Would a question that requires an amount of text to explain be good to send?

Question

From Is it appropriate (as a PhD student) to email other researchers asking about some details in their papers?, I get that generally you will get answer if you ask question on their work. But what if your question is tangent to their work, and requires some space to elaborate?

The draft is below:

Dear Prof X

To introduce myself, my name is Y, from country Z. I have read some pages in your book about the connection between [concept A in field 1] and [concept B in field 2]. I wonder what do you think about the connection between [concept C in field 1] and [concept D in field 2]?

[16 lines and 184 words to elaborate the connection. I don't consider this as a wall of text]

I also have a blog article explaining all my observations about the connection between field 1 and field 2. It may take only 5 minutes to read.

Thank you for your reading. Hope you enjoy it.

Some notes:

• I haven't read his book enough to say that I know a large portion of it (just skimming it), but I can say that I understand A, B, C, D at least in introductory level.
• I don't have any institute, but I think my culture is relevant to field 1, so perhaps it can be a kind of expertise/institute?
• I may apply to his school in the future

^{Related: How do researchers send unsolicited emails asking for feedback on their works?}

Answer 1

As a busy person who receives these sorts of emails, my response to email tends to fall into two categories:

1. I can respond to this right now, and get it out of my queue.
2. I'm going to need to think about this some, I guess I'll put it off for later... and later turns out to be days, weeks, or months before it surfaces again, if ever.

Unfortunately, your draft email above will most definitely fall into category #2.

• "What do you think about..." is an open-ended request for an essay. Is one sentence enough, or a page, or a full scientific paper?
• You want the reader to digest 16 lines of technical discussion with an unclear goal of evaluation.
• You also want the reader to go read your blog post, which makes me wonder if that's the real point of this.

You've thus got 3 different things you're asking of the reader, none of which actually says what you really want to get out of the interaction.

And that's the real problem: why are you writing to this person?

• Do you have an answerable question they can help you with? (i.e., not "what do you think..." but "Does Concept A actually mean that Red Ones Go Faster?")
• Do you want to show them your work and see if they think it makes sense?
• Do you just want them to be aware that you exist?
• Something else?

When you figure out what you most want, focus the email on precisely one thing that can be addressed quickly, and try to keep the whole thing to only 3-4 sentences. If you can do that, you also will have forced yourself to be clear enough about what you want that a useful answer is much more likely.

Answer 2

If you write to a senior person the chances to get an answer are low. In order to improve your chances I can recommend:

1. Keep it as short as possible. You need to catch interest within the first 3-5 seconds in your email. The chances for an answer decrease with the length of your email. In connection with this:
2. Don't waste their time ("To introduce myself, my name is Y, from country Z")
3. Start with something very positive e.g. "I was very excited to read your XYZ - especially how you described the connection between A and B" (researcher really like to hear this - but again: keep it short and do not overdo it with the honey here)
4. Quote a mutual connection e.g. "Prof X (whom he knows personally) suggested to get in contact with you" (but only write this if it is true!)
5. If the professor needs to open a link or can not answer the email within 2-3 min (sometimes on his phone during a boring meeting) then your chances are pretty slim if your cause for contacting him is not groundbreaking.
6. Give him an easy way to answer. Instead of asking him to explain give a yes/no option. For example instead of "I wonder what do you think about the connection between [concept C in field 1] and [concept D in field 2]" write "I was wondering if the connection between [concept C in field 1] and [concept D in field 2] could be interpretedin way A or do you think B might be more appropriate?

The PhD comics nicely summarize this here.