A fellow writer posted on a forum I frequent saying she discovered another writer publishing under her name. This caused her concern because the other writer was less experienced and might publish less than stellar work which editors could find if they googled her name.
Somehow I wasn't terribly sympathetic to her "plight" - after all, I have one of the most generic All-American names imaginable. It didn't occur to me early on in my career that maybe I should include a middle initial or write under a pen name to distinguish myself. And I certainly didn't assume that I was the first "Susan Johnston" to publish an article (in fact, there's another Susan Johnston who published a book around the same time I launched my website).
I just figured that editors would look at the clips I sent them and wouldn't bother with the 42,400 results that come up when you google me. In fact, I did include my middle initial (a vowel) in my email address and it's a common source of confusion for people, which makes me think it might not belong in my byline.
I posted a response saying that I wouldn't be terribly concerned if I were in her position and that editors would focus on the clips she sends them (esp. if the newbie writer's articles are buried deeper in Google). But get this: another writer actually said that she received a copy of the other Susan's book and for a fleeting moment, she thought maybe I had taken a break from career and lifestyle articles to pen a children's book about princesses and bubbles. I find that funny, but I still don't think it's a major problem.
Just in case this issue keeps you up at night, there are a couple of ways to secure your writerly reputation. First, buy your domain name! That is a sure fire way to take control of Google search results. Alternatively you could marry someone with an unusual last name (joking) or add a middle name or initial to personalize your byline.
Now it's your turn. Am I making light something that should be taken more seriously? How do you deal with a "doppelgänger"? Leave a comment and let me know!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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7 comments:
Meh. I, too, have a common name, and I grew up in a small town with another Amanda Ryan the same age as me living in the next town over. We went to the same family doctor, much to the poor office assistant's chagrin, and were constantly having our files mixed up. "How's your broken arm, Amanda?" "Um... I have chicken pox."
But as far as my writing career goes, I don't think it's really that big of a deal. It's like you said: editor's will be judging your clips and story ideas. People get all up-in-arms about Google search results, as if it's the only way to market yourself.
Love that word: doppleganger... hehehehe How fun to say! ;-)
I don't think I have another Michele Tune writer in my google results, but I have included my middle initial and I think it's causing confusion. My name is spelled with one L and editors are even publishing my articles as Michelle Tune instead of Michele L. Tune. I think that extra L in the middle tricks people's minds into thinking my name has two L's--which it does, only not together. Argh. This is the worst of my problems... No big deal, right?
That is pretty weird that there's another Susan Johnston who published a book right when you were putting yourself out there in the writing world. Life is crazy, eh?
*smiles*
Michele
I agree, I certainly don't get worked up about it.
Michele: I get so many emails addressed to Susane (who spells it like that?! No one!), because my middle initial is E. I imagine that you using the L. is kind of similar.
The only time my name has truly caused confusion is when they attributed someone else's article to me and I felt bad that she missed out on a byline. But obviously that wasn't my fault. I heard about it because my mother reads the magazine and she called to say she never realized I was so into basketball! Moi? I don't think so!
Haha, you're lucky it was an article on basketball, and didn't start out, "Dear Penthouse..."
Yikes! It turns out there's a Susan Johnston who just published a book on Republication fundraising: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10282.asp. NOW I'm a little uncomfortable with having such a common name.
I too am a Susan. I've never worried about it. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I think editors might be smart, and not complete morons. And I would venture to guess that most are also web savvy and understand google is an all-encompassing machine.
Can you imagine an editor googling a name like "Jane Smith" and then being flabbergasted that perhaps dozens of articles or web pages might come up? I doubt they would click on the first thing they saw and determine that this Jane Smith was the only writer in the universe, that her writing sucked, and yanked the wrong Jane Smith off the writing job.
Sounds like your reader might have an ego.
I did once get mistaken as the wrong Susan (A Susan who worked in the film industry) by a film studio executive, a real big wig. I sort of pretended like I didn't realize the mistake for a little while and enjoyed it. :-)
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