Back in the before times, trying to contact someone, say an author you liked, was labor intensive and generally futile.
You had the choice of writing a letter to their publisher and hoping it would be forwarded and that the person would respond, or trying to winkle out their home address from written information and reference books and college catalogs (if they were associated with a school).
When the internet happened, gradually and then suddenly the walls came down: sometimes people had their own websites with a contact function or in rare cases their email address on the site.
This became ubiquitous when publishers started demanding that their authors put up a website as a condition of their contracts.
Then newspapers and magazines brought their reporters and writers out from the shadows: whereas in the old days you had to write the paper and ask them to physically forward your letter, now every byline is accompanied by an email address.
Recently I ran into a stone wall trying to reach an author: none of the above worked.
Then I stumbled on a new way to get in touch:
1. Go a person's Instagram (everyone who makes money by interacting with the public has one)
2. Follow them
3. A Message box will appear (it's in the lower right corner in my Instagram screenshot up top) if there's not one there already and Bob's your uncle
Using this method I've since succeeded in messaging several peeps I'd given up hope of ever making contact with, in one case after trying for over a decade.
If this trick doesn't work for you, let me know and a member of my Crack Research Team©®™ will get back to you.
They don't have Instagram as they're deep black as a condition of their employment.
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