Have you ever contacted authors of books that you read?

[ergative]

When I was in grade school we read Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw. From this I took away that most authors would not like to get letters from random fans. Sometimes I think of writing a letter to a novelist whose work I like, or with whom I feel some sort of connection (e.g., they write about my neighborhood). Then I think better of it and don't.

I have several times contacted novelists whose work I liked (Mary Robinette Kowal, Kameron Hurley, Nicky Drayden, Katie Mack), always after carefully reading their 'contact me' information on their website. If they publicly tell us how to get in touch I don't worry about my note of admiration being unwelcome.  Usually they don't respond, but they tweet often enough about how they like it when fans tell them they liked their work, and Mary Robinette Kowal wrote me back, so that was very nice. Absolutive, too, once wrote an email to Yiyun Li and she wrote back too.

I suspect that if they're so famous they find fan mail a pain, then they've probably got some sort of PA to handle it for them. And if they're not, then chances are they'll like the reminder that they have fans.

[apl68]

I used to work as an EA for folks whose course packets had 30 articles, all needing permissions.

Some of my co-workers had 2 or 3 profs to do this for.

We got them the semester before, (usually). (Thankfully)

Lots of phone calls and emails ensued.

M.

The university library ILL department I used to work for had a staff member whose main responsibility was copyright clearance for course packs.  He had some interesting stories.  Once he was trying to clear the work of an author he supposed must be deceased by now, only to find unexpectedly that he was still very much alive.  They had a nice chat. The author was an emeritus who seemed quite pleased that somebody wanted to use some of his old work for a course pack.

[xerprofrn]

It bothers me when they don't write back. Well known  authors I can understand. Too busy? I doubt it. Well, I doubt I will be writing more notes. It takes time to look them up, write and wait.

I used to joke with my students about this, when they were writing about a present author or famous person. They laughed.

Back in the early 90s when AOL was a thing--and long before I was in academia or even my current profession--I exchanged emails with Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy.  I wish I had saved them. I also talked on the phone with Cristina Hoff Sommers, and my step-daughter exchanged emails with Umberto Ecco while writing a paper about his work.

[aside]

Absolutely.  Several have restraining orders against me.

[adel9216]

Yes I do and I did. :)

[adel9216]

Absolutely.  Several have restraining orders against me.

????

[Diogenes]

I did in grad school, and it was a fairly well known book/author outside academia. They responded to my question within hours. My PhD advisor was mad because they've emailed the author multiple times with crickets every time. I got lucky I guess!

[Treehugger]

Yes, I once wrote to an author who was publicized that fact that he appreciated letters from readers and tried to respond in possible. The day after I sent my email, he changed his policy. Yikes! Hope it wasn't me!