I was reading NAKED WORDS 2.0: The Effective 157-Word Email by Gisela Hausmann the other day. This is a book that explains how to write the ideal email. Most of the things Gisela was saying made perfect sense. Others, not so much. I attributed this to cultural differences.
Then, I met the lovely Kate Funk of Aussiessay. Aussiessay recently created a great infographic on Email etiquette across the world, which reinforced my belief that one should consider the astonishing variety of cultures before ever hitting that Send button. I’ll let her explain.
E-mail Etiquette Across the World
Thanks to the recent developments in technology and the Internet, with just one click you can send personal and business messages to individuals across the world. Before you do, however, you should know about e-mail etiquette. Keep in mind the needs of your receiver. After all, no person would want to read lengthy e-mails that are difficult to comprehend.
E-mail etiquette differs across countries all over the world. For example, in the United States, emails need to be sent fast and be kept really simple. It is exactly the opposite in China: business e-mails need to include all of the specific details of the business arrangement. Whereas in Africa, online users are more creative when sending e-mails. Whether it is a personal or a formula e-mail, many create personal notes for the receiver.
The team from Aussiessay writing service collected these simple rules of email etiquette into the infographic below.
Who is Kate Funk?
Kate Funk is a content writing specialist and team lead of the writers who created the infographic. She is passionate about different writing tools and other means to improve the writing productivity of her team.
mihrank said:
this is such amazing, powerful presentation…I very much enjoyed reading it!!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks 🙂
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davidprosser said:
What a pity she didn’t include the UK and Australia in the infographic. I’d like to have seen how close the two cultures are- or aren’t.
Hugs
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
That *would* have been interesting 🙂
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Gisela Hausmann said:
Thank you @Nicholas for mentioning my book.
Since I assume that many of your blog readers are authors I’ll share another “dirty secret.” Today, writing best emails opens doors for indie authors like never before.
Authors can pitch editors of magazines, anchors at TV-stations, and hosts of radio programs and podcasts, all – via email. It is well worth the effort.
Even though most of us spend a lot of time on the internet, many people (possible buyers) don’t pay attention to certain social media postings; they are more receptive to information they receive from the traditional media. An author, who talks about his/her subject at one of the traditional media outlets comes across as expert rather than an author who wants to sell books. People buys experts’ books.
The cool thing about this is, today, a well written email pitch can get an indie author’s book into the best magazines and with a well-written email pitch it is almost impossible, not to get on local TV in the United States. “50 Shades'” success broke down the barriers. At least in the US, practically every media outlet features indie authors’ work.
Even though editors, anchors, and hosts receive hundreds of emails per day, most of these aren’t really good. That leads to the best email getting most of the attention and with a bit of luck any author can get free PR that works better than ads.
Email is the most powerful tool in anybody’s “marketing tool box.”
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you for the great comment. I hope people are taking notes 🙂
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Bookwraiths said:
Very interesting post. While I attempt to tailor emails to the recipient, I never considered the cultural aspect. Now I will. Thanks, will be research this further.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Glad you found it useful 🙂
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Erika Kind said:
Very cool! Great adviced!!! Interesting how different those etiquettes can be!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Isn’t it just? I find cultural differences fascinating 🙂
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Erika Kind said:
It truly is, Nicholas 🙂
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Amazing how something like sending an email can differ so much among countries and cultures. Wonder if the crossing over of email styles is similar to a language barrier. A guy in America wonders why the guy in China is sending so many details while the other one is wondering why he isn’t getting much info. I could see frustration on both ends.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Oh, absolutely. Wonder how we can build these differences into our writing, too. For example, one race – say the dwarfs – will be laconic, thereby confusing a more verbose race.
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Charles Yallowitz said:
True. I usually don’t play with languages because I lose track of the difference. Yet there could be a change in tone, conjunction usage, and the ‘roughness’ of how they speak.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I’ve done that with one of my First; Lehmor. He speaks in very short, laconic sentences. I always wonder if anyone has noticed 😀
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Charles Yallowitz said:
The best I do is having nobles not use contractions. Timoran and Aedyn do it too. Guess Fizzle may count.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
My personal test is whether you can identify a character within a dialogue, even without tags. I believe Fizzle definitely counts 🙂
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Charles Yallowitz said:
Those tags drive me nuts. Especially when you have 6-7 characters talking in one scene.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Tell me about it… Sigh…
Of course, I rarely use tags anymore; just beats.
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Charles Yallowitz said:
I use tags along with action stuff. That way it doesn’t feel like the characters are just standing around.
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Courtney M. Wendleton said:
Reblogged this on Books and More.
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Sue Coletta said:
Excellent info. So often I receive emails that break all these rules. Nothing’s worse than “By my book!” A little finesse and common sense goes a long way.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Hear, hear 🙂
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macjam47 said:
Very interesting post. I will definitely keep these tips in mind as I email more worldwide.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Glad you found it useful 🙂
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Allie P. said:
I do quite a bit of business with people in HK and I can add that it is best to write your emails organized into bullet points rather than organized into paragraphs.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks for that!
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Gisela Hausmann said:
Actually, I disagree with that there is nothing worse than, “Buy my book” or also “Review my book.” There is something to be said for a bold approach and if it is done well it may even succeed. Let’s face it, the Fortune 500 have been doing it for decades. I see Coca -Cola ads wherever I go even though I know more about Coca-Cola than about new authors’ books.
I truly despise emails who prove at least to me that whatever I did was stupid. Just the other day the author of a Christian love story sent me a review request. I don’t review Christian literature and I also don’t review love stories. Still, I replied with a brief note stating that I don’t review these genres and directed this author where to find the information she needed. This author came back with an email that began with the words,
“I understand completely, BUT…” These three words break three rules of how to write a great email and I hate this type of emails more than even the emails of authors who might say, “Buy my 5-book deal, one book for yourself and four for your relatives.”
With the words “I understand completely, BUT…” this author proved to me that me sitting down and hiving him/her useful information was a complete waste of time and that I should really become one of these “mean people” who simply ignore and delete emails.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Granted, there are things worse than “buy my book.” 🙂
Still, a “cold call” is always tricky. And starting one with “buy my book” a recipe for disaster!
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Jan Hawke said:
Reblogged this on Jan Hawke INKorporated and commented:
Another corker on Nicholas Rossi’s Blog via Kate Funk
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D. Wallace Peach said:
Very interesting. I never really considered the differences though I’m naturally apt to start out more formally, and then after that, reflect the style of the other person. Even though in the US we tend to be brief and informal, it’s greatly dependent on the point of the email and who it’s addressed to. All these things we need to know now in our global culture! 😀
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thankfully, most people tend to be flexible when it comes to interacting with foreigners. To ensure maximum impact, however, you may on occasion need to be aware of these things!
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heyjude6119 said:
Interesting.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I, too, thought so 🙂
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familyrulesbyplainjane said:
Fascinating!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks 🙂
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noelleg44 said:
Really interesting and something I’d never thought about. I think in the U.S, emails are a lot more casual and have more of a sense of personality.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I think so, too. That’s why I fit in so well 😉
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noelleg44 said:
You certainly do!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Aw, you 🙂
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beetleypete said:
It is always good to know how best to present emails in different countries and cultures, Nicholas. I like to always use correct terms, and abhor ‘text speak’ in emails that I receive.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I can believe that. Even your comments are unusually polite 🙂
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