How Amazon Quietly Killed My Pen Name
(And What I Did About It)
Let me tell you a fun little horror story.
For years, I published under the pen name Arial Burnz.
Stylish. Edgy. Genre-appropriate. Or so I thought.
Then Amazon decided my name was wrong after they tweaked their engine.
Moving forward, every time readers searched for me, Amazon “helpfully” corrected Burnz to Burns. As in: No, sweetie, that can’t possibly be a Z.
Result?
My books stopped showing up.
My sales tanked.
And Amazon did not care.
Actually, they did provide a link in tiny print above the Reformation, Plague an Fire in Renaissance London search results…
Search instead for arial burnz
But readers weren’t seeing it.
When I complained, Amazon Customer Support said, “The search engine is doing exactly what it’s designed to do.” I even suggested that any author name in the system should automatically be entered as a search result. They repeated the phrase, “The search engine is doing exactly what it’s designed to do.”
Cue grumbling.
The Problem with “Too Clever” Pen Names
Amazon’s search engine is designed for one thing—customer experience, not accuracy.
If your pen name:
Uses unusual spellings (e.g., Thornewood vs Thornwood)
Looks like a typo of a common word (e.g., Burnz vs. Burns)
Follows the unique naming trend we see with online names (e.g., Vyxen / Vixen / Vickson)
Amazon may silently auto-correct it.
No warning. No error message. Just vanished visibility.
Readers would type my name correctly… and Amazon would shove them somewhere else.
Lesson Learned: Searchability Beats Too Unique
When I realized what was happening, I had to make a hard call: Keep the cool name, or keep selling books.
I chose selling books.
Pen Name or Real Name?
You may be at the beginning of your authorpreneurer career and struggling with whether or not you should use a pen name. I will tell you emphatically, “Yes. You should use a pen name.” And I have a few reasons why:
Privacy
I knew an author in one of my local meetup groups who wrote YA romance and her books started taking off. Then her family got threats against their children in exchange for money. And if you write steamy, erotic romance or erotica AND work around children, definitely pen name.
Branding
A name that matches your genre just sits well with readers and cements that image in their subconscious mind. I’m also a certified hypnotherapist, so trust me on this one.
Difficult Real Name
Besides the privacy issue, having a name that’s difficult to pronounce can be a little off-putting for readers. I know, it sounds silly but it’s true. My maiden name was a nightmare through school and my professional career. Thank the Gods I married a man with a simple name that never gets mispronounced. I’m in simplicity heaven, but the experience stuck with me. Simplicity = Discoverability.
TIP: Use Your Real First Name
When I chose Arial Burnz as my pen name, I never thought about what happens when someone called me by that pen name. Since my ear was tuned to my real name, I was completely deaf to “Arial” when I went to book conventions. I had to learn to listen for that name.
If you have to use a different first name, consider one that sounds very close to your real name or a nickname you already use. If not, then here are a couple of tricks you can do to get your ear tuned to the new name:
Online Gamer?—If you’re a gamer or use Discord (or similar), change your screen or character name to your pen name and request your friends / online buddies call you by that name when you’re in a voice chat channel. This is exactly how I retrained my ear to my pen name!
Use it at Home—Ask your family to call you by that name for a few weeks.
Starbucks test—Use your pen name for orders. Public, noisy, low-stakes repetition can train your ear. (Same can apply to restaurant waiting lists and fast food orders.)
How I Chose a Better Pen Name (The Second Time)
Here’s the system I now recommend—and use.
1. Genre First, Ego Last
Your pen name is branding, not self-expression.
Dark romance / gothic? → Strong, moody, grounded
Cozy / contemporary? → Friendly, human, familiar
Fantasy? → Evocative, but pronounceable
Thriller / Mystery / Suspense? → Clean, credible, authoritative
If a reader saw the name on a cover, would they expect your genre?
Are you a female in a male dominated genre (e.g., military sci-fi, tech or political thrillers) OR your audience expects a male writer? Or are you a male author in a female dominiated genre (e.g., romance, women’s fiction)? Consider initials or a gender neutral name. J.K. Rowling’s publisher suggested using initials for her pen name because they didn’t think young boys would want to read fantasy books by a female author.
Gender neutrality and breaking gender rules are smashing those boundaries today, but some might still want to make such considerations. Your choice!
2. Run It Through Amazon Like a Reader
This is critical.
Go to Amazon (incognito window is best) and:
Type the pen name exactly
Watch for auto-corrections
Check suggested results
If Amazon “fixes” your name—choose a different one.
No arguing. No hoping. Amazon wins.
3. Check for Name Clutter
Search the name and look for:
Existing authors with the same or similar names
Book titles that dominate the results
Famous people or characters hijacking the page
Do the same search on Google.
If there are already a dozen near-matches, you’re invisible by default. I searched a pen name I was trying out that was the character of a TV series. Not a great idea. Although people might see your books in such search results, they could think the books are a gimmick written under the famous character or since your books are unrelated, they won’t care.
You want:
Clean search results
Minimal competition
Clear association with you
4. Say It Out Loud
If people can’t pronounce it, spell it, or remember it—problem.
Your name should pass the:
“I heard about this author, let me search them” test.
Think about how one might type the name based on what they hear.
The Compromise (Because There’s Always One)
You may be totally in love with a pen name, but trust me when I say you might have to settle for a second or third choice because of the above criteria. Although it’s a compromise, you’re setting yourself up for success if readers can find you.
Gina Thornwood is the new pen name I settled on. I had other choices I was in love with but now that I’ve picked it for all the above reasons, I love it. It fits my genres (dark fantasy, vampire romance, fantasy romance), plus it uses my real first name, which makes it easier to answer to at conventions! (Lesson learned!)
More importantly:
Amazon doesn’t change it
Readers can find me
Ads work
Algorithms behave
This Is the First Post in a Series
I’m rebuilding my author career in public. This Substack is where I’m sharing:
What worked
What failed
What I had to compromise on
And what I absolutely refuse to do again
Just real-time decisions from someone who’s been publishing long enough to have battle scars—and receipts.
If you’re thinking about rebranding, starting over, or fixing something that quietly broke your sales?
You’re in the right place.
More soon.
Happy writing!
Arial Burnz
(aka Gina Thornwood)
P.S. CLICK HERE if you’d like to see my Gina Thornwood Substack for examples of how I reach out to my readers.