To Nom or not to Nom? That is the question.

To nom or not to nom?  That is the question.

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The other day, I was thinking about writing in general and how some folks choose to use a nom de plume.
I can see various reason to choose to do so and some rationalizations for it, but am of a divided mind on the subject.

Some authors have chosen to publish under multiple names to allow them to publish more than one story per issue of a magazine.  Yet others simply wish to conceal their real identity for one reason or another.

Early women writers wrote under men's names when their work would have not been taken seriously when the author was known to be a woman or when it was considered unbecoming for a woman to have interests other than accepted female pursuits.   Examples of this would include folk like Mary Ann Evans who wrote ad George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte who wrote as Currer Bell and Karen Blixen who wrote as Isak Dinesan.
Andre Norton chose her pen name because she felt that a man's name would be more acceptable in her genre and other authors have chosen to use initials for the same reason, including J.K. Rowling and D.C. Fontana.  

J.D. Robb could also be added to that list, but gets added to this subsequent thought because she is also known as Nora Roberts.   One of the best reasons in my way of thinking for using a nom de plume is because you write in multiple genres.   It seems a neat and tidy way of lining up your work and it would, perhaps, keep the readers happy, as they would know what sort of book they were getting, based upon the author's name.

Personally, I know I have ideas for stories in more than one genre floating in my head and I've thought about using different identities to publish them.   My main problem with the idea, especially in today's world which is wound up in a complex maze of email, Facebook, Twitter and other such sites is the potential for a huge mess keeping up with separate identities.  I have enough difficulty keeping track of my accounts and passwords as it is!   I can't imagine trying to maintain multiples.

So for me, at least, I remain undecided on this question.   I wonder what others may think?

With Regards,

Kirsten