Dedicated email address for querying?

[LStein]

Hi all,
I've seen the advice that one should have a separate email address for querying so you don't go nuts every time you check your regular email. I think this is good advice but I'm having a lot of trouble choosing a new email address since I assume this one would follow me, if I'm lucky, through my author career. My name @ gmail is taken. So, what should I do?

(I realize that this may be just another way for me to avoid starting to query but I'd still love to hear your thoughts!)

 

[Unimportant]

I don't know that it has to be dedicated, but it does need to be:
1. Reliable
2. Not affiliated with something else (e.g. not your work email)
3. Nothing that will turn off editors/agents/people (e.g. [email protected])

I believe it is possible to have folders within gmail or outlook or whatever that shifts emails into those folders? (I am IT-clueless, but ask someone like @ChaseJxyz) so you could use the main folder for your real email and the Fiction Folder for querying etc.

 

[Tazlima]

I went with PenNameAuthor for mine. Simple, clear, and available.

 

[Maryn]

When [email protected] is taken, I check to see if it's available with my middle initial, seeking MarynKBlackburn. (Wild! My pseudonym doesn't even have a middle initial!)

You also have the option of adding the word books. [email protected] is probably available.

Edit: Crossposted with Tazlima, who has the same idea but got in there first.

 

[LStein]

When [email protected] is taken, I check to see if it's available with my middle initial, seeking MarynKBlackburn. (Wild! My pseudonym doesn't even have a middle initial!)

You also have the option of adding the word books. [email protected] is probably available.

Edit: Crossposted with Tazlima, who has the same idea but got in there first.

Thanks! I already use my middle initial in my regular gmail but I'll think about using mynamebooks.

 

[LStein]

I went with PenNameAuthor for mine. Simple, clear, and available.

I like this. Or maybe NameWriter. Or Namewrites.

 

[Larry M]

Thanks! I already use my middle initial in my regular gmail but I'll think about using mynamebooks.

You can also use an underscore:

myname_@email
my_name@email

 

[Chris P]

I believe it is possible to have folders within gmail or outlook or whatever that shifts emails into those folders? (I am IT-clueless, but ask someone like @ChaseJxyz) so you could use the main folder for your real email and the Fiction Folder for querying etc.

Are you referring to aliases? Where several email names all come to the same inbox?

My original email address was hard for people to remember, but I used it for so much I didn't want to go through the pain of changing it everywhere. So I created an alias that was much easier for people to remember, and started giving that address out. Not a hint of a problem. The only thing to keep an eye on is when replying that you are replying using the right alias (it was defaulting to the original email addy sometimes).

 

[Paul Lamb]

I basically have three email addresses. The one I use for my writing is [email protected]. Putting the period in the middle distinguished it. (Also the last letter of the first name and the first letter of my last name are the same, so the period helps make it clear the letter appears twice.)

I also have a email address for correspondence with friends and family. And I have a third one for junk mail, like when I'm filling out forms or ordering stuff online.

 

[ChaseJxyz]

I have a million email addresses because I'm an idiot, but they all land in my gmail inbox, using POP/IMAP/idek. The only thing that's truly separate is my work email, for obvious reasons.

Depending on the service/app you use, you can have emails that meet certain conditions be automatically labeled or put into a folder or something! How exactly you go about doing that depends on what program you're using to access your email, and/or what's "baked in" to the web email client (as in whats on mail.google.com).

At work, for example, I use Outlook365. One of the things I manage is a marketplace, so I get all the emails that come from it, but most I don't need to see (such as "Great! Your [item] sold!" or "A shopper has left a review") but I may need to dig up at some point. So I have rules that say something like "If ( SUBJECT contains "has left a review" + FROM is "[email protected]" + TO is "[email protected]") THEN {move to folder "marketplace stuff" + mark email read}". But what you're doing is probably not going to be this complex lol. You can just have something like "If( TO is "[email protected]") THEN {move to folder "query hell"}" The "inbox" is generally a separate folder than...well, other folders, so it being moved to a new folder will keep it from staring at you when you first open your email lol. But you'll get a little unread count on your folder, which will probably be off to the side.

Of course, if you do it this way, then you run the risk of forgetting to check and missing something timely. There's lots of ways to set this up and it isn't too difficult, since all modern email apps should have something like this.

 

[LStein]

I basically have three email addresses. The one I use for my writing is [email protected]. Putting the period in the middle distinguished it. (Also the last letter of the first name and the first letter of my last name are the same, so the period helps make it clear the letter appears twice.)

I also have a email address for correspondence with friends and family. And I have a third one for junk mail, like when I'm filling out forms or ordering stuff online.

Unfortunately, putting a period in doesn't help. It's already taken. And I have an unusual name!

 

[LStein]

I have a million email addresses because I'm an idiot, but they all land in my gmail inbox, using POP/IMAP/idek. The only thing that's truly separate is my work email, for obvious reasons.

Depending on the service/app you use, you can have emails that meet certain conditions be automatically labeled or put into a folder or something! How exactly you go about doing that depends on what program you're using to access your email, and/or what's "baked in" to the web email client (as in whats on mail.google.com).

At work, for example, I use Outlook365. One of the things I manage is a marketplace, so I get all the emails that come from it, but most I don't need to see (such as "Great! Your [item] sold!" or "A shopper has left a review") but I may need to dig up at some point. So I have rules that say something like "If ( SUBJECT contains "has left a review" + FROM is "[email protected]" + TO is "[email protected]") THEN {move to folder "marketplace stuff" + mark email read}". But what you're doing is probably not going to be this complex lol. You can just have something like "If( TO is "[email protected]") THEN {move to folder "query hell"}" The "inbox" is generally a separate folder than...well, other folders, so it being moved to a new folder will keep it from staring at you when you first open your email lol. But you'll get a little unread count on your folder, which will probably be off to the side.

Of course, if you do it this way, then you run the risk of forgetting to check and missing something timely. There's lots of ways to set this up and it isn't too difficult, since all modern email apps should have something like this.

I think this is a little beyond me at the moment. And I would worry about missing an important email. Thanks, though! Maybe in the future I can figure that out.

 

[Nether]

I've seen the advice that one should have a separate email address for querying so you don't go nuts every time you check your regular email.

I can't really see that being an issue. I just use my professional-looking email address for most stuff, and then emails without my name in it for other stuff. (And then the work one is always just for work stuff.)

Personally, I think I'd probably go more neurotic if I was constantly checking a separate email for updates. And my normal email gets enough stuff that I'm not going in there expecting it'd be about a query.

Granted, I see other benefits with a dedicated email, such as things being more orderly.