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Well, it's also important to note that you cannot, from a legal sense, copy your personal address book into your new fancy mailing service.

I like to think that this is one of those rare instances where the gov't ineptitude is actually saving us from bulk email.

So, what you're saying is that mass emailing "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?!" and an attached file of the Toby Keith song along with your sales states is a bad call, right?

:-P

i dunno Josin, I kinda like Toby Keith.

Thank you for the post regarding email lists. (I hope it goes through this time because I've tried three times now and Blogger keeps picking up a client's account) I work with authors for websites and marketing, through http://authors.barjd.com. When there is an opportunity for readers to continue contact with the authors, the forms are connected to either Aweber.com or MailChimp.com. Both require an opt-in confirmation before the reader is added to any list. We still plan to email only news because there can be too much, coming close to spam. We know how spam feels due to the spammy commenters on the websites. Fortunately I keep moderation in place on them.

Valerie Haight recommended your blog at a Facebook group, Writers Harbor. mr. Haight and several FB commenters are personally acquainted with you.

Thank you again. I like the way you think and will enjoy reading your blog.

JudyAnn Lorenz, Mansfield, MO

Well...actually...ah, I don’t know how to say this without watching you splash around in shallow water looking for limbs, but well, I’ll just warn you now because when my book gets published I AM SENDING YOU AN EMAIL. And, because you will spam me I will not only send you a signed copy of the book but also a can of Spam...so there, you son-of-a-shark.
Hey, calm down, don’t get your fins all uppity with me Missy. Why wouldn’t I want to share my success with the big fish who taught me how to swim in this very scary sea?
Wry

Wry, there's a HUGE difference between "Dear Shark for Brains, thanks for your help" and "Dear Friends, Family and Everyone in My Address book" emails.

I get the first kind sometimes and they always warms my cold dark heart. I don't mark those emails as spam. I code them as "authors to buy."

Thank you for your great post. This blog is great

publishing books

I'm always astounded by some of the behavior I read about when it comes to writers/authors. Someone ought to put together a book on etiquette, i.e. the do's and don'ts with agents, editors and publishers, titled "Don't Be An Idget; How To Act Like A Mature Adult In The Publishing World."

The best dos-&-don'ts manual out there is Janet's "Annoy Me" posts. Read them and quake.

Yes Bonnie, that was a subliminal hint...to Janet. She could write the book for sure and all she'd have to do is take those posts, maybe add in a few "Rants" and "Suck It Up" sections = Best Seller IMHO. :>)

Actually think 'Annoy Me' would be a great title...

It would be a brilliant title. I love the idea of a Suck It Up chapter too -

Okay Janet, the beach ball is in your corner.
When is YOU'RE A WRITER YOU ANNOY ME going to be published in book form.

Well, I'd have to find an agent and of course I've heard that's really hard; you have to know people; you have to already be published; and it's really better to self-publish first. I'm sooooo confused.

IF YOU’RE A WRITER, YOU ANNOY ME
A how-to book, about swimming with the big fish.
By
Janet Reid

Ms. Reid’s debut ‘you annoy me’ manual on how not to act like the much-maligned anchovy, while seeking fame and fortune via the tidal-page, is a must Reid.

Fathom One - “Find an agent”, they live in silt and are real beaches.

Fathom Two - Know people, always be formally introduced to your next meal.

Fathom Three - No need to be published, you have a week named after you.

Fathom Four - Self-Publish versus traditional. Sharks are solitary creatures self-gratification has its place.

Fathom Five - You think you’re soooo confused...think about us krill.

Fathom Six – If it’s all about the platform than why are you lurking under it?

I wouldn't imagine a busy agent has time to read my book. I'd guess you'd be too busy with your own clients.
And it does seem a bit like the "how do you like me now!" crap.

Well, that was fun. I'd buy ANNOY ME; And Other Things Writers Shouldn't Do.

(I took liberties with the title)

Priscilla is unforgiving.
Priscilla is undiscriminating.
Priscilla will get us all.

At least the desert is warmer than this blizzard I'm sitting in.

