In this most recent writing contest there were at least three entries that made me want to write to the authors to give them a heads up why their entry wasn't picked.
I clicked on their blog ID to get to their info page, and voila: NO CONTACT INFO. I persevered in some cases to their websites: NO CONTACT INFO.
If you're a writer of ANY kind --published, unpublished, hoping to be published, represented, agent stalking, DEAD---You Must Be Reachable.
I don't care how you do it: list an email address, have an email link, whatever, but make sure I can reach you in a NOT Public Way. That means: not Twitter, not Facebook.
The reason it needs to be email and not Twitter/Facebook is that I'm not going to say something to you in public about your entry. I don't know you, and you don't know me. We haven't gotten past the requirement to be polite to each other!
Click on your info page NOW.
No contact info?
FIX IT.
Who knows, that might be a requirement to win the next contest! (ok, it won't but honestly, don't you want to hear from me if I have info for you??)
I set my blog up over two years ago and as I was reading this, I was thinking, DO I have my email address there?
ReplyDeleteGoing to go check now... and yes, I'd want to hear!
Not sure if it was me, but I've fixed *that* issue, so thanks :)
ReplyDeleteMark, it was you. Actually it was ALL of you! *fixing entire world with the the fish eye of doom*
ReplyDeleteI get annoyed when people ask for help but require me to go to a website for contact details, then have an email form that requires signing up to some system with my personal details, anti-spam check, and all the works. Just to answer their unsolicited enquiry. Doah!
ReplyDeleteYES!! I saw a glaring typo ("baited breath") on the first page of a writer's conference site recently. I felt embarrassed for them and wanted to let them know about it...but no contact info. I didn't feel comfortable contacting the organizers publicly through twitter. Being reachable is always a good idea.
ReplyDeleteGuilty - as charged! I'm "fixed" now too, although WordPress doesn't make it easy. I had to use my "About" page...better there than not at all! Thx, Ms Janet!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I thought my email was showing and it wasn't. I'm glad I better understand how blogger profiles work now!
ReplyDeleteEek. I too thought mine was on display, only to discover it was not. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteYeah...me too!
ReplyDeletePresumptuous, oh yeah.
I love writing now so much; that I actually fantasized....
"Yeah it could happen...coulda been me." tips head sadly and goes
back to work.
Cheers Hank
I really don't care for Mr. and Mrs. Microsoft - that's a me problem
(less than 100 words- getting rusty)
Since I have two blogger profiles, I had best scuttle off to check . . .
ReplyDelete*scuttles*
Everyone lives in such fear and paranoia that someone evul is going to get their email address or name. I run a little mail order business. Many (many) times a week I get unsigned messages with no contact information other than a username. This requires multiple messages back and forth to get the person's name/address so I can fix/amend/find/ship their order.
Now, back to scuttling . . .
Terri
The DEAD bit just made me laugh out loud. At work. Oops. Also: yes. Being able to contact someone is definitely a must.
ReplyDeleteWow, great tip. How have I had a blog for six years and never noticed my email address wasn't there? I'm a foolish, foolish man.
ReplyDeleteFIXED! Feel free to e-mail me as much as you'd like!
ReplyDeleteJan
Fixed. Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteLike others, I thought my email was available, but it wasn't. Is now.
ReplyDeleteErm ... Oops. Me too. And, to my shame, I've had to be tracked down before as well!
ReplyDelete"Show E-mail" box well and truly ticked now ...
Still, thank goodness I haven't spent the last 25 years working in IT related jobs - that would be embarrassingly inept! Oh, wait ...
(Must be time for my biennial blog post too! )
Thanks for the push to go and check!
All the best,
Kate
Ah...dead...thinking of how that would work...something along the lines of,
ReplyDelete"If you need to reach me, press 7 for Afterlife Answering Service and leave a message after the tone."
*cough*
ReplyDeleteFixed.
Terri
Okay...so if you look asshole up in the dictionary, no wait...if you look up asshole with no posted email in the dictionary, my name is there.
ReplyDeleteNOW it's there with an email address.
Thank you oh kind agent. And to think this happened during Shark Week. My luck is never ending.
Go ahead, click on me, I double-dog dare ya.
Serious oversight on my part. Thank you letting us know. E-mail address is now visible. For the dead, I guess that would be an advanced type of ethernet.
ReplyDeleteI just checked. My Blogger profile has an email address, and I know my email address is on the About page of my blog. So it wasn't me!
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I have mixed feelings about that... :)
Mine is there. As a heads-up to other people, when I switched to google+, it changed a lot of my settings, so watch out if and when you do the same. I'll have to make a new box to make my address obvious on my blog again. Pain.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if I was a target, but I was an offender... Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteSo, out of curiosity...
ReplyDeleteI don't have a contact page, but I do have 'buttons' that appear at the top of every page, one is an envelope (click on it and your email client will open with my address in the 'to' portion).
Is this enough or should I have it on my 'about' page too?
(I'd put my full website up but I think that'll ding me as spam. Suffice it to say for those curious I 'own' EllieWrites2 :-) )
Call me, "Clueless in Cleveland".
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't anyone tell me?
Oh, that's right, no one had my email address.
My choice of execution: Death by a thousand *facepalms*
Guilty. I guess I was in paranoia privacy mode when I set up the blogger profile. Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm guilty. Just yesterday I google searched, How to be an Organized Writer. New step one: contact information. Thanks again Janet for always pushing us in the right direction. I suppose it helps to have never ending rows of pointed saw edged teeth.
ReplyDeleteEllie, as long as I can find a way to reach you, it's fine.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much on those auto-emailers but if that's what works for you, go for it.
And you all KNOW I'll be checking up on you sometime late at night when I'm swimming around in sea of Annoyance!
Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
ReplyDeleteAnd it shows them pearly white...
I can just hear Bobby Darin singing Mack The Knife. (Bobby who? Okay, okay you're probably too young to know Bo--- well, never mind.)
I was pretty huffy when you said "All of you...." because I knew you weren't talking about me.
After all, I wrote my email after my Janet story and I've had my contact info on my blog since 2008, so how could you possibly include me in with those people who forgot?
Well, I clicked on my Blogger information and...
Ouch!!!
You know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Lo and behold, my billows were definitely turning scarlet and spreading quickly to my face! I am happy to say, your Sharkness, I have updated my Blogger information to include a way to contact me!
Thank you, I'll go in the kitchen now and make some humble pie!
Oops. This entire time I thought I had my bases covered. Thank you so much for pointing this out! I guess I'm not as computer savvy as I thought I was.
ReplyDeleteMan, I hate to do this, but I am not 100% sure how my profile shows up. So, I am going to comment to see what happens. It isn't clear how Google + did in taking over for my Blogger profile.
ReplyDeleteWe ran into this issue with a Mystery Agent Contest on Operation Awesome a while ago--had multiple winners and had to spend WAY too much time tracking people down with instructions on how to submit to the agent.
ReplyDeleteCome on people, that's good news! Don't you want to be easy to find for good news?
Gah! Fixed mine, too!
ReplyDelete