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My technophobic wife has taken an increasing shine to internet shopping.

Point, click, receive, wrap… Point, click, receive, wrap…

At this point, you might be thinking this is another husband-rant about all of the clicking activity and the bill that will come due in January. Well, that may be a subject for another post (I hope the title changes), but right now I’m trying to wrap my mind around the amount of email spam that her clicking has brought us. You see, we share an email account. Mistake? Maybe… but it has worked thus far.

Here is the problem, cleaning my inbox is the one thing I’m OCD about. I need it to be current or I lose focus. At work, I churn through emails faster than a Gopher on balsa-wood. If I can answer it immediately, it is gone. If it makes me mad, gone. If it is ambiguous and may not pertain to me, whoops, I hit delete. My inbox is squeaky-clean. The one at work, that is.

The shared inbox at home gets bogged down in December with order confirmations, shipping information, and advertisements. Oh the advertisements. Did I mention my wife is a technophobe? So, while she has mastered the checkout function of two hundred seventy-four websites, I can’t convince her that they won’t think any less of her if she unchecks the little box that says, “Would you like us to send you an ungodly amount of emails that are irrelevant, obnoxious, and likely to cause enmity between husband and wife?”

I should be working a second job to prepare for the aforementioned bill, but I spend my December trying to unsubscribe from every mailing list known to mankind. Only they lie to you when they allow you to hold the illusion that leaving them is an option. It’s a web of deceit – an impossibility. You cannot be removed from mailing lists. “You have been removed from our mailing list. We are sorry to see you go” is a lie from the bowels of the earth.

What the little button should say is, “Thank you for verifying your existence, I will now torture you every fifteen minutes with a blinking email reminder of your incompetence.”

♦

After trying unsuccessfully to remove our email address from yet another list, I marched to the den, bowed out my chest, and sternly gave my wife an ultimatum!

“Either you learn to uncheck the subscribe button, or we are changing our email address!”

Women don’t like ultimatums.

Of course, our email address remains the same and though wounded and alone, I am off to fight a MailChimp.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 21, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

This month-long series of blog posts will explain author websites and offer tips and writing strategies for an effective author website. It alternates between a day of technical information and a day of writing content. By the end of the month, you should have a basic author website up and functioning. The Table of Contents lists the topics, but individual posts will not go live until the date listed. The Author Website Resource Page offers links to tools, services, software and more.

Yes, I Want to Talk with My Readers and Fans!

You are going to all the trouble of putting up an Author Website so readers can find you. PLEASE make it easy for them to have a conversation with you. You need to decide how you want people to contact you. Do you want to connect on a social media platform ONLY? That may sound ideal, but what if your reader doesn’t use this platform or that one. Do you make them come to you, or do you make it simple for them? Of course, I think you should make it simple for them and provide an email address. (If your site is targeted at children at all, please read and comply with all COPPA regulations–the Child Online Protection Policy Rule. Also see a later post on Privacy Policies.)

Do you want them to email you directly or use a contact form? It’s personal preference. I’ve never had problems with having my email on the site, but you may not want to do that. Fortunately, there are simple, easy ways to provide contact info.

Social Media Links

To provide social media links, either find a theme that provides them as part of the design or use a WordPress plugin.
The theme I use on this site is WPAttorney and it includes those icons you see at the top of the page and a way to link each to my various social media pages. There were more options than you see, I just used the ones I needed.

Here’s a list of 10 social media plugins and another list of 8 recommended plugins.

Email link

You can also use the linking icon on the editor of your WordPress post/page. It’s the small chain icon. Just add this as a link: Mailto:[email protected] (Of course, fill in your email address!).
Put this text link where ever you like.

Contact Forms Plugins

For those who prefer not to have direct mail links, you can use a contact form. This presents a form that readers fill in with their contact information and a message. The Contact Form plugin then emails you the info and you can respond as you like. Contact Form 7 by Takayuki Miyoshi is often mentioned as a strong candidate for this function. Search for it in Plugins/AddNew.

Do you Need a Separate Contact Page?

On this site, I’ve chosen to include the social media icons at the top of every page/post. Do I need a separate Contact Page? I decided not to do that. I include contact info on the ABOUT page, and those persistent icons, and feel that’s enough. But you might want a separate page with its own link on the HOME page. For example, if you do school visits or lots of speaking, you may want to explain your services and provide contact information in that context. You’ll need to decide how and where to put CONTACT links, but I highly recommend that you put them somewhere! And don’t make readers hunt for it.

How do you like readers to contact you? Social media–what platform? Email? Contact form? Or have you found a different way? You can Tweet me @FictionNotes! Or use the icons at the top of the page to connect on YOUR favorite platform. Of course, commenting on this blog is also contacting me. I’d love to hear what you’re doing with your Author Website.

