Your pen name and public page
For authorsUpdated 3 min read
Your pen name is your public identity; books, series, campaigns and Journal entries attach to it. Edit its name, bios, avatar, banner, the genres you write, the languages you publish in and external links under Studio, Settings. Several pen names per account from Studio, Pen names: add, open in Studio, make primary, archive; Author and Creator one, Pro up to five, Publisher unlimited.
The short answer
What a pen name is
Your pen name is the identity readers see: its name, bios and pictures make your author page, and your books, series, ARC campaigns and Journal entries attach to it. The account behind it (your e-mail, your username) is never shown on that page.
Editing it
Studio › Settings is the public profile, what readers see on your page. The page is one masthead (the banner, your avatar over its edge, the pen name with its identity mark, your handle and genres, the bio, and a line that says Pen name or Author and when you joined; followers, monthly readers and rating as plain text), then the tabs Journal, Books and About, with your open campaign, next release, books, chart placing and achievements in the side rail (the highlights strip on a phone). What you edit here:
- Pen name (it cannot be empty; readers find you by it),
- Short bio and Full bio (the longer story: how you write, what you write, and why),
- Avatar and Profile banner, uploaded images up to 12 MB, ten uploads a day across the account,
- Genres you write and Languages you publish in, which discovery uses,
- External links with a label and a full address (your newsletter, your shop, your site), shown on your page.
Changes go live when you save. Your account settings (e-mail, password, sessions) are separate: Open account settings takes you there (Change your password).
Several pen names
Studio › Pen names lists the names you publish under (Pen names walks through each step). Each one has its own public page, books, series, campaigns, Journal and followers; your banner, external links and verification are the account's and show on every name's page.
- Add a pen name with a name and an optional short bio. How many you can have depends on your plan: Author and Creator one, Pro up to five, Publisher without a fixed limit (Plans). Nothing is limited during the beta; when a limit applies, the page says so in a sentence and names the plan that lifts it.
- Open in Studio switches every Studio section to that name; the switcher above the Studio menu does the same, and it also lists the pen names whose teams you are on (Working with a team).
- Make primary chooses the name Studio opens on.
- Archive retires a name you are done with. Its published books stay public under that name, its followers keep following it, and its page says it is no longer publishing here; it leaves Studio and the switcher. Make another name primary first, and complete or pause its campaigns first. Restore brings it back, within your plan's allowance.
- Set aside is different from archived: it is what the plan does, not what you chose. When your account holds more pen names than the plan allows, the ones you did not keep are set aside on the day the limits apply: hidden from readers with their books, kept, listed under "Set aside" on the same page with Restore and Swap, and back the moment a plan allows. See Plans, and what the beta unlocks.
The identity marks an author page can carry are described in Identity marks.
Where this lives
Related
- Becoming an author: A reader account becomes an author account from For authors: choose a pen name, add a short bio, and Studio opens. Your library, reviews and follows come with you; the reader-only surfaces close, and the change cannot be undone from the product.
- Identity marks: the seal, the nib, the book: One mark beside every name. A blue seal for a verified author, a plum nib for an author, a teal book for a reader; the only reader who can carry the blue seal is the Booklabria team's own account. Verification asserts identity, not quality; it is granted by staff and can be revoked, and a reader cannot ask for it.
- Publishing your first book: Create a book from Studio, Books, New book, with its synopsis, up to three genres and six tropes, content level and warnings, language, page count and a cover (uploaded, or a pattern with the title drawn on). It starts as a draft only you can see; set it to Coming soon (with a date) or Published when ready. Add a sample and buy links from the edit page; archiving takes it off the catalog without deleting anything.
- Your profile's look: Profile Studio, themes and dark mode: Profile Studio (Settings › Profile › Studio) sets your profile's theme, accent, layout and banner and the order of its modules, with a preview at phone and desktop width; nothing changes for visitors until you publish. Light and dark follow your system.
- Pen names: creating, switching, the primary one, archiving: An author account can publish under more than one pen name on the Pro plan (up to five) and on Publisher (unlimited across the imprint); Author and Creator have one. Studio, Pen names lists them, creates one with a name, address, bio and avatar, sets the primary, and archives one; the pen switcher in Studio's header moves you between them. Archiving keeps that pen's published books public; the limit is stated in a sentence with the plan that lifts it.
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