House Pseudonym

A House Pseudonym is a pen name that can be used by any writer at a given publisher.

House Pseudonyms have been used to disguise that a long series has become a Franchise Zombie by allowing other authors to use the creator's name. They have been used to make a collaborative work look like it came from a single author, using a name that belongs to neither of the actual writers.

In the internet age, some websites use them as well. It may be a conscious decision, or it may be the byproduct of giving a standard moniker to posters who aren't signed into the site.

Examples of House Pseudonym include:

Literature

• This article on The Other Wiki will tell you some of them.
• Carolyn Keene of the Nancy Drew novels.
• Franklin W. Dixon of The Hardy Boys novels.
• K. A. Applegate of Animorphs.
• R. L. Stine of Goosebumps.
• V. C. Andrews—enough that that "author" has been publishing long after Author Existence Failure.
• Victor Appleton of the Tom Swift books.
  • Victor Appleton II of the Tom Swift, Jr. books.
• Maxwell Grant of the Shadow novels (usually Walter B. Gibson).
• Kenneth Robeson of the Doc Savage novels (usually Lester Dent).
• Inverted with Harry Potter. Due to the great complexity of the series, several readers thought Harry Potter was the work of multiple authors; however, J.K. Rowling rebuked those claims by stating seriously it's just me much to the awe of this disbelieving side of the fanbase.
• Erin Hunter of Warrior Cats
• James Axler of the Deathlands series and its spinoff, Outlanders

New Media

• People who sign up for free webhosting services are a (virtual) example of this trope.
  • Amazingly, few webhosts seem to check if signups really are this - this webhosting management discussion site is one such example. But, due to a bizarre Finagle's Law and legalities, amazingly, it's legal.
  • Which leads to sign-ups with placeholder numbers, like (Manchester phonecode here) 0161 000 0000.
• "Anonymous Coward" at Slashdot.
• "Anonymous" at 4chan.
• The authors of this roads and traffic blog. Perhaps because he doesn't wish to compromise his identity.
• Anonymous, the well-known "hacking" group. The one with the question mark and suit logo.