I have toyed with using a pen name or the initials of my first and middle names in publishing my books. My thought stems from other famous authors who have used pen names for some of their writings. Agatha Christie is one of them. She authored a few novels using the name Mary Westmacott. Why would she deviate from her own famous name? Reportedly to explore her imagination more freely and avoid influencing readers’ perception of the work. Others may have used it to test the waters by writing genres different from what they typically publish.
I also considered emulating those authors who use initials before their last name, like J.K. Rowling, H. G. Wells, or C. J. Box. I suppose initials are used because a name is too common, too hard to pronounce, or simply disliked by the writer. After all, Anthony is fairly common and is certainly boring. If I were to choose to use a pen name using initials, here are a few that make me smile: I. M. Nophun, O. B. Woncanobi, G. I. Hopeso, R. U. Redi, O. I. Cee, I. B. Goode, and my favorite, T. N. Tee. At least for now, I’ll stick with boring Anthony Mays. But then again, how do you know I’m not published under a pen name already?