Free tool
Pen Name Generator
Generate pen names that fit your genre and are worth checking for availability. Free, no account needed.
Most pen names are chosen for one of three reasons: the real name is hard to spell, the author writes in more than one genre, or they would rather their colleagues did not find the books. All three are good reasons, and all three point at the same requirement — the name has to be findable and unambiguous.
Before settling on one, search it on Amazon and Goodreads and check the domain and social handles. A name already carried by a working author in your genre will cost you every time somebody searches for you.
Common questions
- Is it legal to publish under a pen name?
- Yes. Amazon KDP and every other major platform let you publish under a pen name while the account and the payments stay in your legal name. You still hold the copyright.
- Can I use a pen name someone else uses?
- You should not. It is not usually copyright infringement, but it can be trademark infringement if they have registered it, and it guarantees you lose search results to them forever.
- Should I use different pen names for different genres?
- Many authors do, because recommendation algorithms and reader expectations both work against an author whose catalogue jumps between cosy mysteries and hard science fiction.
Every tool here is free. The books are not.
Describe the book you have a title for and AuthorGPT writes the whole thing — chapter plan first, for you to approve.
Start writing your book