Now that we have email, I don’t know if we write more fan mail than we used to for its convenience factor. There is a lot more media coming at you all at once. Being bigger consumers of media, we don’t think as much about the people who create the art in the mediums we enjoy. There simply isn’t enough time.

So with every new podcast or artist I listen to, or book I read that I really enjoy, I try to pound out an email in 5 minutes about my appreciation for their craft. The hardest part is usually finding out what email address to send it to. (Tip: if all they have available is a booking email address, send it there anyway, they’ll make sure it gets to the artist. And don’t bother trying to contact them through facebook or twitter, since those websites take far less effort for people to send messages through, and the signal-to-noise ratio sucks. Writing an email takes more time, and is considered to be more “serious”.)

I’ve sent out a handful of fan emails in the past month, and I’ve received a response for every one without exception. It’s a lot of fun, both parties benefit from the good feelings being passed around, and it only takes a few minutes. Give it a shot.