Let’s talk for a moment about why I misfiled my tax extension. Melty Jello brain aside, bad software design almost cost my little family $2,500.

Background:

When I’m not wrestling a one-year-old into tiny shoes, I’m a User Experience Designer. This means I work with software companies to create easy-to-understand interfaces.

It also means that when I screw up my tax extension, I look very carefully at the software path that got me there.

Dramatic Reenactment:

It was April. I needed to file an extension. Like most Bay Area tech nerds, I hate mail. I consider it a personal affront if I have to print out a form, write an address, locate stamps, and put a letter in the whatsit…mailbox…thing. Naturally, my first step was to search irs.gov for “file extension online“.

Problem one: Too many results

The IRS site is too damned helpful. There were 948 results for my search. Many results were press release or blog type articles hinting at the existence of online extension filing, but containing no direct links. I wanted to find one or two good matches. Instead, I found a sea of irrelevance.

Problem two: Too many names

I hopped down a bunny trail for about ten minutes, searching for a feature alternately referred to as “E-file an extension”, “Free file”, “Freefile”, “Free Fillable Forms”, “Free File Fillable Forms”, “Free Federal Extension”, “Form 4868″, “Traditional Free File”, and “IRS e-file”.

Problem three: Inconsistent design

I eventually landed on a modern-looking site that seemed likely. I clicked “Get Started” and wandered through four increasingly less-well-designed pages which jumped from site to site, forcing me to read and parse options despite having already told the system what I wanted.

Problem three: Asshole account requirement

The eventual winner was a page called “Free File Fillable Forms” which required me to create an account and update my Flash plugin. I was already logged in to irs.gov, but that didn’t count. I created “a password that is different than my User ID, between 8 and 32 characters, and contains at least 1 number and 1 symbol”. All the eye-rolling gave me a headache.

Problem four: Misleading email

I received a spammy looking ALL CAPS email telling me my account had been created. I filled out the IRS extension form, which was the easiest part of the process. I submitted, and received another spammy ALL CAPS email saying “Your federal return was successfully transmitted”.

At this point, I fell on the bed and whined to my husband for several minutes about information architecture. Then I fell asleep, secure in the certainty that I had filed an automatic extension. Taxes wouldn’t be bothering us for a few more months, by which time we would certainly be getting more sleep.

Mon

Random Acts of Publicity DISCOUNT:
$10 OFF The Book Trailer Manual. Use discount code: RAP2011 http://booktrailermanual.com/manual

I’m sending out my novel today. Long ago, when submissions were paper, writers and authors often went through rituals to send out a manuscript for their novel or picture book.

• A lucky cat had to sit on the manuscript.
• It had to mailed with certain types of stamps.
• You kissed the envelope for luck.

IN these days of digital submissions, what is your favorite ritual before hitting the SEND button? Please leave a comment and share your rituals. I need to know what works!

Did you miss the VMAs last night? (If so, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Katy Perry and Lady Gaga were the big winners of the night — surprise surprise — and of course some of the other usual suspects including Justin Bieber and Britney... Read the rest of this post

Do you know the book, Fortunately by Remy Charlip?* My life has seemed a lot like that book for the last six weeks, especially my website:

Unfortunately, the company that hosts my website had a catastrophic server failure about six weeks ago, which meant no website, blog, or email.

Fortunately, they fixed it in about a week.

Unfortunately, my site and blog were missing pages, my email still didn’t work, and my blog kept disappearing and reappearing.

Fortunately, they let me switch to a new server.

Unfortunately, my blog disappeared for good.

Fortunately, my blog returned about a week later (nobody knows why). And it has a cool new design and background image!

Unfortunately, my email has now disappeared and they don’t know why. (Great timing, since I just gave out a couple hundred postcards and business cards with my email on them at the LA SCBWI conference** this weekend.) Update: email is back up and running!

Fortunately, I have another website for my pen name (Ani Louise), so if you’re trying to email me, please send it to: al (at) anilouise.com. I’m crossing my fingers that my sruble.com email will be back up and running again soon! Update: email is back up and running!

Unfortunately, I have food poisoning and had to stay in LA for an extra day.

Fortunately, the hotel had a room available and I was able to switch my flight. And I’m starting to feel a bit better. Should be able to fly home tomorrow (crossing my fingers).

* If you don’t know, Fortunately by Remy Charlip, you should check it out. It’s an excellent book!

** Notes soon … if I still have a blog!

I believe the standard for e-queries is to place the word Query in the subject line of the e-mail. But what if you are contacting the agent for a second time. An agent passed on my manuscript and was kind enough to tell me exactly what wasn’t working for her. She also mentioned she saw promise in me as a writer and would be open to future projects.

