From aliens in food, to pretty packaging, publishers and author scammers, here’s why you should stop hiding your contact page.

WHEN ALIENS INVADE – AN AUTHOR’S STORY.

Recently, while wearing that stylish bed-hair author’s suffer with when chasing down a deadline, I popped a microwave meal into the oven. I leaned against the kitchen counter as the microwave whirred in the background while my mind was still spinning in story mode and that scene.

Recently, while wearing that stylish bed-hair author's suffer with when chasing down a deadline… Share on X

Until the microwave’s ding, reminded me that oh, yeah, I’m cooking something that resembles food.

With the hot dish on the kitchen bench, I peeled back the clear plastic cover to let the steam escape from its bowl, while rummaging around for a fork. About to stab at my meal when I noticed something sitting directly on top of the vegetables.

There was an alien in my food!

PEELING BACK THE PACKAGING TO REVEAL…

The alien object in my food was the glass lens. You know the kind, the lens that fills the gap between the spectacle frames that most people call glasses.

I wear glasses.

So while peering at this foreign object in my food, I poked at my own lenses to check it wasn’t mine.

Then….

I paused.

It was one of those long pauses that incurred a whole load of sloooow blinking.

It was one of those long pauses that incurred a whole load of sloooow blinking… Share on X

It took a moment for the realisation to hit me and my stomach to clench and all appetite—destroyed!!!

Ugh! It was someone else’s glasses on my food, complete with their fingerprints. And as all fellow glass-wearers are aware, we all know the crap that gathers on our lenses. Imagine that falling into YOUR food and it isn’t even your lens.

This is from a brand I liked, effectively annihilating all my trust in one incident, by kicking that bromance to the curbside of never-ever-again-shall-I-touch-their-products. Ever.

THE PLOT-TWISTING GUT-CHURNING INJUSTICE

So then I had to tell someone! I was gutted, literally, with my dinner destroyed. My trust was destroyed. My focus on my story’s deadline was destroyed.

What was I to do?

I had to talk to the authorities about food health standards, the costs, the injustice, and the ruination of my trust in ever purchasing frozen foods again.

So where was the food police when I needed them?

THE HUNT FOR THE FOOD POLICE BEGINS

I couldn’t even find a phone number after trolling through official websites, where you’d need an interpreter to speak the language of Governmental Red Tape! Can you guess what the official governmental title for Food Police is?

Come on— where were the easy to find contact details for Food Police!

Why were they hiding their contact page, or phone number, so I could sob over my loss of limp vegetables and soggy rice.

I then turned my heartbroken sights toward the supermarket, where I’d bought the product from. But they too had made it difficult, by not only hiding their contact page, but they’d sent me to the other side of the planet!

I then went back to the pretty packaging of the microwave meal, scouring the fine print that you’d need a microscope to read. This directed me to the website where they too had hidden their contact page.

And this, my friend, is what it’s like for readers when authors hide their contact pages on their websites.

WANT TO HIDE FROM THE WORLD, HIDE YOUR CONTACT PAGE!

I know, it’s a scary reason to want to hide your contact page, but don’t.

The importance of your contact page is more than the droll and boring hidden page that many authors struggle with as part of their author website.

your contact page is more than the droll and boring hidden page that many authors struggle with Share on X

Why?

Because we’re shy people, who’d rather create worlds from the safe cocoon of our desk.

Yet, if you want to be seen as a professional, it’s good business to have a contact page.

So, in case you’re sitting on the wrong side of the fence that hides your fabulousness from the world, here are the truthfully ugly and beautiful sides to convince you to not hide your contact page:

THE UGLY SIDE OF HAVING A CONTACT PAGE:

If you don’t hide your contact page, well, the spammers and cold callers love to fill it with Spam. Just kidding.

Actually, I’m not.

These crawlers of crap love to troll cyberspace to spam people. After all, it’s their job.

So, consider having a set of tools to block these festering little rodents. That’s where I’d recommend you use ReCAPTCHA (it’s free) and other anti-spammer systems that are compatible with your website. You’re looking for that sturdy General to command your troops in the war that rages on in the background. Where once it’s set up you just forget about it.

Sadly, that won’t stop the cold-callers who will try and sell you advertising space and other random stuff. If you get one of those cold-call emails, ask a writer friend for a recommendation or check out the Writer’s Beware site. It’s what cold-callers love, an aspiring author to scam.

THE BEAUTIFUL SIDE OF NOT HIDING YOUR CONTACT PAGE:

The readers who make the effort to contact you via your contact page are the ones who want to tell you how amazing your book is.  These are your potential superfans. These are the readers you will want to hold by the hand as they help you skip all the way to the bestseller’s bank. It’s the stuff of happily ever after authors want in their readers that can be simply done when that superfan stumbles onto your contact page as part of your author platform.

It’s also the place for potential publishers and book agents to *knock-knock* on your website’s window and say, “Pst, buddy, have we gotta deal for you!” Well, hopefully not in a creepy-salesman kinda way.

HIDING YOUR CONTACT PAGE’S POTENTIAL:

Don’t hide your contact page, it’s like hiding your magnificence just because you might be a little uneasy about sharing your email address with strangers. 

I get it. 

So that’s why I came up with some alternatives because those strangers could be your potential partners who want to talk to you, interview you, or just tell you how fabulous you are. Believe me, there are days as an author when you doubt yourself, so keeping a record of those feel-good reviews are the best motivation tool.

So, if you are shy, it makes good business sense to create a generic email address. These generic email addresses act like the first barrier that comes with some unwritten licence to say—I’m a gatekeeper and I don’t have to answer you for the next 7 days!

 Here are a few examples of a generic email address:

• Hello@authorname.com
• Reception@authorname.com
• Info@becausemybosslovesme
• Worldsbestassistant@me.com
• 4urstuff@authorname.com
• I’mtoobusytorespondrightnow@authorname.com

BUT (You bet, I shouted that with a hand raised in the air trying to get your attention!) when it comes to your readers they should always be a priority when it comes to responding, after all, they are paying to read your books.

THE MORAL OF NOT HIDING YOUR CONTACT PAGE

Don’t make it hard for someone to contact you, because you never know who may be knocking. And once you get those anti-spammers in place, you’ll find hardly anyone really uses it! But when they do, it usually means something wonderful.

And so, the moral of not hiding your contact page is that it’s time to inspect, peek, unlock, and give your contact page a makeover.

Go on, give your author’s website a health check because the Contact Page is important to any serious author’s career.