Quote:
Originally Posted by calvin-c
And if you're going to complain about initials why not complain about pseudonyms? They've been used for the same reason. (George Eliot, anyone?) Pseudonyms can (and probably do) conceal more than gender. How about race? Or politics? (The latter might be unlikely. I doubt if well-known politicians write books hoping to convert people who dislike them and if it's for the sales then using their own name would help. But it's possible. I know some authors, probably including politicians, have used aliases to post glowing reviews of their books.)
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Well, it isn't such a blatant and obvious ploy that makes me wonder if I'm being played for a chump. When you encounter a new author, and you see "Ellis Peters" or even "George Elliot", I would assume most people accept some guy named "Ellis" or "George" wrote the thing. Maybe it's the useless transparency of this "marketing ploy" that I object to the most.