this_portrait
Well-known member
I have searched online high and low for answers to this, but it's like there's a lot left out, and I don't really know where else to reach out for advice on it. If anyone here can provide some input on how I can proceed with this, especially if you have knowledge of journalism (specifically op ed pieces), it would be greatly appreciated.
First off, I'm a writer. I like writing fiction, but I'm also a very opinionated person and like to write essays expressing those opinions. I want to get more of my work out there and published (and get paid for it), and I think op ed pieces would be a (somewhat) easier way to do that (rather than submitting short stories to online magazines that hardly anyone reads anyway).
However, I don't want to write under my real name, for a couple reasons that I think are pretty reasonable. The first reason is that I live in an area where the opinions of the majority populace are quite different from my own. Not only am I in the process of looking for a day job, but I would like to keep that job as well. I don't want employers looking me up and then choosing not to hire me for having the "wrong" opinion. I also don't want to make it easier for nutjobs online to find out my place of employment and call there in an attempt to get me canned because they didn't like an op ed piece I wrote (and are scum).
The other reason is (which kind of ties in with the previous one) I don't want someone confronting me in person with the intent to harrass or harm me. While the chances of that happening are rather small, I don't want to disregard that minority of insane people who would.
I've gotten mixed answers on whether a pen name is allowed or not. While there are some publications that don't allow it (most of them are local papers in various cities, along with the popular Washington Post), there are others that do allow for it. The New York Times is a big one that does, and they have actually gotten a bit of flak for it. Most of the publications (at least the ones I'm interested in writing for) don't specify if they allow it in their submission guidelines, though.
Should I just send my query email over with a line that I want to write as [insert pen name here]? Or just chuck it all out and start a blog and try to make a bit of money that way instead?
(Btw, I don't even consider op ed pieces to even be journalism, really. In fact, I wouldn't even consider the overwhelming majority of publications and networks and blogs to be bare bones journalism. When there's no commentary, most of it is yellow journalism at best. Everything has a slant in some way or another. Some just base their commentary on facts more than others.)
First off, I'm a writer. I like writing fiction, but I'm also a very opinionated person and like to write essays expressing those opinions. I want to get more of my work out there and published (and get paid for it), and I think op ed pieces would be a (somewhat) easier way to do that (rather than submitting short stories to online magazines that hardly anyone reads anyway).
However, I don't want to write under my real name, for a couple reasons that I think are pretty reasonable. The first reason is that I live in an area where the opinions of the majority populace are quite different from my own. Not only am I in the process of looking for a day job, but I would like to keep that job as well. I don't want employers looking me up and then choosing not to hire me for having the "wrong" opinion. I also don't want to make it easier for nutjobs online to find out my place of employment and call there in an attempt to get me canned because they didn't like an op ed piece I wrote (and are scum).
The other reason is (which kind of ties in with the previous one) I don't want someone confronting me in person with the intent to harrass or harm me. While the chances of that happening are rather small, I don't want to disregard that minority of insane people who would.
I've gotten mixed answers on whether a pen name is allowed or not. While there are some publications that don't allow it (most of them are local papers in various cities, along with the popular Washington Post), there are others that do allow for it. The New York Times is a big one that does, and they have actually gotten a bit of flak for it. Most of the publications (at least the ones I'm interested in writing for) don't specify if they allow it in their submission guidelines, though.
Should I just send my query email over with a line that I want to write as [insert pen name here]? Or just chuck it all out and start a blog and try to make a bit of money that way instead?
(Btw, I don't even consider op ed pieces to even be journalism, really. In fact, I wouldn't even consider the overwhelming majority of publications and networks and blogs to be bare bones journalism. When there's no commentary, most of it is yellow journalism at best. Everything has a slant in some way or another. Some just base their commentary on facts more than others.)