I rewrote, and my manuscript is stronger because of her feedback (it also has a new title). I would like to resubmit and notate her feedback in the body of the e-mail. But what is the best subject line for this kind of query: Re-query, re-submission, submission follow-up, feedback follow up, or am I fretting over the wrong thing? I'm concerned that with the hundreds of other new queries she will be receiving, mine will be placed at the bottom without a subject line that makes reference to a previous connection.

Every agent handles their queries differently so it's hard to know exactly what this particular agent might do. Here's what I do:

All queries need to have either the word "query" or "submission" in the subject line. I have cleared those words from my spam filter and set up a rule in my email program to ensure that not only do they end up in a query folder, but that you receive an automatic reply telling you your query has been received.

I skim through my query folder almost daily just to see what's there. If you are re-querying me I will eventually get to your query, so putting "query" or "submission" is probably the best thing to do. If you want to note that you made revisions, put something like "query for requested revisions" so that your book will stand out, but still clear the spam filters.

What if you get an offer? Most people will email me with the subject line "offer of representation," and honestly, I think most of these clear the filters. By not putting "query" or "submission" those "offer of representation" emails end up in my regular email inbox and stand out a little better. The problem is those pesky spam filters. An email like that could still get stuck, so if you haven't heard from the agent in a day or two after notifying her of an offer, email again with "query offer of representation" in the subject so that you guarantee clearing the spam filters.

Now, all that being said, I don't think that many emails really end up in the spam filters. On the occasion I take the time to look through them, what I typically find is spam. Lots and lots of spam. Rarely do I find a stray email from a client, editor, or author.


Jessica

Email is a weird thing. It's different from the old snail-mail letters because it's an almost daily form of communication. And, as many of you know, there are rules to email etiquette, things that those of us who are savvy in email know about and those who aren't, don't. If you don't feel you're up on email etiquette, but are entering a business relationship (with editors and agents), I would suggest you bone up on what you need to know.

While I'm certainly no etiquette maven, here are some mistakes I've seen over the years, and I'm sure many of you see them as well.

1. All caps means you're yelling. Do NOT use all caps or caps lock unless you are truly angry and plan on yelling at your agent or editor. Even if we know you didn't intend to yell at us, it's hard to get your screaming voice out of our head as we're reading.

2. Subject lines are for a subject, not for the entire message. If an author types the entire message in the subject line and not in the email, I can't help but feel I'm being chastised. Like the author was angry and couldn't even reach the actual email space.

3. Speaking of subjects: If possible, make your subject relate to your email. That way, before even opening it I get a glimpse of what you're getting in touch about.

4. If possible avoid using fancy templates. They look great when you're composing your email, but they never seem to translate well in the sending. Basically, they usually just make an email difficult to read. Plain white emails with black, simple type work best for me.

5. Keep the message thread alive. Set up your email so that the message thread (the message you're replying to) remains at the bottom of the email. This is especially helpful with queries so that I know what query you're referring to, but also with client emails so that, if needed, I can take a quick perusal of the conversation.

6. Make sure your professional contacts are not included in chain email, or funny forwards.

7. If you have a spam clearance on your email, make sure to clear people you are expecting replies from. This is especially true of queries.


There are probably more tips that others can think of, but these are the common problems I most often see.

Jessica

Borders’ CEO Mike Edwards has written an email to the 41 million members of the Borders Rewards loyalty program. In his note, Edwards promised customers that if they can’t find a desired book in a Borders store, the bookseller will order it and priority ship it free of charge to the customer’s home.

According to AnnArbor.com, this free service will be available until June 12th. The article offered this quote from the email: ”I hope you visit your neighborhood Borders and find that special book that speaks to you personally … It’s our way of showing our appreciation for your continued support and loyalty.”

Currently, Borders continues to struggle to reach an agreement with publishers about future book shipments. As we noted earlier, Edwards emphasized that Borders’ ability to weather the crisis is dependent on the support of publishers. What do you think?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

I’ve been reading with interest the news stories lately about Epsilon. For those of you who don’t know Epsilon is a company that does marketing. Many companies give Epsilon customer lists and Epsilon uses that information to, say, email you about the latest Hilton Honors promotions. Except that there was a data breach and Epsilon lost up to 250 million email addresses

The reason I care about this at all is two reasons. One, there is a useful analog with libraries and how they handle their email lists of patrons. Obviously patron data is private and comes under whatever privacy laws a state has and whatever policies the library has. But is a library allowed to market to patrons? Or give these lists to peopl to market on the library’s behalf? This was the concern when the public library in Dixon California emailed patrons to let them know about ongoing library renovation plans and asked them to consider making donations. People who are not pleased with the library renovations, the Dixon Carnegie Library Preservation Society, is arguing that the librarian acted improperly when they gave patron email addresses to a consulting company without patron consent. Now let me just state I pretty well side with the library on this one, but it’s sure to be an increasingly contentious topic as libraries have more and more diffrent kinds of patron data to keep private.

