I think a lot of people start blogs anonymously. For some, it’s a conscious decision. For others, it can just be a case of not thinking to use their picture and add their name etc. to their blogs.
And for a lot of bloggers, there comes a point where they decide they don’t want to be anonymous anymore. This then raises the question of how to go from an anonymous screen name to your actual self. This is particularly tricky if you 
don’t want to do a big reveal.
Below, I’m going to share my story of going from anonymous blogger to myself without a big reveal.
Why Did I Start Out Blogging Anonymously?
I first started my blog as s short term project to get me back into writing. I didn’t worry about branding or anything like that so being anonymous was just a natural choice.
I caught the blogging bug though and realised very quickly this wasn’t going to be a short term venture.
I tidied the blog up a bit and created social media accounts for it. But I chose to remain anonymous.
Why?
In the beginning, I had no idea if the blog would be a success or not, and I had no intention of friends etc. seeing me fail spectacularly.
Of course, I learned that success is different for different people. I’m unlikely to ever earn a six figure salary from my blog, or become a household name. And you know what? I’m ok with that. For me, a successful blog is a blog that attracts readers who enjoy what you write. I have that and I’m no longer worried about people judging.
The other reason was more complex, but probably more real. I was embarrassed to say I had a blog.
That sounds so stupid now, but at the time, it was a big factor for me.
Why did I feel stupid saying I had a blog?
Because I knew the next question would be why? Or what’s the point? And I didn’t have an answer to those questions.
My logo that I used a profile picture everywhere
When Did This Change?
It wasn’t long before I was using my first name in the blogging world. I didn’t ever have a fake name, so I had to call myself something and it seemed natural to use my first name even from the beginning.
The major change came about when I started using Facebook groups. Obviously my Facebook profile is in my real name so I guess my secret was out then.
What really made me decide to stop hiding behind anonymity was the lead up to the release of my first novel. How could I expect my readers here to connect me with my book if they didn’t know who I was?
How Did I Make The Change?
I didn’t want to make a big fuss about revealing my true identity, so I just did it gradually. I changed my Twitter name to my real name (not my handle, that would have meant starting over again getting people to know who I was) and changed the logo profile picture to an actual picture of me.
The profile picture I use now
I did the same on my Facebook page, Instagram account and Pinterest account.
And it was that easy. There was no barrage of comments. No one cared one way or the other and I soon saw that all of my fears had been completely unfounded.
Most of my friends still don’t know I blog. I don’t share my blog posts to my personal Facebook profile simply because I don’t want to be that person who is constantly spamming their friends with their posts.
Honestly, I doubt many of them would be interested anyway.
They do know I write and some of them buy my books and that’s enough for me.
And that’s it. It really was that simple. And the world kept turning at exactly the same pace.
Are you an anonymous blogger? Are you planning on changing that? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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Very interesting progression there!
Personally, I started my first blog, titled it “David’Z RantZ,” and filled it with all sorts of crazy articles and observations. Although I signed my posts and comments as “David’Z RantZ” I never made a secret of the fact that my real name was David M. Lynch, including using my real name in a copyright notice at the bottom of the blog.
After a few months of blogging, I devoted a month to writing an almost/kinda/sorta autobiographical story, and it was very enthusiastically received by my readership. This inspired me to create a new blog which was designed to contain nothing but stories. One of my readers had already dubbed me “The Silver Fox,” so I ended up calling the new blog “The Lair of the Silver Fox.”
Eventually I retired “David’Z RantZ” and took on the new handle of The Silver Fox. I still use that when I post or comment, but I still let one and all know my real name.
I love how the name The Silver Fox came about! I sometimes think it’s easier for people to remember a nick name as such than your real name
You are amazing!
