Writing
What’s in a Name?
Can getting published change your identity?
I wrestled mightily with the idea of self-publishing MagicLand, because I didn’t want to wait several years to find a combination of agent and publisher to see the project through. Not at my age. I wanted it out the door asap.
To make a long story short, with a little luck and a little pluck I found a New York publishing house for MagicLand, and I am seeing two benefits already.
Benefit Number One
Only about four and a half months after finding the publisher, I have a cover. That’s pretty fast work in the publishing business.
The eBook will be released in June, with print editions appearing in bookseller inventories by November and actual hard copies on store shelves in December.
Benefit Number Two
But the most important benefit might be this: the intrepid publisher has found that another C.E. White (my previous “pen name”) exists on Amazon, which could create inventory headaches once the book goes to print, and is definitely an SEO problem. Bad enough with a common name like mine, but made worse by the fact that my chosen pen name is already “taken.”
