Why Do Authors Use Pseudonyms?

Anne’s got an interesting post about authors and their pseudonyms. She wants to know why an author would choose to use a pen name rather than their own.

She’s also got a poll going, asking why some authors do choose to use their own names. I’d like to know too, so any authors out there should hop on over and vote.

I'm pretty sure the majority of erotic romance authors out there use pen names. The reasons are probably two-fold, A, they don’t want their neighbours to know that they write smut, and B, they don’t want their children to know they write smut. *g*