Oh, I agree. Many writers are launched as debuts that aren't even close. Even Andrew Gross' series launch hinted at it being his "debut novel" in the same breath that they talked about his track record of bestsellers in the same genre. They were subtle but tried to say both in the same paragraph more than once. I guess the point I forgot to clarify is that pseudonyms are often used to give an author who didn't earn out an advance or two a new start. (The other reason is that they're afraid they'll saturate the market or make someone they're trying to establish look like a hack. They don't always falsely claim it's a first novel, but they often don't mention that it's a pseudonym. (Kim Harrison, Lian Hearn, Jayne Quick, J. D. Robb (though that one's so complicated that I tend not to use it as an example)). Desperation and dishonesty have always struck me as guiding forces of publishing.
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