This Game Changer is a Name Changer

I’m thrilled to announce that I have signed a contract on one of my short stories. Yes, it’s my first professional sale!

The actual publication of that story is some months away, so more on that as it develops. Call it professional superstition, but I don’t want to jinx the deal before a word appears in print.

Imminent publication has set into motion a string of marketing decisions, which are still ongoing.

The first was: what do I call myself as an author? Unfortunately, my dilly-dallying in getting published (read: life) allowed another Brad Parks, a mystery writer, to not only get published but to gain quite a bit of acclaim in his field. Kudos to him! But it put me in a pickle. We may not be shelved side-by-side in the book store, but online we are all on the same virtual shelf. When someone searches for their favorite fantasy writer, I don’t want them to find him instead of me. Although I have enjoyed reading stray fan letters mistakenly lobbed at me.

So after much polling and pondering, I decided my pen name would be my full name: Bradley Robert Parks. It has much gravitas, no?

So my Facebook author profile name has been changed. That was easy. The website, not so much. I have a lot of research to do before I figure out how to realize that part of the platform. Could WordPress be my author website? Or should the website and blog be separate things?

Does anyone out there with author promotion experience have any insight for me?

Just this last weekend, I sent out two more stories to potential markets. 2014 is shaping up to be my year!