I was never anonymous so it’s fascinating to see how you made to move. I also don’t post to my FB page, I did in the very beginning but I quickly realized I needed a dedicated page so people could choose wether or not to read. #AnythingGoes
Yeah I think that’s the best way – anyone who is interested can always like your page
I don’t post my posts to my personal Facebook page either and for the same reason. I get annoyed when others do it so I won’t do it to my friends and family. They also know I have a blog and they support it but truth be told they don’t really understand it so they just say, Congrats to me when need be and that’s that. I would rather more people who didn’t know me get to know my blog anyway. It’s actually easier for me to write on the topics that I write about knowing my family doesn’t follow it. My mom and my ex-husband are the only ones who do and that’s great by me. I saw you go gradual with it and I think that’s a great way to do it because people were getting to know you before the change so it wasn’t so surprising or int-eruptive when the change happened. Love your post Debbie! #anythinggoes
I always feel if people wanted to see that stuff, they’d be following my page. That’s the best of both worlds – they care enough to pretend to be interested but you don’t have to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings lol
It’s a really interesting topic. I think blogging anonymously is almost impossible. If people really want to find out who you are there are so many ways to do it. I much prefer a person behind a blog. I work on the other side of blogging too and would never work with a blogger that I couldn’t see or get a feel for. If they are too stand off then it backfires I feel.
Yeah people can always find you if they want to – it was more a case of not wanting my real life friends etc. to find mine and I doubt they be trying to. I know what you mean, although I was never standoffish, my blog has always been very much me, just without the pic
I felt that my family would roll their eyes when they learnt I was a blogger, but in a way they were so unimpressed I had nothing to loose. Now they are supportive and understand it isn’t a personal diary but a career choice and a tough one at that! I wish I could have been private at the beginning but it just didn’t feel right for me x #AnythingGoes
I know what you mean – I regularly get asked from family “are you working or blogging today” and trying to make them understand that sometimes they are the same thing is hard. I’ve given up now lol
I don’t blog anonymously as such, I just haven’t got round to taking a picture of myself to feature on my blog, and the name I use is a family nickname rather than my real name (although it is close). I had intended to be fully anonymous as I want to feel free to write about personal things, but actually I found that I don’t need to be anonymous to do that, I just need to keep my blog separate from people in my real life. And that’s really easy to do, as I doubt any of them read blogs! So I’m slowly putting more of myself in my blog, and it feels good.
#anythinggoes
I would be shocked if any of my real life friends ever read mine as well lol
I was tempted to go anonymous when I started up my new blog! But I decided to stick with my real name in the end. I feel embarrassed about blogging too sometimes. No idea why! #anythinggoes
It’s so hard to explain to non-bloggers, especially if they don’t read blogs either
You know, I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years all in and it never really occurred to me to do it anonymously! :O I think we tend to make these things a bigger deal in our heads than we have to tbh. 🙂
I was definitely guilty of making it a bigger deal than it was
People know I have my poems on my blog but most of the time I don’t share my posts to my personal FB page too, unless it’s something exciting, like trekking to a volcano as a mummy break. #AnythingGoes
Oh that sounds fun!
I only share relevant posts on my “real” facebook page, like I never share posts about blogging because no one would care, but I will share recipes or travel posts.
It is weird describing to people not in the blogging world what it is that I do. They kind of give you a look like “is that a real thing that people do?” 😀
Omg yes, that look lol!
I can totally relate to feeling a bit emabarassed about revealing that I was a ‘mummy blogger’. I work in a pre-dominantly male environment and since returning to work following the birth of my daughter I’d already had a few comments from senior colleagues about some of my parenting choices e.g. babywearing. So I I haven’t really spoken about my blog in work until quite recently and even then it’s to people I feel I can trust. #AnythingGoes
Everyone is so quick to judge and sometimes it’s just easier to not put yourself in a position where you have to defend why you blog
without my friends I’m not sure how many readers I would have ever had, or would have now. I wasn’t sure how long I would keep it up, but wanted to at least give it my best shot #anythinggoes
Unfortunately I think a lot of people who don’t blog don’t ‘get it’ so it’s a bit misunderstood. I think that can make people a bit shy about it. It seems like this was quite an easy transition so well done you. #anythinggoes
Yes, that’s so true. It was pretty easy and for the most part, I don’t think anyone noticed which was really my aim lol
I haven’t been anonymous at any point 🙂 It does feel weird saying ‘I’m a blogger’ when people ask about jobs and it took me about a year before I included it as my fourth job #anythinggoes
It’s just so much harder to explain that a regular job!