Hi, everyone. We're glad you're here. This is the Three Lesbians and a Pen podcast. Get ready to have your world rocked. As we dive into the wild and sometimes wacky world of self-publishing. We are three fabulous bestselling authors. I'm your host, Kimberly Todd with my best friends.

K. C. Luck

and Jamey Moody. 

Join us as we discuss the joys of writing, challenges of self-publishing, and anything else that tickles our fancy. 

Hey there, and welcome to episode 51 of the Three Lesbians and a Pen podcast. I'm Kimberly Todd, and I'm here with my fabulous friends, KC Luck and Jamey Moody. Today we're talking about the pros and cons of pen names, but before we start, how was your week, KC?

My week was awesome. I went to the beach and looked at the King Tides. So, if you're not familiar with that, it happens after a super moon, basically, usually in November. And it causes the tide to become super high. I mean like, like 10 times higher. So you would go and when you would see a normal splash hitting the rocks from a viewpoint, and we would stand at the viewpoint now and the water would go all the way over the viewpoint. So, we were wearing rain gear and we're talking like 30 feet in the air. I mean, these things really, really are huge. So we did that. It was totally fun. Had a great time. 

Outside from going to the beach. 

 I also am excited to announce that Everybody Needs a Hero for Christmas is available for pre-order. So I got that back from the editor and got that loaded up for everyone to go grab a copy. It comes out on the 27th, which happens to be Thanksgiving here in the U.S. So make your little holiday even more special by reading Everybody Needs a Hero for Christmas. I think you're gonna like it. And just to go along with that, the first book is Everybody Needs a Hero is On Sale for $2.99. So if you wanna go grab a copy of that, give it a quick read if you haven't. Although it was my second bestselling book of all time, so a lot of people have already read it. But if you haven't read it, go grab for $2.99 it's out there.

Nice.

Well, that's a nice deal. I'm doing the same type of thing. My next book in the Wishing Stars series releases November 17th, I'm gonna make the first book in this series free. And then later that week, I Heart SapphFic is having, their big mega sale is starting, so I'm gonna put books two and three in there for a lower price so you can get the whole series for a lot less than just paying for each one of them. So, yeah, I thought that'd be something nice to do for the holidays. 

You were talking about tides and, the super moon. One, evening, this week, The Northern Lights made it all the way down to North Texas.

Woo. wow. 

So bummed that I didn't get to see it, but a really good friend of mine took a picture and sent it to me the next day. It was just beautiful. It's crazy. That's something I've always wanted to see. How about y'all? 

Mm-hmm. I've seen it. Yeah. It came down to Oregon last summer. 

Golly, I want to. One of these days, maybe it'll happen to me, but, over the past week, I celebrated a birthday.

Uh, Yeah. They keep a coming, so it was fun. But, let me ask you listeners, some of you may not know, I keep my hair pretty short, and, I get it cut, once every month. It just works out better that way. Over the past six weeks or so, I'd been letting it get longer. Why? I don't know. Just to do something different. But then my hairstylist was very busy and couldn't get me in, and so I went a lot longer than I usually do before I get a haircut. And yesterday I got a haircut. And let me just say, it is so freeing and I feel so much lighter to get that hair off. I always think I'm so. I try to not look like an old gray headed lesbian, but you know, I am what I am.

I was gonna say, you're not hitting that.

know I need to embrace it, but it's hard. But let me tell you, getting all that hair off, I just feel so much younger and vibrant today and it just...

You look great!

Thank you. Yes, y'all need to say that. Yes.

Yes, and you use less shampoo, so it's great.

Takes less time to get ready in the morning. 

That's right. 

It's so funny 'cause you try to do something different, so when I got there yesterday I was like, this is what I think I want, oh, let me ask you all this. How do you say the word T-O-U-S-L-E-D?

Tousled.

Tousled I can't hardly say it. I said I want a tousled look on top and cut this shit off on the sides and back. I can't stand it any longer. So it was kind of funny, and she loves it when I do stuff like that. She said, you always give me a challenge and something fun to do. It's not the regular stuff every time. So...

Well, it looks really nice.

So I'm hoping it's gonna be tousled, and I don't know why I can't say that word. 

Wind blown. Just go with that. 

 I want it to look tousled, you know, not every hair in place. So anyway, you're, you're, you're Hootie Hoo Owl Lesbian has a new do. How's that? Hootie hoo with a new do. How's that? 

Perfect. 

Okay. Stop talking. So, Kimberly, can tell us about her week.

Well, I have a very funny story that happened this morning that I need to share, so. My wife has been so overworked and she's just been on a huge project and she's just kind of comes and goes and is just, you know, into the city for work and whatnot. And every night she comes home and she has a bottle of wine, not a bottle, a glass.

I will, a glass of wine. Anyways, this morning, I get up really early, so this morning I had my headphones on I was working on one of my books. And I hear this funny cackle noise, which is not usually my wife in the morning 'cause she's like a zombie. And I turn around and she's crying and she comes into the living room and she's like, guess what I did? I said, what happened? She said, I was making my coffee. And she's like, and I went to get the cream, but instead I grabbed the wine and I poured wine into my coffee.

