I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I’ve changed my username from Rosepddle to Karen Denise. I did this mainly because Karen Denise is the name I plan to write under, and so I want to start using it. I’d love to use my real last name, but there is a pretty well known author out there with my name already. Fiddle sticks!
I’ve had some people ask me about my username. What’s it mean? What’s it stand for? Why’s it spelled that way? Well, way back when I was in my 20’s (seems like freakin’ yesterday) I went to sign up for an email account. I wanted rose petal or some form of it as my last name is Rose. Well, it was taken and so were a lot of other alternatives I tried, (e.g. rose_petal, rosepettal, and roseptal just to name a few).
Well, obviously it wasn’t my most creative day otherwise I’m sure I could have come up with something that actually included the words Rose and Petal, combined with a number. Instead I was like, I’m just going to use rosepddle. One thing I can say, no one else had it-lol. But I’ve been referred to as rose puddle, rose paddle, rose piddle…and the list goes on. LOL. I know why people’s first thought wasn’t rose petal, but really, rose puddle, paddle, piddle? What the heck is a rose piddle anyway? Lol.
Nevertheless, I’m now going to be known as Karen Denise, even though the overwhelming vote was for K. D. Rose. Maybe I'll keep the voting open for a few more days.What do you all think? Weigh in and vote on my Penname!
10 comments:
Hi Karen! I was intrigued by rosepddle, I must say, and thought your name was Rose. I like both Karen Denise and K. D. Rose. If you choose the initials you can be mysteriously genderless, which has its advantages.
I had the same problem with name choice. My name is waaaay too popular on the internet, even the initials. So I became Tricia, who I've never been in my life. I still worry that it's too girly and may turn away boy or men readers. Oh well, first I need to finish the WIP, get an agent and a publisher. If they want a name change, I'm okay with that!
Hmm, I like both pen names. Maybe one of these days I'll switch to my name on my blog, but it probably won't happen unless one of my books is accepted by a publisher.
Now that I've had a chance to think, I like Karen Denise the best. K. D. Rose sounds like a pen name, while Karen Denise sounds like a real person.
Anyway, good luck!
Hey Tricia,
I was told you should have your name together before you start querying, if possible. Granted, I didn't hear that until after I started, but as I'm only dropping my last name, if I go with Karen Denise, then it shouldn't be such a big deal.
The gender neutral thing with K.D. Rose is why most of my friends and family wanted me to go with it. Still, I kinda like Karen Denise. I'll keep thinking on it and I can certainly change it later.
Thanks for giving me your opinion!
Thanks Tere! I think that's why I was leaning more toward Karen Denise. To me, even my initials are feminine-lol-so it wouldn't really make me SO gender neutral.
I like Karen Denise (the person and the name!). I wonder what sort of writing you do, because I think that can affect the kind of name you use, as well. I've gone back and forth on the name issue--some I considered sounded a bit too Romance Novel Author (and that's not what I write).
Okay, duh--I just saw your description profile thingy says you write urban fantasies! :)
K.D. Rose and Karen Denise are both good pen names.
I would vote for K.D. Rose simply because Karen Denise could be accidentally shelved wrong in a book store or library. Also, a confused fan might look up the wrong orde rof your name: Denise Karen. Either way, two first names could make it slightly harder for your fans to find you. True fans will remember your name properly, but a worker helping a fan find your book in the bookstore may not be so careful with the proper order of your name.
It's a small consideration, but it's there.
Hey Susan, your name is great! It's really memorable so if that actually is your real name, I'd say forget the penname and use that! Thanks for your input.
Hey PJ, I never really thought about the confusion Karen Denise could cause. The fact that my name consists of three first names(Karen Denise Rose) has often been the source of confusion, although I honestly don't know why because I've NEVER met anyone with the last name of Karen, but I've met people with the last name of Rose. Still, that is something to consider so thanks PJ...btw, you have a great name too!
I'm a little late to the discussion, but hopefully you'll read this, anyway.
I think if you want to use your actual name, whether someone already writes with it or not, go for it. Names cannot be copyrighted, and there's nothing wrong with being yourself.
If you insist on using a different name than that which was your initial preference, then I like K.D. Rose. This may be partly b/c I read a lot of people when I was a young adult who used initials (I though L.J. Smith was a guy for years). The two first names thing kind of throws me off, though. It is true that Rose can be a first name, as well, but I do not consider it as emphatically "first name" as Denise.
Interesting conversation, though...
Thanks Shelly. I wasn't really thinking of my actual name in terms of copyright or anything like that, but more in terms of confusion. I wouldn't mind if peopel picked up my book thinking it belonged to the other Karen Rose, but I'd rather not have it the other way around--lol. I'm guess this will go around and around in my head until I actually have an agent and an editor to weigh in on the topic. Thanks for your input, I'll put a check in the column for K.D. Rose-lol.
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