I'm Not Michael J. Sullivan

When I first decided to publish The Crown Conspiracy, back around 2005--which at that time was actually entitled Heirs to the Throne--there arouse the question of what name to put on the book cover. My full name is Michael James Sullivan, and choosing "Michael Sullivan" seemed like a no-brainer. Then I did a Google search and discovered that Michael Sullivan is not a unique name. There's actually more than one. More than two even. In fact, "slew" doesn't quite describe it.

No problem, I thought. I'll add the middle initial--Michael J. Sullivan--and do another search.

There is a Mayor of the city of Lawrence, Mass.

Several US attorneys.

The General President of the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association.

A professional golfer.

A hand surgeon in Brunswick.

A general contractor in Pompano Beach.

And a St. Paul Police Officer who died on June 26, 1914 on duty, fatally injured by accidental electrocution.

The list goes on. I tried using "James" instead of "J" but by then I had a publisher and they balked saying the name was too long for the cover.

At least there were no writers with the same name, I thought...I was wrong. There's an author of stories for boys in Portsmouth, and an author of a stack of math books. Still it could be worse.

Then on March 30th 2010 Michael J. Sullivan published a book called Necessary Heartbreak through Gallery, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. And no I'm not him either.

I’ve received inquires and even fan mail for these other authors, which I respond to by providing links to their intended recipient. The most humorous is when those thinking I am the author of the math books question me. If you knew how awful I am at math, you’d get the joke. And of course, most recently as mentioned in the previous post, Laura Donoghue mistook me for the author of Necessary Heartbreak in her book on successful ebook authors.

It’s at times like these I almost wish I had been named Drinselteen Winterthistle--okay, maybe not.