It is not unusual for a writer to have a pen name; Mark Twain, George Orwell, Lewis Carroll and many others adopted different names in their ordinary lives.
The reasons for having a pen name can be different.
Sometimes, if a writer creates something politically sensitive, the reason can be security.
It also can because of genre change – a thriller writer suddenly decides to write romance and doesn’t want to disappoint her audience.
Sometimes, a writer wishes to adopt a different personality, or to hide from family and friends.
But, sometimes, it is for pure euphony; an author prefers that his name sounds good, pleasant and memorable and that’s the exact reason I chose to use a pen name.
My birth given name, Ivan Bačić, is troublesome to say even in my native Serbian, and not to mention English or some other languages. So, I’ve switched to the Pen name I.B. Miller; I and B being my initials and Miller as a common last name and a middle name of my favorite author.
I’ve also changed my website from ivanbacic.com to ibmiller.net (.com was occupied). The old website is still available for my readers from Serbia. Now, when someone wants to recommend my website or blog, or any of my books, they can simply speak it out, which previously was virtually unthinkable without spelling it out.
In my case, my pen name doesn’t change my personality. I still write the way I used to and I am not disguising from anybody, I just wish to get closer to my audience.