I’m of the mind that anything you have to say that can make you look bad probably shouldn’t be said in an email. That’s extra true when it comes to pitching what are essentially strangers.
I have had a number of emails blogged verbatim – most of them were pitches, so no big deal, but it nonetheless surprised me. When I came across an email from another PR person in a group I belonged to, I had one of those “this is so painfully obvious” moments that make you shake your head and wonder why the hell you never thought of this before.
His email was simply appended with:
this email is: [X] blogable [ ] ask first [ ] private
I think this is a great idea. Of course, if someone’s out to ruin you, a line like this isn’t going to help, but I think in most cases that bloggers have enough respect for one another to abide by the wishes of the sender. Moreover, if you’re writing something that you want blogged, this may help the thought occur to the person you’re emailing.
