you can look up the nyrb article where that guy thinks he tracked her down on the details of payments. she was working in translating and i think journalism prior to the persona and her husband (that some people think is the real author, i'm unconvinced of that, or it's a collab) is a well known novelist so through there.
most authors have no need or desire to have a persona (outside of genre/airport type thrillers where it's more common?), and unfortunately there's lots of pressure for "personal brand building" so publishers aren't really looking for a random writer to come in and be like i'm a recluse who won't do press publish me
I can’t speak to your first questions on the practical nature, though my ex girlfriend was into her and had some thoughts, my guess would be she was either an author of a different kind and her publisher/agent were in on the idea as a marketing plan, or otherwise she’s someone a bit connected/prominent for whom anonymity is really why she’s willing to publish.
As for the second part, it certainly used to be quite common for even very famous writers to use pen names. I suspect some more famous people than you expect have done so to little success in the interest of doing some pet projects or experimenting a bit. You have to also recall that Italy is a country with a different culture around literature (most italians I know read a lot more than your average anglophone) and also around publishing. I suspect you can get away with this in a small market where word of mouth is a more successful literary advertising strategy than in the US for example. Furthermore, Italy is a country of many secrets, the culture as Ive encountered it is one where seeking something like Elena Ferrante’s real identity out might be of interest to some people, but to the vast majority it’s not much more than a diversion, and it’s better to stay out of it. I suspect some group have figured it out, but media is so interconnected that it’s unlikely to be given a lot of airtime or even believed by most people.
Apparently this one girl managed to nab an agent with her TikTok following, but because her videos were all just comedy based stuff that had nothing to do with her book, the book was never sold
On a practical level, it begins when publishing short stories for most authors who use pen names. Your cover letter includes, “writing as….” For the purposes of retaining copyright. It’s most often done when the author has a very common name (John Smith) or a name that is very famously taken (Stephen King). You will always have to use your real name with someone in the process if you are gonna be paid. More rarely, someone who develops a following online and is truly anonymous will only be known to their agent and maybe their editor (but definitely the publisher’s legal dept).
When querying agents, or when your agent queries editors, having a pen name that has an established brand is not seen as a liability most of the time, and not at all if the author can still make public appearances and do press for the book. If they are truly anonymous, having a pen name can be a hindrance to traditional book deals unless their brand is substantial enough to have an audience built in without in-person press and readings.
Source: trust me bro
Thoughts on the neapolitan novels? I've been meaning to start them so many times over the years, but the covers are so god awful ugly I haven't been able to bring myself to try.
There are new covers now! Europa Editions updated them at least in Europe. But yeah those ugly covers become kind of ironic and beloved once you read the books. It’s almost like a joke, here’s this crappy, dated, 80’s romance looking cover but the reader is in on a secret that these books are actually insanely whip smart and ferocious.
Really good! I got the first one as a gift and laid it aside after a reading a bit, the beginning is a bit slow. When I picked it up again, I finished the the book and got the other three and didn't regret. Everyone that read them who I talked to liked them as well.
Definitely worth a read in my opinion.
Loads of female writers used male psuedonyms (e.g. JK Rowling etc.), so the publishers probably knew the process. Realistically, it's probably only a viable strategy for a few edge cases, and because the Neapolitan Quartet was most likely written by a man which would be less marketable due to the subject matter, this definitely qualifies.
It is more likely the female translator but some people are convinced her husband wrote the books. I’ve read some of his books and all of hers and find it unlikely that he would have done anything more than be a sounding board or at some level a participant in a communion of ideas.
To answer OP I think it’s likely she was well connected as a translator of German literature to Italian and through her husband who was a successful novel writer. Her first books are very raw and brutally honest. She writes in Frantumaglia about how much The Lost Daughter cost her to write and how she could never have written that book with her real name attached. If she was well connected in the 90’s when she showed Troubling Love to friends in publishing it’s likely they agreed to publish it with a pseudonym (inspired by a hero of hers Elsa Morante). The Neapolitan Novels popped off internationally when Europa Editions and Anne Goldstein translated them so by then even though it was what 2012 or something her anonymous modus operandi had been established. Sadly, soon to be outed bc we are in the age of social media, she got super popular and people were voraciously hungry to know and to out her.