It's a sign.

Yeah, I hope she drank it.

I was like, and she just, she was dying. I've never seen her laugh so hard in my life. But anyways, that was funny. And then speaking of my wife, she did the most beautiful thing last weekend. She surprised me and we had to do this drive from our house. It was like an hour and a half away. And she brought me to this beautiful farm and I'm like, oh, it's just like a nature day. Great. Thought we're gonna go on a hike or something. And she brought me to Camp Goldie, which is a ton, of golden retrievers. And so you wait there and then they open the barn, it's like a reveal and they come racing out 'cause they're so excited to see all the people.

And they have all these balls in like a zoomie zone where you can like play with them and love on them. And then afterwards you go into the barn and they have hot chocolate and cookies and then all these places and toys with the dogs come and sit with you and you can get your picture taken. And that was much fun. I mean, that was just so special. I loved it. So anyone that is in the Jersey area, you should go see Camp Goldie.

Fun. That sounds fun.

That's it for me. Did we get any texts?

We did receive a couple of texts, one from CeeJay where CeeJay says, as a writer they use CeeJay Marie for paranormal young adult, and Janet Marie for romance. They like the separation of personalities with authors and find it easier to differentiate. So if they're in the mood for something spicy, They know which pen name to go look under. 

And then Zaina wrote and said, congratulations on reaching the 50th episode. 

Oh, yay. 

That's awesome. They read pretty much anything, so they don't mind when authors use the same pen name to write in different genres. For example, Jae does it and she's super successful. And yes, if Jae can do it, anyone can do it. 

Okay. How about some emails, Jamey?

Okay, let's start with Minishca. When we were talking about my trip to the state fair and Kimberly's love of fried butter, she sent us an email that had pictures and she said it made her think of Diwali, which is a Hindu celebration. Often called the Festival of Lights because homes are decorated with lamps during that time. Anyway, she sent us all of these different sweet treats that looked delicious. So that was really sweet. 

And then we had an email from CeeJay and she said she was pleased to report that yes, she got a full mile in with her dog Luna during the last episode. So two thumbs up to us.

She teased me in my newsletter I sent out, 'cause I said it was 36 degrees and it was freezing for us. And she teased me because she goes on her walk, which she just mentioned, and it's 18 degrees and that I'm just a baby basically.

Oh my God. I couldn't imagine. Why would you go out if it's 18 degrees?

I know I said us southerners, ya know. 

Oh,She did send me a beautiful picture of the Northern Lights up there. I think she gets them more often. There was a bunch of greens in this. They were reds down here. Anyway, she wanted to expound on the whole author name thing. She said, if an author tends to get out of their lane like KC does, I tend to have a harder time tracking exactly what they're writing. So if I'm in a mood for a fun romance and I pick up a Darkness Falls book, I kind of scratch my head. I'll still read it. KC does tend to be very good at titles so that I don't get as confused. I have run into other authors where they're not as good at titling their books, and I think I'm getting a fun romance and end up with a horror. She said. I do know that there are other people that are far more finicky than I.

I thought you said whore.

Are you making fun of the way I talk?

Getting a fun romance and end up with a whore.

You people.

You people. Any Instas? Any Instagrams? 

Uh, no. No. Instagrams well, but that's okay. So today we are talking about the pros and cons of pen names and KC, would you like to start us off?

I do, but one quick note. Before I forget and then I'll jump into pen names, is we have talked about Publisher Rocket in the past and although they are not a sponsor and we're not affiliated, they do have a sale going on for Black Friday. So if you jump on that around Thanksgiving when this comes out, you can get it for $30 off.

Okay, that was my one plug. Pen names. 

The biggest pro for pen names for me was having the separation between my sapphic author work and my professional technical writer work that I did for my day job back when I had a day job. So that was the biggest difference for me, is I didn't want people to stumble over one and then get led to another. I didn't really want people to look up how to install software and then suddenly be reading about lesbian billionaires. So let's try to keep those separate. That was the big one for me. How about you, Jamey? Why'd you go with a pen name?

For me, I was kind of trying to do the same thing. Yes, I have a day job. I live in a small town where I grew up, and I wanted to keep that person separate from the person that was writing the books.

 I am an out lesbian, hootie hoo. And now we know I'm an old lesbian. But that genre is not something that would be, well known in my small town, let's put it that way. So I didn't wanna use my real name. And my sister, when we were trying to think of a pen name for me, came up with the idea to use my nephew's name because he, died several years ago. He was gay. We were very close to each other. And so it just seemed like the perfect thing to do, to be honest with you. And, so that's how Jamey came about and it makes me happy to use his name because it honors him in a way and it just keeps him alive, in my family. And I don't know, it just makes me happy. So that's how Jamey came to be. 

