Let's Talk About E-mail

If you're submitting stories, you need a "professional" e-mail address.

I was reminded of this as I was sending out e-mails to those who submitted stories for the Christmas contest. Some of you have some really cute and funny e-mail addresses. They show a sense of fun, personality, and creativity.

What they don't show is a sense of professionalism.

While you may think that your e-mail address is a great way to show your individuality, it really isn't a great idea when dealing with a publisher/agent.

Now, it's not going to cause you to get rejected or anything like that. But when I was actively accepting submissions as a publisher, and someone sent me a query or manuscript and their e-mail address was "foxymomma@..." or "eatcheese@..." or even "savethewhales@..." it did give me pause. I'd roll my eyes and think, "Are they serious about this? Or are they going to end up being a flake?"

So, if you're serious about a career as a writer, go RIGHT NOW to hotmail or gmail or yahoo or any other free e-mail provider and get a decent e-mail address. Ideally, you want your address to be yourname@... (example: johndoe@...) but if your name is already taken, you may need to get creative, within limits.

For example, if your name is John Frederick Doe, any of the following would be fine: jdoe@..., johnd@..., johnfdoe@..., jfdoe... Get the idea? If your name is really common, add a number (but only if you have to), like johndoe57@...

If you have a longer name, say Melissa Kay Jones, you can truncate if none of the above variations are available for your name. For example, melkjones@..., or mlssjones@..., or mlsskjones...

Now, go get your name before someone else takes it!