Managing ARC readers across multiple pen names

Authors write under more than one name for good reasons: different genres, different heat levels, or a name kept separate from the day job. ARC teams make that harder than it should be, because the easiest setup - one big list - is exactly what mixes your audiences.

Start with one question: is the link public?

Everything else depends on whether readers may know that your pen names are the same person.

• Open pen names (your website links them, or readers already know): you can share readers between teams, with their permission.
• Closed pen names (the connection is private): treat them as two separate authors. No shared lists, no cross-promotion, and nothing in an email that reveals the other name.

Most mix-ups happen by accident, not carelessness: the wrong sender name, a forwarded email with the other signature, or a "you might also like" line in a template. If a pen name is closed, check every template and sender name before the first send.

Keep a separate team per pen name

Even when pen names are open, run a separate ARC team for each. The readers who review your cosy mysteries are not automatically the readers who'll review your dark romance, and sending them the wrong genre is how good reviewers become non-reviewers.

For each pen name, keep its own:

• Sender name and signature on every ARC email.
• Sign-up page, written in that pen name's voice.
• ARC agreement - our reader agreement templatehas a [Pen Name] slot for this.
• Review history for each reader, per pen name.

Sharing readers between pen names

Some readers love both of your genres. If your pen names are open, invite a reader to the second team only after asking them - a one-line email does it:

Never move a reader to another pen name's list without asking. Apart from being unwelcome, it uses their email for something they didn't sign up for.

Tracking readers who are on both teams

A reader on two teams has two records - and they may behave differently on each. Someone who reviews every mystery might download your romance and stall. That's useful to know, and easy to lose if each pen name lives in its own spreadsheet: you end up with two rows for the same person and no way to see both at once.

Whatever tool you use, keep one record per reader with their history per pen name, rather than two unrelated records.

Reviews when pen names are connected

Amazon doesn't allow reviews of products from authors the reviewer has a personal connection with, or reviews of your own books.Amazon That doesn't stop you running two ARC teams, but don't review one pen name's books from the other pen name's account, and don't put close friends or family on either team expecting their reviews to stay up.

How ArcRoster handles pen names

In ArcRoster, each pen name has its own sender name and its own public sign-up page, and every campaign runs under one pen name - so a mystery ARC goes out as your mystery name. Readers live in one roster across your account, so a reader on both teams is one person with their full history, and you can tag readers by pen name to keep the teams separate when you invite. The Free plan covers one pen name; Starter covers two, Pro five, and Publisher unlimited (see pricing).