Can I create a Facebook account for a pen name?

[Guest]

I attempted to make a Facebook account under my author pen name in hopes of getting some social marketing started prepublication. However, Facebook is saying they only accept real names. How did everyone bypass this?

[Adrian]

There is a way to make a certain type of account that uses an @ and doesn't need to be your real name.

You can also create a page.

[Judas]

I don’t even use my legal name for my personal fb. I’d suggest making a page instead.

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[Shawnee]

I just set up a page for my author work.

[Aimee]

This account is my pen name and nothing has ever happened to me. Plus I have a page. This account is for author friends and bloggers. Pages are for whoever wants to interact and picks up my books.

[Jewel]

Everyone is correct that you must set it up a page instead of a user profile. The author page will link to your personal profile. This is better anyway because it allows you to use your personal profile for stuff you want to keep private to friends and family whereas the author page is public and searchable by Google which is better for your marketing.

[Bryan]

It’s better to do a page anyway. FB caps friends at a certain limit, pages can have millions of people.

[Wendy]

You make a "Page" in your pen name, not an account.

[Heather]

Facebook likely won't deactivate an account with a "fake" name, but it is against the TOS to have an account under a false name.

You can run a page as a profile nowadays, though.

Remember, just because people haven't been caught or deactivated yet doesn't mean Facebook won't eventually take action.

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[Chloe]

Well I don’t use my real name as my Facebook only my pen name which is what u see, but I started mine years ago. But I made a page as an extension to my Facebook, and have it as my fan page. U can try making a page off this page and use the name u want as the name of the page.

[Kymberlie]

It’s always been against policy to use anything other than your legal identity for your account. They began cracking down some years back when all the politics got involved but yes, lots have still gotten away with it. But creating a new account has become more strict.

Key thing to remember is that putting so much into a social media account, namely fb, is like investing in swamp land. Sure, it might hold you for a good long time, but at any moment you could lose all of it. Best thing is to have your own website where you can put all of your content and link from there to your social media. Other than that, best to create a page from your original account.

[Katie]

What others have said; create a business page under your personal account.

You can also add an additional name on your personal profile which will show up in brackets after your real name if you want it on there too.

[Joseph]

Make it a reading club page about your writing. If you make an author page, fb will limit the natural organic reach of it horribly, and try HARD to get you to buy advertising.

[Diana]

Facebook only allows normal people to have one personal profile using your email and other data. Scammers somehow get around this. You can create an author page but it would not have the same level of access to people on their algorithm unless you pay to promote it, because FB is evil that way. If you can make your personal page appropriate to represent you, that will help you build relationships easier. Meaning keep it clean of personal drama, fights, inappropriate posts, etc.

I keep my profile focused on books, writing, art, music, film and TV, fun memes and the occasional cute kitten