Why do I use the pseudonym Amelia Hugh?

There are many reasons narrators and authors use a pseudonym.

I actually have two pseudonyms: Amelia Hugh and Julianne Rose. And for me, these reasons have to do with genre and audience.

When I started narrating audiobooks. I had lots of thoughts and worries floating around in my head:

What if I’m no good at it and people looking for my theater reviews see bad audiobook narrating reviews? What if the ‘tweens’ who’ve found me on social media discover the books I’m recording and listen to them — even though they are intended for adult readers?

At the time, the solution to calm my worries was a pseudonym.

I chose one that felt close to me and had the same initials as my own name. All my life, people asked if my name ‘Amy’ was a nickname for something else, and I always wished I had been named ‘Amanda’ or ‘Amelia.’ Then, I googled the origin of the surname ‘Hutchins’ and learned that it is a diminutive form of ‘Hugh’. And just like that ‘Amelia Hugh’ was born.

In the beginning ALL of my narrations were under ‘Amelia Hugh’. Now, I use it as my Romance and Fantasy pseudonym. I use my own name for non-Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Science Fiction, and Literary Fiction. I have also recorded a Christian Romance audiobook under my new faith-based pseudonym ‘Julianne Rose.’

Why didn’t I record a Christian Romance under my Romance and Fantasy pseudonym? Because faith-based audiobooks have a certain audience in mind, I didn’t want to surprise my ‘Amelia Hugh’ listeners with a sub-genre they may not be interested in. And vice-versa. I didn’t want people who enjoyed my Christian Romance narrations to look for other narrations I’ve done — only to be surprised (or even worse offended) by the non-faith based content in my narrations as ‘Amelia Hugh.’

There are some narrators and authors who keep their pseudonyms a closely guarded secret. I am not one of those people. However, when authors and narrators have a secret pseudonym, we should all respect that.

Those of us who have and use pseudonyms all have different reasons for WHY we use a pseudonym. It’s not a one-size-fits-all answer.