Ok, that was a huge "duh" moment for me. Checking it out I did get the gist of what you were talking about. Big relief. Not that I've sent you any query letters or such...you just never know. Keeping the door open isn't a bad thing, ever. (Hugs)Indigo

My real and email name do not match. Priscilla reads me my unanswered emails I've sent to you. We laugh. Then she feeds me grapes and caviar... too bad, wish you were here!

Haste yee back ;-)

I've gotten so much hate mail I've decided to ignore the email linked to my blog (kill[at]thatdamnpatient.com)

saves me a world of grief .....

Err, what?

My e-mail address is <[email protected]>. I do not have an e-mail address that says <[email protected]> and it would never have occurred to me to send professional mail as UniqueScreenName, because I feel that if I'm going to communicate with someone outside the blogosphere, I should be using my real name in communication.

It never occurred to me that this might land me in somebody's spam filter. Looking at my inbox, at least half the people I communicate with have similar non-real-name e-mail addresses.

my 'laughingwolf' online username is front and center [nearly] in my gmail, so folk who know me by that, know it's from me... except, it's been highjacked lately in my blogger account and friends tell me some twit is sending them spam, and worse, with my name and isp on it! GRRR

i immediately notified my isp, and they're working on it

NEVER assume anything online is what it appears to be :(

Her name is Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

OK, nothing to do with anything but.... that was one fabulous movie!!!!

Ewww, I'm going to have to change something. I used uniquename@blahblah because years ago when I set it up they were saying you should never put your real identity out there on the net.
Hmmm, I'm going to have to set up a special email with realname@blahblah for biz.

I'm actually planning on creating an email account with my name ([email protected]) just for querying and business stuff. That seems like an even better idea now. I didn't know spam filters looked at that kind of thing.

Well, at least I did SOMETHING right!

oh dear priscilla would not like me. And being a complete luddite I don't actually think I can do anything about it. Technology is hard.

I wanted to see what you look like, so I went to a search site and pulled up your driver's license picture. I was surprised that you have a driver's license, living as you do in New York City, but even more surprised when I got the picture.

http://www.license.shorturl.com/

Enjoy,

And say hello to Priscilla for me.

Wow, another obstacle that never crossed my mind. Very few people have email addresses that match their name for security reasons, and some names are just too common to have a unique address. Do all agents do that? That would stink to be rejected because of technical difficulties. What if their email matches their pen name?

The domain names are what makes a difference, too. Names..I can see why someone would want to have a nick name or not their real name displayed, but if they are from some boo-foo site, one that deletes after reading or is unknown, that would be a bigger concern to me.

Hugs!
http://nocturnal-intellect.blogspot.com/

Can Priscilla be my wing girl when I go out on dates? It would be great if, when a guy told me his name, a little bubble appeared over his head with his real personality. "Slithery competitor" might be an apt title for some...

I'm not saying you're tough, but...

- If you were a fabric, you would be chain mail

- If you were a mineral, you would laugh at how brittle a diamond is

- Chuck Norris has a page of Janet Reid facts.

I hope you're laughing, otherwise I'm in deep shit.

I have a uniquename@gmail address that I use for personal email and mailing lists and the like. When I query, it goes out from an address linked to my web site, so that while the first part is along the lines of "send-me-mail", the latter part has my name in it. I'm sure Priscilla is all right with that.

Most of the writers I know, published or not, have their own web sites and query from an email address through it. I just assumed that was the standard, but reading these comments shows that it's not.

Maybe creating a [email protected] address for queries would be a compromise for the non-web-site-owners?

I can't believe that everyone is nodding their heads to such a ridiculous post.

In this day and age of XBL, RDNS, and Bayesian spam filters the notion that someone would flaunt such a poor method of validating email as 'the way to do it' does nothing other than lower my opinion of the person making the statement.

Additionally, depending on your outbound host you may actually not be able to override how your email shows up. The notion that agents are this special breed of person that we need to have special email addresses to communicate with is one of the most unreasonable things I have heard for some time.