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Your author name is one of the most important marketing elements, and sometimes we make mistakes with our own names! 

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: James L. Rubart, also called Jim or Jim Robert or James or Robert…has experience choosing an author name. Who are you again? 

James L. Rubart: I’m James Lee Rubart on my birth certificate. For the first eight years of my life, I was Jamie Rubart. Today, people call me Jim Rubart. 

However, when I got my first book contract, I was trying to decide what name to put on my books. Jim doesn’t sound sophisticated enough. I knew of a TV writer named James L. Brooks, whose name I’d always liked. So, I decided to use James L. Rubart as my author name. 

It was not a great choice. 

In this episode, we want to help you to avoid doing some of the things I did.

Thomas: What’s the worst thing that could happen? You put James L. Rubart on your book, and everyone starts calling you James? What’s so bad about that?

Jim: I was already well-connected before the books came out, and everyone knew me as Jim. But my books say James, and that is a disconnect for people. 

I have been on Facebook pages where I’ll comment as Jim Rubart and people in the group will ask if I’m related to James L. Rubart. That is a problem when you’re trying to get your name out there. 

Let’s say Steven King posted on Facebook about writing his book called On Writing. Imagine if someone commented on that post and said, “I’m Steve King.” Can you see how you might wonder whether they were related or if it was the same person?

That started happening all the time. 

The other problem is my initial. I thought “James L. Rubart” would be cool. But people often leave out the L and say, “This is James Rubart,” when they introduce me on a radio show. 

I spoke at a conference where the director had printed posters featuring quotes from all the faculty. My poster attributed the quote to James Rubart (no L). That’s when I realized I had chosen an author name that was a bit of a liability. 

 Thomas: I made a deal with my dad. He’s Tom Umstattd, and I’m Thomas Umstattd Junior. Sometimes he uses his middle initial, so he’s Tom G. Umstattd. That’s how we keep our names separate, but people always leave off the “junior” on my name.

While including one initial is often confusing and results in the initial being omitted, you can still use initials. If you want to use initials, use more than one. Consider the following examples:

  • C.S. Lewis
  • J.R.R. Tolkien
  • S.D. Smith

You can get away with using initials if you have more than one initial and no other first or middle name. But when you insert a single initial, people see it as optional, just like they see “junior” as optional. 

Consider that most people call Martin Luther King Junior just Martin Luther King. The junior gets left off.

What if you have a common name?

If you have a very common name, I recommend including your middle name rather than your middle initial. If Jim had chosen to use James Lee Rubart, people wouldn’t drop the “Lee.” Consider these examples of authors who use three names:

  • Orson Scott Card
  • James Scott Bell
  • Liz Curtis Higgs

Readers must be able to find you by name. If they can’t find you because your name is confusing, they can’t read your work or share it with others. A bad name choice is like a boat anchor on your marketing.

Jim: If you’re known as Jim Rubart, then be Jim Rubart on your books. If you’re known as Sally Jones, don’t try to be Sally A. Jones.

Thomas: Or go with something entirely different. If Sally Jones is taken and you don’t want to be Sally A. Jones, pick an entirely different name. Choose a name that’s obviously a pen name so people won’t confuse it with your real name. It’s the similarities that get you in trouble.

Jim: If all the domain names and extensions are taken, you have a few options:

  • Add a middle name
  • Choose an entirely different pen name
  • Ask the owner of your preferred domain name if they’d consider selling it to you.

I have a friend with a very common name who needs to buy a domain name for his new website. He found that the domain name he wanted was taken, but the owner wasn’t active on the site. I encouraged him to contact the owner and ask if he would sell.

Thomas: I wanted to buy the domain name Umstattd.com so that my political enemies couldn’t buy it in the future and set up an attack site. However, the domain was owned by somebody in India. When I asked if I could buy it, he said he would sell it for $5,000. I wasn’t willing to pay that, so I negotiated with him for nine months and eventually purchased it for a few hundred dollars.

Some people think domains should only cost $10, but sometimes a few hundred dollars will get you a solid domain name. We bought AuthorMedia.com from somebody else. It wasn’t cheap, but it was much better than UmstattdMedia.com, which no one can spell. 

There’s no Perfect Name

On one end of the continuum, some names are unique to you but harder to spell. On the opposite side of the continuum, some names are not unique to you but easier to spell. You’ll rarely get both in the same name.

Jim: Sometimes a unique name is a bonus because it’s unusual. When Arnold Schwarzenegger first became popular, his name was Arnold Strong since he played a bodybuilder character, and his real name was hard to spell. But then he said, “My name’s Schwarzenegger. I don’t care if they can’t spell it. that’s who I’m going to be.” And now we all know that unusual name. An unusual name can be an advantage.

Thomas: As you brainstorm which name to use, check out the free website Namecheckr.com to see if [yourname].com is available. It’ll check on Facebook and 100 other services and tell you if someone else owns the domain. 

Don’t give up just because someone else has your name. With some good marketing, SEO, and enough noise, yours might be the website where people land, even if others have your name.

Jim: I’ve also seen authors add the word “books” or “author” to their domain names. It seems like a good idea, but people tend to drop the last word just as they drop the middle initial.

Thomas: However, if you have strong search engine optimization where you rank when they search, you can still make the name work with “books” at the end. If the person with your exact name has an active website, it’ll be hard to rank number one without paying for clicks. 

If you haven’t published yet, you can pick a good name you don’t have to fight for. Choose a strong, unique name. For most people, that will mean using your first, middle, and last names. 

Jim: We are advocates for using your real name because that’s who you are. We are just giving you alternatives to think about when you lock that name down. 

Before you choose your author name or domain name, be sure to do the “radio test.” If people hear your name on the radio, can they spell it correctly so that a Google search will turn up your name and website? 

For example, if your name is James Browne, with an e, will people hear that and search for James Brown without an e?

Think about how it applies in every situation, such as radio, TV, print, and conversation.

Thomas: To solve the radio test problem, you could buy the domains for common misspellings. Perhaps you’d buy JamesBrowne.com and JamesBrown.com. In that case, you would add a redirect for the misspelled name to automatically take people to your actual website. 

The other strategy is to have good SEO for your name. If your SEO is robust, people may start typing your name, and Google will auto-suggest the correct spelling. 

Before solidifying your author name decision, make sure your chosen author name is the same across all your social channels and platforms. Doing so will eliminate a lot of confusion for your readers and make your books easier for them to find and read.

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