And the second reson is just a cautionary tale. Many people with iphones are aware by now that the phone tracks where you go. I mean it has to in order to be a phone, but it stores this data in unencrypted form on both the phone and the synced compueter, forever. This means that anyone with access to a simple open source tool such as this one can make lovely maps like the one above. Good to know, and good to understand. As libraries move more towards mobile applications and mobile awareness generally, understanding how this sort of data works will be an important part of making sure we know how, when and why to keep it private.

When the kids come in with files from Office 2010 and Mac Office we always have issues. Our machines have Windows XP and Office 2003. How do we cope?
1. Google Docs is your friend. In almost any situation, Google Docs will take a file and open it so that a student can edit, print, save in another format.
2. Teaching students how to save in another format is NOT a waste of time but a time saver when the going gets tough. We prefer Rich Text because that format is available in all the platforms with all the software.
3. Emailing files can help provide evidence that the student had the work, they just can’t open it today. If we get the chance we try to ask them to copy and paste the document into their message, rather than attach it. Then we can copy and paste into our available word processing program or print directly from email.
4. Open Office is important for those students who have a computer but no money for software. Become familiar with it so you can help.

Coping with out of date technology is the fine art of making it work for your patrons. They can struggle to make technology work too, they just don’t obsess about it. They find a way around it. Take their attitude and make it your own.

For those who have my old email address filed somewhere, I've changed it to catephoenix (at) gmail (dot) com. The old address will remain viable for a few more weeks. You can also contact me via the 'contact' button above. I've decided to go for an online email account so that I don't feel tied to my broadband provider.

After another pleasant conversation with Virgin Media's call centre, I've decided I'm going to switch providers. I had the audacity to sign up for their wireless router (as advertised) and the cheek to enquire about the installation date so that I could book the day off work. The staff have a knack of turning the most routine question into a nightmare. I shall be glad to have my wings unclipped.

On a cheery note - because I hate frowning me. My new (well old actually, as the gmail account already existed, I just didn't use it) email has cute ninjas. This fact unimpressed my brother who had to suffer my squeals of excitement. You'd think he'd be used to me by now. Plus, I've created a new rejection folder that has no rejections in... Eek! Done it now.

Most excellent things that changing my email has done for me:

1. Cute Ninjas
2. On contacting an editor I had a submission with to advise of email change, I discovered my story was accepted for their publication. Yay!
3. On contacting an editor I've had an acceptance with for about a year, I discovered my story will be in the fall issue. Woot!
4. Cute Ninjas

That is all.

Hello!

So far, January has been a very exciting month! After the holidays, a plethora of great books are arriving from amazon.com, and I have been flying through graphic novels and trades such as Invincible, the Goon, Joe Mad's Ultimates 3, and Jim Lee's Superman run (hey, I am a fan of the last two. I don't care what other think). I also picked up two volumes of Drawn to Life, a series of books showcasing the teaching materials of Disney animator Walt Stanchfield. Its a real "back to roots" type of approach from what I've skimmed so far. And I just finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell; its a very interesting read and really inspiring. I recently read Gladwell's Blink, and I also recommend it if you are interested in how you make unconscious decisions. I think both of Gladwell's book have helped me with my previous post about how I am reading up on why we draw, how the brain works for artists, etc.

Wow, when do I have time to work with so many books?!? Well, honestly, I'm sleeping less to fit everything in!

Also, as a holiday treat, I purchased the new imac to replace this slowly eroding G4. Its so cool. Sadly, I have not had time to set everything up on it so I am still working on the ol' battle-axe until I turn in some projects on Monday. So once final art is approved I will allow this sleek new technology to seduce me.

What else is going on? Well, I just started an illustrator collective called Illostop. We are a group of young illustrators with similar interests and goals. Check out our blog featuring art and sketches here. We are also on facebook and twitter if you would like to be updated regularly on new work.

Speaking of blogs, I also want to share fellow illustrator Pete Ryan's blog, nonslick. Pete is a smart conceptual illustrator, and nonslick is a blog where he interviews art ditectors and illustrators. Its definitely a worthwhile place to spend your time!

And now for some art. Here is a new editorial recently completed for Carli at Macworld. The article's focus was using IMAP to link all of your email accounts/locations so that you can access any of your email from anywhere. Whoa, technology. I can't wait for the future beyond 2010. the final art:


And here are the sketches:
The article spoke about how one would be able to access desktop email remotely via iphone.

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