There’s something quietly thrilling about the idea that a name you’d never heard of might actually belong to someone enormously famous. Pen names, also called pseudonyms or noms de plume, are the fake names that authors use to sell their books, and they are as old as books themselves. The reasons behind these disguises vary wildly – some writers wanted creative freedom, others craved anonymity, and a few were simply trying to outsmart a rigid publishing industry. What’s consistent, though, is that the stories behind these secret identities are often just as compelling as the novels themselves.
J.K. Rowling as Robert Galbraith: The World’s Most Famous Literary Reveal
In 2013, the world was shocked when it emerged that J.K. Rowling, the wildly successful author of the Harry Potter series, had been writing crime novels under the name Robert Galbraith. The first book, “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” received praise from critics but had modest sales until Rowling’s identity was revealed. It was a forensic linguistics investigation led by England’s Sunday Times that cracked the case – analysts spotted unmistakable similarities between Galbraith’s writing style and Rowling’s own. Rowling has said that she made the decision to write her crime novels under another pseudonym so that she could freely write without having the pressure of being the author of the wildly successful Harry Potter books. She liked the appeal of being able to create something completely different, and wanted her crime novels to stand on their own merits.
Sales of Galbraith’s book soared by more than 4,000% after the secret was unveiled, according to publishing reports. Rowling has continued to write as Galbraith, creating the Cormoran Strike detective series, which remains a bestseller and has been adapted for television. As of February 2024, the series has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and was published in more than 50 countries, being translated into 43 languages. The novels are adapted into the television programme Strike, which began airing on BBC One in the United Kingdom in August 2017. Rowling chose the name Robert Galbraith as a combination of Robert F. Kennedy and Ella Galbraith, a name she admits she was fascinated with as a child.
Stephen King as Richard Bachman: Testing Whether Talent Was Real
King had his first hit with the release of Carrie in 1974, but by 1977 he was confronted with the problem of not being able to release more than one book a year under his name. He was also growing concerned over whether his success was due to skill or dumb luck. To address both problems, he wrote Rage in 1977 under the name Richard Bachman. The “King of Horror” published seven novels under the alias Richard Bachman. Apparently, King came up with the name on a whim while on the phone with his publisher, with a Richard Stark book on his desk and a Bachman-Turner Overdrive song playing in the background.
King concealed his true identity for about five years until a bookstore clerk named Steve Brown determined that the two authors were the same person. Once the secret was out, King retired Richard Bachman, crediting his death to the “cancer of the pseudonym.” While the Bachman book Thinner sold 28,000 copies during its initial run in 1984, it then sold ten times as many when it was revealed that Bachman was, in fact, King. Stephen King’s work as Richard Bachman is often darker and more pessimistic, with fewer supernatural elements than his horror novels.
Agatha Christie as Mary Westmacott: The Queen of Crime’s Secret Romantic Side
Known as the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie created 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections during her impressive writing career. However, what is unknown to many is the fact that she also wrote six romance novels under a pen name, Mary Westmacott, which she managed to keep secret for 20 years. It is said that Christie adopted her pen name so that she could more easily switch genres from mystery and crime to romance. Agatha chose her new name by combining her middle name, Mary, and the family name of distant relatives, Westmacott.
She became Mary Westmacott and published six romantic novels, starting with “Giant’s Bread” in 1930. These books allowed Christie to write about relationships, heartbreak, and personal transformation – far cries from the puzzles and poisons of Poirot and Miss Marple. Critics and fans were surprised by the depth of feeling and introspection in these novels. As she once reported, she used a pen name to explore the deepest imaginative part of herself. Even after her identity as Westmacott was uncovered, the books maintained a loyal following. Publishing statistics show that Westmacott’s books experienced a rise in interest after Christie’s secret was revealed.
Michael Crichton as John Lange: A Med Student Writing to Pay His Tuition
Before Michael Crichton was known as the bestselling author of works like The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Congo, Sphere, Rising Sun, and Disclosure, he was a medical school student who was publishing novels under the pseudonym John Lange because he didn’t want his future patients to worry that he would use their stories in his writing. Crichton used the pen name John Lange because he planned to become a doctor and did not want his patients to worry that he would use them for his plots. The name came from cultural anthropologist Andrew Lang – Crichton added an “e” to the surname and substituted his own real first name, John, for Andrew.
Crichton used the John Lange pseudonym for Odds On (1966), Scratch One (1967), Easy Go (1968), Zero Cool (1969), The Venom Business (1969), Drug of Choice (1970), Grave Descend (1970), and Binary (1972). Under another pen name, Jeffery Hudson, he wrote “A Case of Need,” a novel with many references to people at Harvard. The book won the Edgar Award as the best mystery novel of the year. Blackstone Publishing has made a seven-figure deal with CrichtonSun to acquire the worldwide print, eBook and audiobook rights to Crichton’s first series of novels, which he wrote under the pseudonym John Lange – a sign that even decades-old pseudonymous work can still command extraordinary commercial interest. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films.
Dean Koontz: The Man Behind a Small Army of Pen Names
Koontz wrote under a number of pen names earlier in his career, including “David Axton”, “Deanna Dwyer”, “K. R. Dwyer”, “Leigh Nichols” and “Brian Coffey”. In the 1970s and 1980s, publishers often limited how many books an author could release each year – so Koontz found a way around it. Under these various names, he churned out thrillers that quickly found eager readers. Some of these novels, such as those written as Leigh Nichols, went on to become bestsellers and are still in print today.
Koontz’s use of multiple identities let him experiment with style and subject matter, building a foundation for his eventual mainstream success. Today, his books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Many of his books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list, with fourteen hardcovers and sixteen paperbacks reaching the number-one position. He has been acknowledged as “America’s most popular suspense novelist” by Rolling Stone and as one of today’s most celebrated and successful writers. The sheer scale of his output under so many different identities remains one of the most remarkable cases of pseudonymous productivity in the history of popular fiction.
Nora Roberts as J.D. Robb: When Romance Wasn’t Enough
Nora Roberts has published more than 200 romance novels. But she feared that publishing any other work not related to romance could confuse her readers. That’s why she decided to ditch her real name for J.D. Robb to write her detective novels. In 1995, she became J.D. Robb and began the “In Death” series, blending futuristic crime with a dash of romance. The debut, “Naked in Death,” launched a new era for Roberts, letting her delve into crime, suspense, and science fiction.
The J.D. Robb books have sold over 66 million copies, according to publisher figures from 2024, and the series has grown to more than 50 titles. Roberts has said in interviews that writing as Robb lets her explore darker themes and more complex plots. Fans of both her identities appreciate the versatility and creativity she brings to each pen name. In bookstores, the two names often appear side by side, each with a devoted following. The J.D. Robb experiment didn’t just work – it created a second literary empire running in parallel with the first, a feat that almost no other author has managed at such a sustained commercial level.
