Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Email is so amazing! The fact that we can communicate privately and instantly without sending a stamped letter is awesome!
Email saves so much time when it comes to reviewing contracts for my clients. I am able to review a PDF version of the contract, email my changes back and receive a revised contract within a day or so. The final contracts are then either sent snail-mail, or I print copies to send to my client, or I forward the contract to my client to print.
Email also allows us to process our thoughts before “speaking” them. It’s true that emotion is harder to read in print, but a carefully-written email is usually better than a phone call. Emails sent back and forth also allow for a written history of a conversation.
I could go on and on about how email is fabulous, but I want to focus the rest of the post on how we can make email communication even better for us as we all pioneer the publishing world’s new directions. We need to take advantage of this gift of email as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Because email is such a quick way to communicate, it can take over our time. It can be overwhelming and frustrating. Sometimes I’ll open my email box, and 15 messages will be one word replies (“thanks,” “lol,” “smile”) to something I had written. When this happens, I usually groan and go forward with filing them, and I wonder why I had to spend time opening them. The problem is that I’m also guilty of filling other people’s in-boxes with “thank yous,” “lols,” and “smiles.”
I’m working toward making each email count in some way. The occasional brief thank you is appropriate, I think, but I overdo it with always being the one who has the last word. I encourage all of you to work toward the same goal–ask yourselves if an email is really necessary before you send it. We’re all struggling with overwhelmingly full in-boxes. And each of us can help everyone else to be more productive by limiting the number of emails we send. Pretend that each email costs a stamp. The time that’s taken to compose and read a message is worth more than a postage stamp anyway (even if you value your time at only $10/hour, spending 3 minutes on an email is already worth more than a stamp), so let’s save time and money together!
How do you streamline your emails? What’s the best thing about email for you? What’s the worst?
I treat emails like my manuscript, making them as succinct and grammatically correct as possible. I find it good practice. I too often witness sloppy emails filled with incomplete thoughts and attacks on English grammar. Emails give our recipients an impression of us, and we need to ensure it’s positive.
As an IT Manager who has administered email systems since 1994, I’ve witnessed all the benefits and evils of email. I scrutinize my emails as if they’d be published to the world. If my pastor, family, friends, strangers, and most importantly, God, were reading my emails, would I be ashamed?
The best thing about email: reach, cost, record, timeliness.
The worst thing about email: its impersonal nature. The same words can be read as either sincere, sarcastic, or belligerent, all depending on the reader’s perception.
As a member of ACFW I have learned that email can be an amazing tool for making connections, getting questions answered and learning writing techniques. I have also learned that when I open my email and there are 140 emails in a matter of hours it can overwhelming. In this instance I open them and scan them to see if they pertain to me in any way. If they do I save. If they don’t I delete. I prioritize them based on content. This allows me to go back when I have more time and re-read the ones I saved and respond if necessary. I love email. I don’t know what I ever did without it! It is an amazing tool to connect with people that otherwise would have been impossible.
I try to ck my email several times a day, reading first what I deem to be the most to least important. The best thing about email for me is immediate gratification. I admit it–ha! Not only is it more cost effective and efficient than snail mail, it is also environment-friendly and keeps my fingers limber for banging out my next manuscript!
P.S. The worst thing…when your email gets lost somewhere in cyberspace.
I have to agree with all the pros and cons of email mentioned so far. I love email, as well as text messaging, which I totally didn’t understand until I started using it. There is greater opportunity to express yourself the way you want to, since you’re seeing the words in print (or, er… on the screen) before you hit “send.”
Like Lance, I try to keep my emails professional and grammatically correct, if perhaps a little less formal than other forms of writing, depending on the recipient. I am definitely guilty of sending the “Thank you!” email. Because of email’s impersonal nature, I always want to make sure my tone is coming across and that people don’t think I’m being rude or neglecting them with a lack of response. Still, I agree with you, Rachel. We would probably all benefit if we imagined every email costing the $7.93 it costs to send a letter nowadays. (All right, so maybe postage isn’t quite that expensive. YET.)
I like what you said about having the last word and how it clutters email boxes. We’ve been taught that acknowledgment is polite so we send time-wasting “thanks” and “got it” messages. Perhaps we could enable the function that shows receipt of our messages?
One trick I use when I have tons of e-mail that needs attention is to go ahead and hit reply, then minimize that e-mail at the bottom of my screen. I cruise through the entire in-box, then go back and begin the process of formulating replies. This keeps me from rushing my replies in order to empty my in-box and lets me prioritize more effeciently.
