This is my debut year for Ruby St. George, and after writing hard for two years (I’m a fast writer, but I always take loooong breaks between books!) I rapid released the first three books in my new paranormal romance series in late 2025. I started a mailing list for Ruby about a year ago with a reader magnet that I gave away on Book Funnel and it’s built to around 800 subscribers, which helped hugely with the launch.
Why would I do this? Why start a third pen name- three websites, three social media handles, three mailing lists, three brands? To be honest, it wasn’t a thought out decision, it’s just how it’s evolved.
I’ve been writing since 2013, when I realised I never did anything just for me. I had an accounting business, a husband, and a couple of kids and was involved in the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Women’s Network, Rotary, and the school P&C, with Board / Committee positions on all of them including both president and treasurer roles over the years. So I stepped back a little from all those positions and started trying different things that I had always wanted to do but never had time for. Writing was the one that stuck – I started with a course with the Australian Writers' Centre and joined an online writing group from there.
I started writing my first book and got stuck halfway through, which led me to dive deeper into story structure. As an aside, I got to share some of those learnings with other writers last weekend at the Writers for Writers event run by the Port Macquarie Writers Group. I was so nervous! But it was good, we had some great conversations and people actually did the exercise I gave them! And read their work out afterwards! It was fabulous.
I finished writing that first book and pitched it at my first Romance Writers of Australia conference in 2017 (in Brisbane), got three yes’s and was very excited. But when I thought about it, I decided I didn’t want the kind of pressure that came with traditional publishing. I wanted to set my own deadlines. I didn’t want any more stress than I already had. And so began my indie publishing journey.
I published my first small town romantic suspense in 2018 under my real name (hi, I’m Tracy Brenton). It was an experiment – first person, one point of view. It was fun. And it was a little spicy. I think we called it steamy back then. Or maybe it was the days of ‘open door’. In any case, when I segued into sweet contemporary young adult books, after being inspired by a conversation with one of my kids, I decided I better use a pen name (Tess Mackay) in case one of those impressionable teenage readers accidentally picked up the other genre and got more than they bargained for.
After my husband passed away in October 2019 I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep writing. But I’d already started my third YA book, The Full Story, and eventually I decided to finish it.
Then I got an idea for a paranormal romance. But would my contemporary adult and YA readers follow me across genres? I decided to start another pen name, and Ruby St. George was born!
I wrote the novella Shadow Magic in a whirlwind, put it up in an anthology, then promptly went back to write my second small town romantic suspense book. Hearts Sing is also written in first person, but this one has both his and her points of view. Another experiment, and heaps of fun. There’s still more books in that series planned (and I’ve got a short story and a freebie novella already out too), but they’re on the back burner for the moment as I focus on Ruby’s books.
For now, I’m loving writing paranormal. I’ve published four Ruby St. George books, including the prequel novella. The Touch of Magic series is a continuing series, and I did that thing I never wanted to do – I set myself a deadline. Book four is up for pre-order! It will be a six book series once complete, plus the novella, and I’m brimming with shiny new paranormal ideas for Ruby and can’t wait to bring them to life!
This year I will publish my tenth full length book. Three different pen names, three different genres (maybe four if you count the zombie-vampire short story) and so many writing friends! Writing has given me a reason to travel-to book signings, to conferences, to retreats-and awesome friends to travel with.
I love being indie. I love all the moving parts, that I get to play with covers, and formatting, and Canva, and all the myriad of other things we do. I hire my own editors, do my own covers (or pay a cover designer in the Ruby’s case), and the next thing I want to do is audio books. And shiny pretty paperbacks. And the discreet cover hardback too 😊 There’s always something new to learn. But the most fun part is that I get to create worlds and characters, and bring the stories in my head to life.
So how do I juggle three pen names?
For now, Ruby is for readers, as I’m focussing on writing paranormal. Tracy is for me, and it’s a hodge podge of writing stuff and life stuff. Tess is on the back burner. Those books exist, but I probably won’t be writing the fourth Wholesome Hearts book for a while.
It’s not a secret that I write under different names, but I don’t really talk about the others on my Ruby pages, apart from my email welcome sequence. Meanwhile, Tracy is over there talking about everyone!
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how many pen names I use, it’s still just me. And I’m having so much fun!
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If you want to read Shadow Magic for free you can find a link on my website.
My latest Release is True Magic, book three in the Touch of Magic series, and book four, Midnight Magic, will be released on 30 June 2026!
Latest release
Ruby St. George
Ruby St. George writes action packed urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She lives on the Mid North Coast of NSW with her feline companions, who rule her world. Ruby loves good coffee and lives by the motto ‘experiences, not things’. She’s always looking for her next fabulous book boyfriend.
You can find Ruby at rubystgeorge.com.
Juggling one name can be draining, so kudos to you for doing three! It does make sense to have them seperate for reader expectation. Happy juggling!
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