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EzineArticles Says Pen Names Are Second Rate And Credibility Is Lost With Them
Following a recent discussion over the warrior regarding EZA freezing the account of an author due to an inappropriate pen name use, there had been a reply from EzineArticles very own Chris Knight, which was pretty much Chris accepting that his staff had been a little over the top in this instance. But the purpose that was served as a result of the discussion is to bring to light some issues over credibility with pen names and their use.
Chris Knight of EzineArticles followed up with his blog post here:
Pen Names Given Second Class Treatment
Now I know that at the end of the day, it is Chris’ website and he can damn well do as he pleases, if he sees fit then we could all be limited to an article a week. It’s his choice and I am not writing here to try to sway him in his stance, but merely to reflect on my thoughts and the whole story, it’s effects and how I think it is.
You see, except for one point which I will get to in a moment, I happen to agree completely with what Chris has to say on this topic. Because for me, if you are planning on using a pen name extensively, then you should be prepared to have that set down as the only one you use. Using a pen name and expecting full rights when it comes to credibility is much more difficult thatn doing it with your original name so therefore you should prepare for taking on this task.
It can be done, and it will not be any more difficult than with your real name, BUT…ONLY.. if you use the pen name as your primary author title. IMHO.
There are countless authors across time that have adopted a pen name for this purpose and they have done ver well, but I do think that using one pen name and only one pen name as your public author name is the onyl way to go, and looking at the replies in Chris’ blog post from others it does appear that some have done this very well.
That is my view looking from the outside, but looking from the inside, what limited view we can take, it would appear that over time Chris has noticed that the majority of poorly written submissions come from pen names and it is much more likely that an author will set higher standards when using their own name, which I can believe but I don’t agree with.
Personally I do use pen names outside of EzineArticles on another article directory, and my writing standards stay exactly the same, I use a pen name purely for a niche reason and I feel that lowering my standards for this would only serve to damage my business in those niches, but I can believe that some people would.
One point that really struck me as being an ill-informed opinion was this one taken right from Chris’ blog post:
Pen-name submitted content is often ghost written. Yes, it’s that easy to tell. Ghost written articles are almost always 2nd class vs. original content written by a true genuine expert author (our ideal member profile.)
Did I read that correctly?…. Oh My God.
This coming from the biggest article directory on the internet… I am shocked.
There are ghostwriters out there, that would knock the socks off of most article marketers.. take Bev Clement of Ghostwriters International for example… and Jenn who replies above in the EZA blog replies… these two ladies write better than I do (and I’m not too shabby imho), they are writers of exceptional talent.. their path is ghostwriting.. so to say the above about ghostwriters puts out a bad message, and whilst I appreciate Chris did say almost always.. to me it conveys a very strong message against ghostwriters and that does not sit right with me at all.
I think that is damaging for ghostwriters when a directory as big as EzineArticles puts out this message.
As for the rest of the debate.. I have my views as some are stated above, but all in all.. it isn’t really going to affect me… it’s all good.
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Hi Jay,
Cool topic.
Many books in bookshops are ghost written because the “author” is not a gifted writer. Ghost writers are fine.
What sucks is when people use pen names to escape the responsibility to put out great content. They buy rubbish articles and spam forums and social sites with fake accounts just for backlinks.
It is great that quality is still required in some places - pen name or not.
James
James Schramkos last blog post..XSitePro 2 Download - Free
Jamie, I agree with you…if you’re serious about you’re business you will ALWAYS submit quality, first rate content no matter what…pen name or no pen name.
How can you tell something is ghost written just because of the use of a pen name? Isn’t a pen name just a name like the one my mother gave me? Seems someone doesn’t understand the use of a pen name.
Another thing, if I’m ‘Jay Somebody’ and I’m writing as ‘Somebody Else’, who the hell really remembers your name when they have a burning problem and they search for a solution and ends up on your article on EA? I wish they would, but from my experience, it just doesn’t happen.
Jay | Wealthy Affiliate Insiders last blog post..8 Good Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Join Wealthy Affiliate
Thanks for dropping by guys..
I think the problem has occured over time as EZine have seen so many crappy submissions from pen names that it has been forced to make blanket statements like this.
It is damaging for us all if any of us ghostwrite for others, or if we use ghostwriters….
Hmmm…
what to do?… Chris is pretty solid in his standing on this one..
Peace
I’ve updated our blog post to say, “Sometimes people hire bad ghostwriters and it shows through in their content vs. original content written by a true genuine expert author (our ideal member profile.)”
It was unfair of me to say almost all ghostwritten content is 2nd class. Thin vomit content comes from both original authors and ghostwritten content.
@Ezinearticleguy
Thankyou very much for dropping by..and I think it is extremely cool of you to be humble enough to accept debate on the issue and be reasonable in taking into consideration all views and opinions..
Peace