13 Things You Didn't Know About Stephen King
3. His Name Was Richard Bachman
Stephen King published many works under the name Richard Bachman in the first decade and a half of his career as a means of getting around the 'one book per year' rule that most publishers imposed on him.
It wasn't until 1985 that his pseudonym became publicly known and, at this revelation, he retired the name with 'cancer of the pseudonym'. That didn't stop King putting out the occasional book in this name throughout the rest of his career, with their author blurbs claiming them as posthumous discoveries of the fictional author's fictional widow.
The man pictured on the book jackets (credited as the author under the Bachman name) was actually Richard Manuel, the insurance agent of Kirby McCauley, King's literary agent.