Comments on: Writers Beware! Protect Yourself

By: Mind Sieve 9/12/11 « Gloria Oliver

Mind Sieve 9/12/11 « Gloria Oliver — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:32:59 +0000

[...] the Steve Laube Agency blog – Writers Beware! Protect Yourself! Kinda scary really. Good, sensible advice [...]

By: Coleen Sosa

Coleen Sosa — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:22:46 +0000

In response to the email address one – this may not be the best way but like Timothy said, I think the bots are smarter. The address I list on my website is not my main address. It forwards to my main address. If I start seeing spam from it I can delete it and add a new one. I like the idea of a form, and maybe when books come out that would be a good idea, but for now I like it be accessible.

By: Michael Joshua

Michael Joshua — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:47:08 +0000

My wife just told me she wants a PO box on my business cards – she’s always a step ahead of me – thanks for the info.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:53:21 +0000

Wow, great advice! Thanks so much!

By: Michael K. Reynolds

Michael K. Reynolds — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:06:28 +0000

These are outstanding suggestions. Unfortunately, in the age of the Internet, any information you share online has a sense of permanency to it. Once the search engines get their claws onto it, it can be available to everyone for a long period of time.

Even for those just entering into the market, these are wise words to heed.

The question you should ask yourself with every Blog, Facebook or Twitter post, am I okay with this being available to everyone and out there forever?

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:53:51 +0000

Wendy,
The idea of using a throw-away address is very good. But remember to take care not to reply to one using your permanent address. Otherwise that private address is out into the wild.

Our agency uses a couple of different addresses for the general agency in-box. This can help to also identify where that person got the address in the first place. It is not scientific data, but interesting nonetheless.

I have one client who create a Very-Important-Person (VIP) address which is given only to their agent, editor, and closest business associates. The author then set up a “rule” in an email system to pull those notes into a special folder that is at the top of that list. Those of us in this inner circle know to never share that email with anyone. This helps the author keep priority business associates all in one place.

If you own your own domain web address your hosting service likely gives you up to 100 email addresses as part of their service. If you are strategic about it you can use these addresses to your benefit.

I have a separate email just for online transactions and another just for newsletter subscriptions or registrations. This keeps that sort of stuff out of my business related in-box.

By: Wendy Delfosse

Wendy Delfosse — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:01:19 +0000

In response to the email address one – this may not be the best way but like Timothy said, I think the bots are smarter. The address I list on my website is not my main address. It forwards to my main address. If I start seeing spam from it I can delete it and add a new one.
I like the idea of a form, and maybe when books come out that would be a good idea, but for now I like it be accessible.

By: Kyle Duncan

Kyle Duncan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:09:40 +0000

Excellent, practical advice for every writer–from beginner to multi-published. Thanks, Steve and Ellie, for such sound advice.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:02:20 +0000

Christeene,

That is great! Each little tip we learn helps us move to another level of professional competence.

Steve Laube

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:01:09 +0000

Timothy,
Thank you for your comment. The suggestion we offered above has worked in the past. It may be that it is now outdated.

As for the email form in Facebook? I personally do not like it since it creates yet another in-box to maintain. I use Outlook exclusively for my office management since I can better keep all communication in one place. Tried to use gmail as an alternate but their use of “threads” and their inability to easily drag and drop conversations into client folders prevented the switch.

But that is just me. The beauty of technology is that each of us can adapt and adopt whatever program works for us. None is “better” than another.

Steve Laube

By: Christeene Fraser

Christeene Fraser — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:59:34 +0000

Thanks for this article Steve! I ran into this very problem after I recently won a poetry prize. I started getting threatening emails from a fellow entrant if you can imagine that! I am definitely going to take Ellie’s tip in setting up an “Assistant account” for online contact.

By: Timothy Fish

Timothy Fish — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:34:23 +0000

Setting up an online contact form works. Trying to confuse the spiders by adding spaces to e-mail addresses doesn’t. The people who write the spider code aren’t stupid. They simply have the spider remove the spaces, convert [at] to @, etc. If you’re going to list your e-mail, you might as well provide a link to it, so that people can use it easily. If SPAM is a major concern, an easy option is to just have people use the e-mail form built into Facebook.