u/Kris-Kat4813

Hi everyone! I've been struggling with a decision when it comes to my current pen name--i.e. whether to keep it or start fresh with a new one. Here is the context:

I finally have the rights back to a book that was with a small press that was originally pubbed 10 years ago. The bones are good and I've probably spent way too long trying to update it and make it better. (Perfectionism and being a people pleaser sucks. But that's another story.) The book that was published previously has a handful of good reviews. I want to self publish this book, and then put out book 2 out again, as well. (I self pubbed book 2 a while ago, but it's currently down now too as I make these revisions.)

I have author friends, other writers, and the small readership I do have on my socials under that original pen. But I also have some personal people in my life who found out (not through me) what my pen name is. It's annoying and it has caused me to freeze a bit in my progress, but I'll work through that best I can, or ban/remove them from my pages if needed. (At least I hope I can do that.)

The idea of starting fresh with a new pen was brought up to me recently by another writer/author. They suggested maybe, since it's been so long, a new pen would clear the block, no one in my personal life would know it, and thereby make me feel "freer" to write, market, promote, etc. And now I can't stop thinking about whether this is the way I should go, or if this over-complicates everything and will only make more work for myself in the end.

For additional context: I am thinking of re-titling the first trad pubbbed book because the small press title is just not great. At all. I believe that changing that and the author name will mean I have to do a copyright amendment, as well as for a second edition. If I do all that, I worry this will all cause an issue with KDP because of different title, different pen, same KDP account, and basically the same story/characters, etc. Not to mention starting fresh with socials scares the heck out of me because it already took me awhile to get where I am, which is not very far.

I feel like I need to suck it up and keep my original pen but at the same time, the idea of a new pen has me re-thinking everything. I know I need to make a decision soon so I can move on and get back to writing and planning for these to be out in the world again. Does anyone have any objective advice and/or perspective? Am I missing any other business or marketing concerns I should consider when deciding one way or the other? Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Hi all. I apologize in advance--this is a long post!

I have been stuck on SAVE since August 2024. I consolidated my loans to get into SAVE and got the one time adjustment before it expired which boosted my payment count by a lot.

I have also been on PSLF and have about a year left of payments on 116k debt, but since on SAVE, no payments and I knew I'd have to try buyback.

In April 2026 I switched from SAVE to another eligible plan. With not a lot of time left and my job increasingly iffy, I wanted to make payments toward PSLF and end this nightmare.

Within 2 weeks of my first payment (in May) I recieved a letter from studentaid saying I was eligible for IDR discharge bc I hit 300 eligible payments. They gave me until mid June to opt out. For weeks I have been going back and forth trying to find the date of the 300th payment bc taxes, and I've been ping ponged between the servicer and student aid.

I used the link floating around reddit last night to check my payment status and part of what it says near the top "qualifying payment count" 307 "eligible payment count" "forgiveness required payments": 300, "forgiveness remaining payments":0. (I can't find a date? Where would that be?)

I called the servicer for the 200th time and asked they escalate the call. The person I spoke with said the court order prohibits them from telling me the exact date of the payment but that if the payment count I told them (307) was wrong, he would tell me. He did not tell me I was wrong when I asked.

He said I've only made 2 payments out of SAVE (in 2026), and the 4 payments before that (for qualifying eligible payments) were in 2024.

I think this means I can safely go for IDR and won't have a tax issue. But the final date of discharge is chosen by studentaid. (The servicer said they can't pick a month I was in SAVE.)

I know this is a huge tax gamble and by my analysis I think I can safely move forward with IDR dischsrge but it's also a gamble which gives me heartburn. I could stay on PSLF but again, the job situation is very iffy and I am also really worried the feds will change PSLF rules before i reach the 120th payment. Does anyone see flaws in my analysis/risk of taking the IDR discharge? And thank you for reading this far. :)