Doing research - use of pen-name [pseudonym] - some advice with this

[Zulu]

Okay I am in the midst of starting some research for a topic I can see ruffling a few feathers. Now the thing is, I'd rather write it under a pen-name because my name [specifically my surname] is hardly common.

The thing is, is under my birth name I do have published works and in doing this research I don't want to come across as some quack just looking to stir up trouble.

The question is when inquiring of information from people should I include the fact that I have written works

Example of a sentence in the email

I do have published works under another name, however, due to the nature of this research I am publishing it under a pseudonym. The research itself is utterly anonymous and in no way will you or your facility be identified in the book itself. Instead the information you provide will simply be added to generalized stats under topics C, H, and X.

Any suggestions or throw out the previously published books and start "new".

[hillwalker3000]

I have written and had books published under my own name and under a pseudonym (using the pen-name for a different genre). So it's fine to have both. . . but I'm not sure why you want to use your pen-name when carrying out research.

If you need to inform your interviewees you already have work published it would make sense to come clean and tell then who you are. You can mention that the book itself will probably be written under a pseudonym - though I'm not sure how that affects them one way or the other. When the book is ready to be published, if you wish to inform these same people of its pending release you can then let them know the title of the book and the author name under which you appear.

If, however, you are carrying under-cover research and don't want the people you are quizzing to know who you really are that's a different matter - an ethical question rather than a writing one.

H3K