Pen names are an effective way to separate out your different genres and your writings. It is also a good way to build up different fan bases for different genres of writing (but only if you need to separate them). You can publish under any name you wish, within reason, but for tax purposes, your publisher will need your real name, and you cannot and SHOULD NOT treat it as if you’re a completely separate entity. For example, having a Pen name or ‘DBA’ doesn’t get around Facebook’s rules on one profile per person.
Kai Wilson-Viola writes under various names, and in all genres. Co-founder and webmistress of the IAG site, she writes content on request of members.
She has written several books including the Ten Hour Marketing Plan and 12×12 – tutorials for social media.
When not writing, she can be found maintaining sites, designing themes, managing a charity called the Less than Three foundation, gaming, knitting or reading.