Email Responses

Email is my number one source of information about what you'd like to see in my books and the problems you're facing when using the information I provide. As a result, your input is extremely important to me and I want to hear from you as often as possible. I always try to answer any email you send in a fast and courteous manner. I know that your time is short and that you need the information as quickly as possible. However, it's not always possible for me to provide the fast response times that I'd like to provide or the level of detail that you need. The following tips will make it easier for us to communicate and allow you to get the information you want in the least time possible.

1. Always provide your correct email address. A few readers have written and not provided me with a good email address as part of their message. As a result, the response I write ends up getting sent back to me. Believe me when I say that I want to fix whatever problem you might have with one of my books.
2. Make your question book specific. I'm always happy to hear anything you need to say about my books. However, I can't provide free problem resolution for everyone out there. I currently get about 65 emails per day from readers, so providing free consulting services could get to be very expensive. I provide a very limited amount of online consulting for an additional fee (please see the Services section on the home page for details).
3. Provide as much detail as you can. The more detail you provide about your problem, the better my chances are of figuring out what you need the very first time. Make sure you include product versions as part of your message. Sometimes an example will work fine with one version of a product, but not with another. Email helps me determine when these problems exist and alert you to them on my Web site.
4. Avoid non-problem issues. In some cases, a reader will provide me with a lot of non-essential information. It's not important to know that you were traveling on Route 66 at the time an error occured on your laptop. Making your input specific to the problem at hand will give me more time to provide you with a detailed answer.
5. Let me know about skill, hardware, or other limitations. I always assume that you have the equipment that I've listed in the book as a very minimum, along with good Internet access. If you don't tell me that you have a 28.8 dial up connection, I won't know to give you a telephone number for ordering a product on CD, rather than download it from the Internet.