#FF00AA

Email: an author’s guide [via]. A very good read; I’m quoting the most important excerpts here because I had to translate them for my French readers.

Short emails rule. When I get an email that’s several pages long, I have to make some decisions: do I have time to handle this now? Is it important enough to come back to? Can I pass it on to someone else? If I can’t say yes to any of these, I will probably never get back to it. […] Supporting material or other important info can be attached, but keep it separate from who you are, what your issue is, and what you want from me. […]

[If you’re] getting a lot of responses asking, “What do you mean?” context is your problem. When you’re asking a question, anticipate any missing details that could cause an extended back-and-forth. Each time someone sends you a reply, you’ve gone to the back of that person’s line. Do what you can to make your emails count the first time. […]

Make your requests clear. […] You should set them apart from the rest of the message by paring them down to one sentence, with white space before and after. […]

Don’t give people an excuse to misread you. If you’ve written a request at the end of a long paragraph, or been passive (“it’d be nice if somebody could…”), it’s likely to have been missed on the receiver’s end. If you sent an email, you have a point. Get to it.