And I have (mostly) gotten over the need to have the last word. Honestly, it’s not rude to let the conversation end naturally.
Very interesting article today. It’s hard to imagine what life was like before email and the Internet existed; though we did it for many years.
One thing I’ve done to reduce the number of emails I get is ask friends and family not to send jokes and chain letters along. At first some people thought I was being rude, but I work from home, and if I start reading one joke email, I might read another, and then my time is spent doing things other than work.
I also make a point to unsubscribe from newsletters if I find I don’t read them very often.
The best part of email is quick communication, but like others, I find it impersonal and easily misconstrued because people can’t see your body language to help interpret what you say.
I have to laugh on this one. Finally something I’ve never been guilty of: sending one-word emails.
As if!
But I do sometimes send one or two words in the subject line, followed by NT which, literally means, “no text” and can loosely translated by those of us who need lots of words to do the work a few could have done just as well, as, “Don’t bother to open the email. There’s nothing in it. All I wanted to say to you is in the subject line. Go ahead and delete it, now.”
I definitely do not think “thank-yous” and “got-its” are a waste of time. Not to receive or send. I used to deal with bloggers who signed up for blog tours and I found that when I sent “got you” emails and they sent “thanks” emails, it saved so much work down the line.
Of course, if I had thousands of bloggers I didn’t know sending “thanks” emails every day, I might change my tune.
I agree with Carrie. I struggle with the “thank you” type e-mails because it seems rude not to acknowledge the previous senders comments. They spent the time and effort to send me an email, I feel like I should respond in kind. But where does it all end?
I also love the convenience of e-mail, since I paticularly dislike calling people on the phone.
Unfortunately, e-mails do get lost (or shifted to Junk Mail folders) and this can cause many challenges, missed deadlines and frustrations. I have discovered a very simple tool when sending out important e-mails with attachments or when timing is everything. In my business, there are many correspondences that I MUST know if they arrived safely.
For piece of mind, simply add this line to the end of your e-mail:
Please send me a quick note to confirm you have received this.
If you don’t hear back, it gives you a reason to follow-up without being impolite. If you do get a quick confirmation from the receiver, you can rest easy and go on to your next task.
My mother taught me always to say “Thank you” as a basic form of politeness and I would feel guilty to stop. But maybe it would be better to add something like “Thanks only” to the subject line so busy people would know they don’t need to open the message. What do you think of that idea?
How many times have I wanted the ‘time’ to formulate a great response while verbally replying to someone and then also dreamed of having a delete button in my head before it comes out my mouth! It would be priceless.
I see a lot of comments about thank-yous. One question I always ask people when it seems like manners are getting in the way: are your actions self-serving or helpful to others?
Most people I deal with in the business world don’t want the thank-yous. It’s more polite to consider their wishes than your own.
I love e-mail but its immediacy can also be a disadvantage in that it’s much too easy to hit the ‘send’ key on a reply that hasn’t been well thought out. Speedy responses may be useful but can lead to impulsive retorts that are later regretted. It pays to take time to proof and rethink before sending, and I guess that would include evaluating whether our response is even necessary.
I do think there are certain circumstances where a thank you note is very appropriate, but mostly I agree with Lance…business people would rather not get those thank yous.
I am trying to be more conscious about the emails I send and I think if you are as well you will naturally know when to send an email and when it can be skipped. Best of luck to us all! 🙂
I love e-mails. When I’m on the phone, I lose the body language signals and often worry that I’m talking over the person if I don’t know them well. With e-mail, I can get my point across without the worry!
In one of my writers’ groups, several members and I used to daily e-mail each other, so we switched to a new Yahoo loop. Talk about cutting down on e-mails! It’s been wonderful.
For the most part I do not mind these one word replies, even though they are often superfluous.
I do sometimes reply to an important email with a simple “thank you” merely so the sender will be aware that I received it. (I too am frustrated when an important email is seemingly lost in cyberspace.)
Thank you for your insights on email in this post.
Hey, Rachel! I love email too! It’s my favorite way to communicate with most people. I can make them sound personal or formal and business-like. But I’m really bad about obsessing over every word before I send, even if it’s just an email to a friend! I re-read it and revise it until I realize I’ve spent a ton of time on it, when I could have just written it and sent it as quickly as saying the words!
I think I need to be more efficient with my time. I definitely need to use self-control and stop checking my emails so often. But I so love getting important, good-news emails and reading them as soon as they come in. It has become my addiction!