Pen name

A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. Nom de plume is a French-language expression.

"House" names

Book and magazine publishers have sometimes used a penname or pseudonym as the author of a series of stories that would be shared by any number of authors. Often these works are done as a "work for hire" with the writers receiving a flat fee and no royalties. Some of these names include:

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• Victor Appleton: used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for the Tom Swift children's adventure novels
• Franklin W. Dixon: used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for the Hardy Boys mysteries.
• Maxwell Grant: used by Street and Smith Publications, the publishers of numerous pulp magazines, for The Shadow.
• Carolyn Keene: used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for the Nancy Drew mysteries, as well as The Dana Girls, which featured detective sisters.
• Watty Piper: used By Platt & Munk for The Little Engine That Could and its spinoffs as well as numerous unrelated children's books.
• Kenneth Robeson: used by Condé Nast Publications for the Doc Savage stories.