# Sending a Letter to an Author **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546 "2010-04-27T18:34:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546/1 "2010-04-27T18:34:47Z")
In researching my genealogy I’ve been working on a great-uncle who was killed in a plane crash in WW II. Trying to find out more about his time in the service has lead me to try to locate relatives of the other men on the plane. I’ve traded e-mails and photos with a family member of one of the men and while neither of us had a ton of info, getting in touch with each other added to what we knew about the men’s lives and their time in the military. I’ve determined that the daughter of another of the men killed is a successful author, and I have an address for her literary agency. She’s had more than a dozen novels and most likely gets a fair amount of fan mail, so I’m wondering how likely it is that she’ll see any letter I send, and what I can do to increase my odds that it’ll get into her actual hands and not just end up in a pile of fan mail? ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546/2 "2010-04-27T18:40:37Z")
See if you can find out who her agent is, and send the letter registered, in care of the agent. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546/3 "2010-04-27T18:46:29Z")
The author may have a blog or a message board on a personal website where she interacts more directly with her fans. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546/4 "2010-04-27T19:12:10Z")
If you explain a personal connection like that in the letter, and ask questions that only the author is likely to know the answer to, the agent is almost certain to pass it on to the author. They’ll filter out the boring, repetitive fan mail, but would pass on the more interesting and personal ones. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546/5 "2010-04-28T00:07:00Z")
I do have the specific name of her agent at the literary agency, so I can send it to her. A registered letter needs to be signed for by the addressee, right? If I mailed it to: > [@](#): > > author > c/o agent > 123 Main St > Anytown US 12345 Presumably the author wouldn’t be at the agency to sign for it. So should it be mailed to: > [@](#): > > agent > 123 Main St > Anytown US 12345 > > RE: Author I’ve never sent a registered letter, so I’m nore how it works. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a blog or web site where I can contact her online. The letter I’ve written is just a brief (under one page) explanation of what I know about her father and the crash. She was very young when her father died, so she may not know anything about him, or may not even have any interest in the subject. Hopefully she’ll find it of some value, but if she’s not comfortable with getting in touch with a stranger to talk about personal family information, I’d be fine with that. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sending-a-letter-to-an-author/537546/6 "2010-05-27T22:56:02Z")
Should anyone be interested, I just got a very nice hand written letter from the author. She answered my questions and talked a bit about her father. It was by far the best mail I’ve gotten in a really long time!