I recently was interviewed by Kelly James-Enger, a writer who is working on a book about ghostwriting. She contacted me by e-mail through my website and asked if I'd be interested in being quoted in that book. Of course I said yes, so she sent me her questions, I sent her my answers, and she acknowledged them with a very nice e-mail and said she'd be in touch if she needed to follow up on anything.
I was delightfully surprised when I picked up mail from my post office box the other day and found a handwritten note from her, thanking me again for my input and asking me to let her know if she could ever return the favor.
Handwritten thank-you notes are becoming increasingly rare, which is precisely why you should send them out. Yes, they take a little more work than just tapping out an e-mail or a text message. Yes, they cost more. And no, they're not totally "green" (although you could use cards made with recycled paper). But as a marketing tool, they're really hard to beat.
When I was first freelancing, I sent handwritten thank-you notes on a specially designed brochure to every source I interviewed--and plenty of those sources later turned into clients or referred me to people who needed my services. I don't write many magazine articles these days (I focus on books), but I still send thank-you notes when people do me favors. And I recommend that you do as well. This is one of those many times when your mother was right.
I'll let you know when Kelly's book is published.
