. . . as in how to address someone, not as the great Graham Norton or Alan Carr might use the word.
Some years ago, there was a direct marketing business that wanted to run a mailing campaign for luxury hampers. The lucky targets were the aristocracy in England and a group company was used to prepare the mailing lists. So far, so good. The group company specialised in this kind of work so they were right for the job. Their usual clients were Joe Public however, so you’d think that if they were sending letters to the high and mighty, they’d at least look up the correct form of address in Debretts or another suitable reference point. Did they? Of course they didn’t. They sent letters to Dear Mr Lord or Dear Mrs Duchess. When I was told about this screw up I did have a chuckle but not while the director responsible for the debacle was hovering. Needless to say, the campaign was a total flop and the expected 4% response rate to the mailing bombed to zero. (In case you’re wondering, I believe the appropriate address is Dear Lord or Dear Duchess, but I stand to be corrected.)
Why is this relevant for authors? Well, it all comes back to write about what you know. If you pen an article about the illegal Iraq war, George Bush and Tony Blair, you have to know what WMD means and that it doesn’t necessarily refer to George Osborne and his monetary policies. If you’re passionate about chocolate mousse with tropical fruit salad in sugar tuile baskets, then extend your cooking repertoire beyond half-boiled eggs before writing a cookery book on dinner parties. Or to put it simply, do all you can to make sure you know what you’re talking about. Research, research, research. Otherwise, as group company found out, your lack of preparation will be uncovered.
Some years ago, there was a direct marketing business that wanted to run a mailing campaign for luxury hampers. The lucky targets were the aristocracy in England and a group company was used to prepare the mailing lists. So far, so good. The group company specialised in this kind of work so they were right for the job. Their usual clients were Joe Public however, so you’d think that if they were sending letters to the high and mighty, they’d at least look up the correct form of address in Debretts or another suitable reference point. Did they? Of course they didn’t. They sent letters to Dear Mr Lord or Dear Mrs Duchess. When I was told about this screw up I did have a chuckle but not while the director responsible for the debacle was hovering. Needless to say, the campaign was a total flop and the expected 4% response rate to the mailing bombed to zero. (In case you’re wondering, I believe the appropriate address is Dear Lord or Dear Duchess, but I stand to be corrected.)
Why is this relevant for authors? Well, it all comes back to write about what you know. If you pen an article about the illegal Iraq war, George Bush and Tony Blair, you have to know what WMD means and that it doesn’t necessarily refer to George Osborne and his monetary policies. If you’re passionate about chocolate mousse with tropical fruit salad in sugar tuile baskets, then extend your cooking repertoire beyond half-boiled eggs before writing a cookery book on dinner parties. Or to put it simply, do all you can to make sure you know what you’re talking about. Research, research, research. Otherwise, as group company found out, your lack of preparation will be uncovered.
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