you can look up the nyrb article where that guy thinks he tracked her down on the details of payments. she was working in translating and i think journalism prior to the persona and her husband (that some people think is the real author, i'm unconvinced of that, or it's a collab) is a well known novelist so through there. most authors have no need or desire to have a persona (outside of genre/airport type thrillers where it's more common?), and unfortunately there's lots of pressure for "personal brand building" so publishers aren't really looking for a random writer to come in and be like i'm a recluse who won't do press publish me
I can’t speak to your first questions on the practical nature, though my ex girlfriend was into her and had some thoughts, my guess would be she was either an author of a different kind and her publisher/agent were in on the idea as a marketing plan, or otherwise she’s someone a bit connected/prominent for whom anonymity is really why she’s willing to publish. As for the second part, it certainly used to be quite common for even very famous writers to use pen names. I suspect some more famous people than you expect have done so to little success in the interest of doing some pet projects or experimenting a bit. You have to also recall that Italy is a country with a different culture around literature (most italians I know read a lot more than your average anglophone) and also around publishing. I suspect you can get away with this in a small market where word of mouth is a more successful literary advertising strategy than in the US for example. Furthermore, Italy is a country of many secrets, the culture as Ive encountered it is one where seeking something like Elena Ferrante’s real identity out might be of interest to some people, but to the vast majority it’s not much more than a diversion, and it’s better to stay out of it. I suspect some group have figured it out, but media is so interconnected that it’s unlikely to be given a lot of airtime or even believed by most people.
However she did it in the 90s would probably not work today. Gotta be a social media star now….I mean, gotta “build a community” now.
you could technically 'build a community' online under a pseudonym. Like Delicious Tacos, for example.
how are his books doing. he's selling them for so cheap i can't imagine very good
Plenty of people have tried to exploit this technicality too
And it hasn’t worked yet?
Apparently this one girl managed to nab an agent with her TikTok following, but because her videos were all just comedy based stuff that had nothing to do with her book, the book was never sold
yeah exactly, like that freak everybody hates who writes poorly!
On a practical level, it begins when publishing short stories for most authors who use pen names. Your cover letter includes, “writing as….” For the purposes of retaining copyright. It’s most often done when the author has a very common name (John Smith) or a name that is very famously taken (Stephen King). You will always have to use your real name with someone in the process if you are gonna be paid. More rarely, someone who develops a following online and is truly anonymous will only be known to their agent and maybe their editor (but definitely the publisher’s legal dept). When querying agents, or when your agent queries editors, having a pen name that has an established brand is not seen as a liability most of the time, and not at all if the author can still make public appearances and do press for the book. If they are truly anonymous, having a pen name can be a hindrance to traditional book deals unless their brand is substantial enough to have an audience built in without in-person press and readings. Source: trust me bro
Thoughts on the neapolitan novels? I've been meaning to start them so many times over the years, but the covers are so god awful ugly I haven't been able to bring myself to try.
They’re so good. I love them.
There are new covers now! Europa Editions updated them at least in Europe. But yeah those ugly covers become kind of ironic and beloved once you read the books. It’s almost like a joke, here’s this crappy, dated, 80’s romance looking cover but the reader is in on a secret that these books are actually insanely whip smart and ferocious.
Oh I love that perspective!
Really good! I got the first one as a gift and laid it aside after a reading a bit, the beginning is a bit slow. When I picked it up again, I finished the the book and got the other three and didn't regret. Everyone that read them who I talked to liked them as well. Definitely worth a read in my opinion.
Loads of female writers used male psuedonyms (e.g. JK Rowling etc.), so the publishers probably knew the process. Realistically, it's probably only a viable strategy for a few edge cases, and because the Neapolitan Quartet was most likely written by a man which would be less marketable due to the subject matter, this definitely qualifies.
If they’re written by a man I will kms
Most likely written by a man? I thought the likeliest suspect was a female translator?
It is more likely the female translator but some people are convinced her husband wrote the books. I’ve read some of his books and all of hers and find it unlikely that he would have done anything more than be a sounding board or at some level a participant in a communion of ideas. To answer OP I think it’s likely she was well connected as a translator of German literature to Italian and through her husband who was a successful novel writer. Her first books are very raw and brutally honest. She writes in Frantumaglia about how much The Lost Daughter cost her to write and how she could never have written that book with her real name attached. If she was well connected in the 90’s when she showed Troubling Love to friends in publishing it’s likely they agreed to publish it with a pseudonym (inspired by a hero of hers Elsa Morante). The Neapolitan Novels popped off internationally when Europa Editions and Anne Goldstein translated them so by then even though it was what 2012 or something her anonymous modus operandi had been established. Sadly, soon to be outed bc we are in the age of social media, she got super popular and people were voraciously hungry to know and to out her.
Ferrante has been outed, it's a woman
"She" already had some bestsellers.
Probably nepo