2 time wasters that drive me up a wall. #rant

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I get too many emails. Part of it is my fault. I've signed up for more newsletters than I can possibly keep up with. Clients and potential clients email me all the time, sometimes requiring a reply, oftentimes not.

I've tried to organize my inbox as well as I can. Certain types of emails are automatically filtered to a folder of their own. I can get to it when I get to, if I get to, or right away if it's important.

I try to use as many online forms (Google Drive) as I can so that clients don't have to email me constantly with their links, book info, and so forth. When the cogs are interacting as they are supposed to, things run more than smoothly. I can get a book promo designed, published, and marketed without ever emailing the client.

It's how I prefer to work, actually.

It's not that I don't want to hear from clients. The occasional discussion is lovely, but to sift through run-of-the-mill emails for promo details ... well, it's a waste of time, really. Usually it's my fault, so that is a compliant directed at myself.

But if it were only that...

<RANT>

I'll tell you what another waste of time email creates: unnecessary emails/correspondence from people who expect me to reply to each and every email.

Oh, that's everyone, right?

Actually, no.

If an email is simply meant to pass on some information I need, most authors are OK with not getting a reply from me. After all, if I had not screwed up and provided a form like I was supposed to, there would have been no correspondence to start with.

Unless there was a specific question or concern that needed attention. Those emails I don't mind.

But it gets worse...

I can sort of understand an anxious author who thinks I should reply to each and every email they send me. It's not the way it works, but whatever.

However, there's an even worse situation that drives me up a wall.

People complaining about something that was answered in a post I know they saw. (If I didn't provide the answer, the fault is mine)

How do I know they saw it (or should have seen it)?

Because they had to go to the post to order the thing in which they have bought. For example, the post will clearly state that I won't email them, unless there is something I need from them. They pay for the service, fill out the form, wait a day or two, and then berate me for not emailing them.

Did You Read the Flipping Post?

I don't always respond to those emails. I prefer not corresponding with such ones ... unless it is absolutely necessary.

Usually these emails are simply to verify if we got payment, their info on the form, etc....

PayPal has never failed us, and usually the Google Forms work flawlessly. If they don't for some reason, we will eventually email the client. Sure, occasionally a promo is delayed because the form messed up and we don't email in time. That's rare, so rare that it would be a waste of time to sift through countless emails, verifying that we are ready to go with a promo.

Some of this is our fault if we don't double check Paypal and the form in time, but if something gets messed up, we more than make up for it. There's no need to berate me across cyberspace.

At least most people keep it to email. Occasionally someone will comment publicly on this blog. I don't delete comments, even spam comments—another waste of time—but I may reply in a snarky way.

'I've emailed you, tweeted you, DM'd you, even sent you smoke signals.'

Not exactly like that, but you get the drift. But you know what my email would have consisted of? Two words or something like them: "Everything's good."

What really gets me is when an author complains that I didn't promote their book when I was supposed to. The thing is ... I DID. They went into a berated spiral without looking.

We all make mistakes, so occasionally I have to pick up after a mess, sometimes created by me, sometimes by them. But give me a break; I do fix it.

</RANT>