While checking out the Private book series on Wikipedia and I read something very interesting:Kieran Scott (born March 11, 1974), better known by her pen name Kate Brian, is an American author, best known for her work in the young-adult genre. Among her most popular books are Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys, Sweet 16, Fake Boyfriend, and the prolific Private series. Brian is from New Jersey, was raised in Bergen County and educated at Rutgers University. She lives with her husband in New Jersey.
They said her name was Kieran Scott, author of I Was a Non-Blonde Chereleader series and Geek Magnet. At first I was very skeptical (you know what they say about Wikipedia not being a reliable source of information) so I checked out both their MySpaces (Kieran Scott and Kate Brian) and they say the same thing:
Female
34 years old
NEW JERSEY
United States
I guess I brought this up because I'm curious about why she's operating under two names for the same genre. I've heard of authors who have two separate names: one for Adult fiction and one for YA fiction, but this....this is interesting to me. Why is she using two names for the same genre of books? Is it because she started out with one and decided to stick with it after beginning to use the other name? Or is it because she's working with two different publishing companies and she wants to keep her work separate?
13 comments:
I liked her I was a Non-Blonde cheerleader series but my favorite book of hers is Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan boys. I don't know why she has a pen name.You should ask her.
P.S. Want to do a link exchange?
there are actually a lot of YA author that do that. Meg Cabot did it. Umm... The Soririty books that just came out are actaually a collection of well known YA authors all writing under the name Kate Harmon. just to name a few examples.... so it's fairly common.
Yes a link exchange is were we post the blog links on our blogs. I already added you.
Why would several authors write under one name? Do they not want people to know they have written part of it? Do they not want it connected to their other work? I'd definitely like to learn more about this, it's very interesting!
I've read that sometimes authors use different names if a book they wrote using one name was not successful. That doesn't appear to be the case here, though. I agree- you should ask her.
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Story Siren I get that authors use pen names. And I know About Meg Cabot; She actually republished all her previous work that was written under Jenny Caroll after the success of Princess Diaries. It's just came as a shock to me that two authors I admire are one and the same.
Kieran/Kate uses different names because the works she writes under "Kate Brian" are with a book packaging company called Alloy Entertainment. This company is behind some of the major bestsellers in the US, like Gossip Girl, It Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Private, The Luxe, The Clique, A-List, and also forthcoming with some titles sure to become bestsellers in a while, like Frenemies.
A group of authors writing under one name is done to unify the entire thing. Not only do they get shelved together, in the proper sequence of the books, but it's also easier to find information on the series. For instance, A-List is written under "Zoey Dean", but actually there's a team of ghostwriters behind those books. Same with It Girl. Gossip Girl stopped being written by the actual Cecily von Ziegesar at book 8 (though she did go back to write the prequel). There's a new spinoff of Gossip Girl coming out ("the Carlyles") and that's under Cecily's name, but everyone knows she's under contract for some new adult books now and isn't writing YA anymore.
Meg Cabot first used the name Patricia Cabot for her historical romances because she wanted to dodge her grandmother going into a bookstore and finding out her granddaughter wrote sex scenes and stuff. Then she began writing YA under Jenny Caroll because I presume she wanted to reserve her real name for adult fiction? I don't know. All I know is, they're re-published with Meg Cabot on the cover now.
Think this: Nancy Drew, Fearless, Baby Sitters' Club, Hardy Boys, Sweet Valley High -- all ghostwritten for the most part. It's way easier to find books in a series when the authors all have the same name. ;)
Hope this helps!
Steph
I was wondering what the other books she had written were.
I knew about Meg Cabot the hardy boys, Nancy drew, SVH and co but I didn't know gossip girl and so on that was very helpful thanks for posting that info.
Yeah! Thanks for sharing you guys. When I go looking for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist in a bookstore you never know which of the two authors is will be under!
oopses I posted under my cousin's account CJ. so Reviewer X again Thanks for the info
Sophie Kinsella does this too. Her Shopaholic Series and others such as Can You Keep a Secret, The Undomestic Goddess and Remember me are all published under Kinsella, but other books are published under her real name Madeline Wickman.
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