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:
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.
- "Anonymous Coward" at Slashdot.
- "Anonymous" at 4chan.
- Anonymous, the well-known "hacking" group. The one with the question mark and suit logo.
