Tag: pen names

There IS A Solution

One of the big issues
with using AI
to produce books
is it requires existing books
to guide or train it.

Using those books
is copyright infringement.

That’s a HUGE legal
and ethical problem.

So some clever business builders
now pay for a ghostwriter
to write a novel.

Then they use THAT original story
to create
5, 10, 30 AI copies.

And they publish those stories
under 5, 10, 30 pen names.

The copyright problem
is solved.

Right now, you are likely
struggling with a problem.

Know that there likely IS
a solution
for that problem.

Continue searching for it.

Sourcing Private Information From Other People

A relative asked me
what my romance novel pen name was
(he believed I only had one).

I told him
I don’t share that information
and I told him why
I don’t share that information.

He then sent his wife
to ask me
what my pen name was.

When I told her
the same thing,
he asked at least
one other relative
if they knew my pen name.

That’s d@mn creepy.
Restraint order level creepy.

I plan
to avoid this relative
going forward.

I’m blocking him
both virtually and in real life.

Don’t try to source
private information
from other people.
Go to that person directly.

If they don’t want to share it,
then stop trying to obtain it.

Don’t be a creep.

You Are Not Your Business

I now publish
exclusively under pen names.

Why?

Because it is MUCH easier
to take criticism
(and hate mail)
calmly, rationally
when it is directed
at my pen name
and not directly
at me.

I tell myself that
the criticism doesn’t have
anything to do
with me.
It refers to X,
that dang writer of Y romance.
X is an entirely different personality.

I would do something similar
when I was working
the business gigs.
That kick a$$ business gal
was Business Me.
She wasn’t Me.

Seth Godin
shares

“When I say
I don’t like your idea,
I’m not saying that
I don’t like you.
And if we’ve been persuaded
by marketers and politicians
that everything we do
and say
is our identity,
then it gets very difficult
to learn,
to accept useful feedback
and
to change.”

You are not your business.
Criticism of your business
isn’t criticism of you.

And you are not
the role you were ‘playing’
when you were criticized.
That’s merely one facet of you.
Work you isn’t the full you.