About a year ago I made the hard decision to take my email address off of my website. Last week I made the even harder decision to disable comments on my main blog.

Please don't think this is because I hate hearing from readers. In fact, the opposite is true: I LOVE hearing from readers. But, unfortunately, writers are so available these days via connections like email, MySpace, Twitter, etc that these connections are easily abused--every day.

And things that are abused... Well, things that are abused can't last.

This is something I've talked about with writer friends on many occasions--the things that make us want to be more or less accessible. What follows is a guide I've written based on those things.

So remember, this post isn't complaining about when people contact their favorite authors--it's about how to stop the abuse of author contact information so that authors can stay accessible for many years to come.

Save the author emails!


--Ally



1. Please don't share personal information (like your address, phone number, school, etc.).
We are still strangers, after all. And internet safety is serious business.


2. Please don't send an author forwarded messages or mass mailings.
Every minute an author has to spend deleting (or blocking) spam or unwanted messages is a minute they're not writing their next book. If you like the author's work so much you're writing to him or her, then please value the time it takes to do that work.


3. Please don't ask questions that are already answered on the author's website.
This is partly a time thing. (Again, authors are busy...writing.)

Also, for me personally, it's a sanity thing.

Imagine that you're walking down the street and a stranger stops and asks if you have any sandwiches. You say no, sorry you're fresh out of sandwiches, and then you keep walking. Ten minutes later someone else comes up and asks if you have any sandwiches.

That might be funny, right? Now imagine that happening a dozen times a day, EVERY day. For years.

So you hang sign around your neck that says "I don't have any sandwiches" and yet people still stop you on the street, asking for a sandwich.

That's what it's like. It's not that authors want the people asking for a sandwich to be hungry. We just don't have any sandwiches and there are only so many times we can say so before going a little wonky.

(And, trust me, the sign-ignoring is far more frustrating than the sandwich-asking.)


4. It's okay just to write to say hi.
I think a lot times people think they have to have an excuse to write, so you ask questions you maybe already have the answers to (is there news on the movie, are you writing a new book, etc.).

Well, I personally think it's great if you just want to write to say hi or to tell us you've liked the books. You don't have to make up questions. A nice message just saying keep up the good work always makes my day.


5. Please remember that authors need (and want) to write their books themselves.
Again, I can't speak for everyone, but I find it incredibly flattering that you guys spend your time thinking about things that you hope will happen in future Gallagher Girl books or fantasizing about what the books will be titled. Really. That is SO flattering, guys, so thank you!

But...

You really shouldn't write and tell us your ideas.

Why? For a couple of reasons.

Reason #1: if by some chance the finished book actually resembles your idea you could sue us, complaining that we "ripped off" your idea.

Reason #2: we usually already know what needs to happen. Or at the very least we know that we need to figure it out for ourselves.

6. Please be patient.
Again, writers are very busy, but if we say on our websites that we'll try to reply to your messages then that is generally true. Still, there are only so many words we can type in a day, and the books always have to take priority.

And isn't that how you want it?




So there you go, gang, my general rules for the care and feeding of author contact information.

I hope it's helpful. Like I said, I've already taken my email down, but hopefully this will help my friends and colleagues keep theirs up for a little while longer.


-Ally