It’s another big decision for a new author to decide what name to use – stick to your own or make a new one up? It’s a bit of an existential crisis.
I had no particular problem with using my real name but I thought it was a bit long and ‘clunky’ for a thriller author and wanted to keep it simple and snappier – like Lee Child did, not that I’m comparing 🙂 I also thought that if I one day wanted to write in a completely different genre it might be an idea to be able to write under a different name or revert to my own (I’ve since learned that it doesn’t necessarily matter too much if people like what you write.)
So I combined my first name with my wife’s and came up with Steven Lea. It helps that our friends and family call us ‘Steve and Lea’ so it sounds right to those who know us too.
And I think my wife liked that she got in on the act.