci fi identity. So far I haven't really put a wall between the two - I'm not keeping any secrets! But I'm having my first conundrum for a project I'll be starting soon as to which name I'll even use. And of course there is the issue that Anh seems to be a name people so often spell wrong.
   Then there are other potentially bad ideas. I've gotten my first negative comment regarding my first novel, Cards Never Lie. As is often the case with this kind of complaint regarding movies, the complainer hasn't actually read my book, except maybe the first page or back cover copy. This person thinks my work is blasphemous because I refer to the Tarot and to the "Devil" - in fact the Devil card in a Tarot deck, but yeah, you don't need to look at the context of something to complain about it, or even complain to the author in person. Why not complain to others anonymously so it will get back to the author in the most injurious way? Not my target reader!
   However, this unpleasantness does make me consider the issue of audience. I recently started reading a book that includes a very religious heroine and a hero who is pretty religious too. However, the heroine is married and she's carrying on an affair with the hero! They don't actually have sex, but there's a lotta kissin' and huggin' going on. The book was actually pretty well-written, but I have to think that someone who is looking for a sweet romance and a Catholic-centered one at that, isn't going to think there's any justification for an extramarital affair. I'm assuming the husband is going to turn out to be disabled or in a coma or abusive or something, but to many readers it isn't going to matter.
   So, in conclusion, we break our authorial identities into pieces to try to point our audiences in the right direction, even at the cost of building our names, but sometimes you get readers that aren't going to appreciate your source material slipping through regardless. Rats!

 

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