Q&A Friday!

What's in a name? Edition

Hi friends,

How about some questions and answers today?

P asks: I'm approaching the end of a two-book contract, and my agent submitted a partial for my latest book to my editor. The editor came back saying the team wanted to buy it, but with one caveat: they want to publish it under another name. Basically, the numbers for the first book (the second one hasn't been published yet) aren't what they were hoping for, and they're hoping to kind of "refresh" my name with retailers by selling the third book under a slightly different name. The editor also told my agent that the offer would be off the table if I didn't want to publish under a new name. My agent thinks it's a good sign that they're still willing to take a chance on this when they could've easily said no, and I totally get what she's saying, but now that I'm forced to think about it, I'm oddly emotional about wanting to keep publishing under the same name. I know certain authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry have kept the same name throughout their publishing journey even when their earlier books weren't bestsellers, although I recognize that my books would eventually have to blow up like theirs in order for this to be a similar situation. Do you have any experience with this/advice to offer? Have you had clients change the name they're published under due to it being a publisher's request (and not a personal decision)?