That's a good way to come up with a name. I wanted to clarify real quickly though, that I am an out lesbian. Don't get me wrong. A big, big, bold, butch lesbian, and yeah, everybody at work does know. I've never hid that. 

Well, I'm in a small town, so ya know.

Yeah, you're in a small town. It's a little harder for you, a little braver for you.

Not now, I mean, but it was at one time, so.

Yeah, but I mostly was talking about clients who might be, reaching out to the company that I work for. The company might not appreciate them being associated with lesbian billionaires.

Probably not. Well, for me, I did the opposite of you two to start. Of course, I used my real name, Kimberly Todd Woo. Which my mom was thrilled about. No, she didn't mind at all. She didn't care. But I did find that, one of the pros of having a pen name which I do have one, is I like when you have a completely different genre, which mine is, that you can have the freedom to write what you want without fear and have a pen name, you know, and do something completely different. It's not even associated anywhere near lesbian fiction. So, I think that is a nice thing to have a new identity basically.

Mm-hmm. Definitely, definitely the freedom to write whatever you want, for sure.

Yeah. 'cause take your, billionaire lesbians, you know, maybe that's not something everybody wants to write, but maybe I could write that under another name, you know?

So, Jamey what you're trying to say is that if you decided to write a lesbian erotica romance, you would go from sweet and spicy to sweet, spicy with a strap on. Is that what you're trying to say?

Hey, that's a nice alliteration. I'm Jamey Moody and my brand is sweet, spicy, strap it on. 

Strap up.

Oh my God, KC. You know, I don't really have a project coming up when I finish this book I'm working on.

You guys should see Jamey's face. 

She is red, pink, pink, pink. Oh, love it. 

You know, I got an email that Lilo, you know, Lilo the, toy company Lilo.

Oh yeah. 

Mm-hmm. 

Yeah. Why do I have things from them? You know, you have to do research sometimes.

Uhuh.

Anyway. They're having a sale. Maybe I should look at that again and see if I'm gonna get into the erotica genre. 

 I'm writing that down.

Are you finally gonna admit that you have a chest at the end of your bed with a lot of toys in it or not?

I'm going to admit that I have some toys, but it's not a chest at the end of the bed. How 

Nightstand. 

How about in the top drawer of the nightstand?

Yeah, exactly.

If I die... 

I've told my sister, if I die, you probably better get over there and... Nah. You know what? I don't even care. I want them to open that up. I want my niece to open that up and go, oh,

She play.

Oh, no.

Auntie Jamey! 

Question of the week. Readers, we're gonna do it early. Where do you keep your toys?

Oh... 

Just kidding. 

I love it. 

That's perfect. 

Okay, pen right. Let's go back to pen names. I will say this, Kimberly's one that used her name and Clare Lydon. I remember her talking about it. She used her real name. And I've heard it both ways, that sometimes they're glad they did, and sometimes they'd rather they didn't. I think it's a personal decision. You probably better think it through before you put it on the book.

And, I wanted to talk about one of the cons because with my new pen name, I think the worst thing about having another pen name, or even multiple pen names is the marketing. I hate social media and then I have do it twice. Times two. Two websites, two social media.

Two newsletters. Two. Two, Two everything. 

And it is just so much work. So you really have think about it when you do another pen name.

Mm-hmm.

If you plan to write more than one book or whatever, you know, 'cause then you have to set up all the same stuff.

Oh yeah. Even mine being close together where I can cross promote is a pain in the ass. I can't imagine trying to do it from completely different pen names where you can't have any cross-promotion. Oh my God.

Yeah. It is painful.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So another con that I've noticed is a transparency issue. This has come up a few times with people who find out that I do write under a pen name. They're like, well, why do you write under a pen name? What are you afraid of? Why don't you just write into your own name? So I always find that to be an irritating conversation, but I explained to them what I explained earlier, that I like to have the separation between work and creativity.

I think that person is obviously not an author either, or they wouldn't ask you that because there are cons to using your real name, so... 

Mm-hmm. 

So another con that we have is if you use a pen name, you don't get credit for your work under your real name, which sometimes is a bummer.

Yeah, I agree with that. 

Yeah. Your mama wouldn't like that part, would she?

No.

She wants you getting that credit.

Exactly. Right.

Yeah.

Right. That's right.

So next week is gonna be our holiday episode. And KC do we have a question?

Yes. Real quick here. What are you looking forward to the most this holiday season?

Great. Well, I think that's it for this week. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.

I can add, if you don't want to answer the holiday question, you could always answer the question earlier about where you put your toys.

Yeah.

Where your toy chest is located. How's that? How's that from a Hootie Hoo, old OWL Lesbian.

She's on fire.

Thank y'all for listening. Hootie hoo. 

Thanks for listening. If you'd like to reach out to us, you can contact us by email at contact@threelesbiansandapen.com with the number three spelled out or on Instagram, Facebook and X at three lesbians and a pen using the number three. And finally on our website at threelesbiansandapen.com, we look forward to hearing from you, see you next week.