I sent out a dozen job applications this past week with cover letters in which I revealed my dream job as becoming the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Don’t know about you, but it seems like a pretty cool job to me and from a blogging standpoint it works in all sorts of ways. How many jobs provide more opportunities for adventures that lend themselves to being memorialized in story.
You might wonder if I am trying to be funny in this post or if I am going to shift gears. You might wonder about many things and that is ok. I spend more time wondering and wandering than I care to think about.
Maybe that is why I contacted Miracle Max and asked for some help. When I pressed him to move faster I received the standard response about not rushing a miracle man for fear of getting rotten miracles.
Princess Bride Quotes Are Social Media Gold
Princess Bride quotes are social media gold. I have never found a time when a quote didn’t generate a response of some sort and that is a positive thing. Social media is about people and people are about engagement.
Speaking of engagement I joined a few more tribes in Triberr and now I have an enormous…reach.
We’re going to see if it proves to be useful or not. If it doesn’t generate more engagement than the benefit is quite limited. The “ideal” situation is for it to generate a significant increase in the number of subscribers and a book deal.
That Princess Bride headline you read above is intentional. I am trying to pull more people in, but once I get them here I have to figure out how to retain them. So maybe I ought to provide some links to posts they should read:
- A Father Describes Parenting
- An Uncertain Certainty
- 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer
- The Story Of A House- The Final Days
- He Died A Hero
- Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger
My Social Media Experiment
Sometimes I stare at the ceiling and wonder how I can use social media to raise a million dollars. I close my eyes and think about writing a post where I tell people it is an experiment and I am curious to see how long it would take to raise a million dollars.
The money would go towards a bunch of things, basic living expenses, the books I want to write, a vacation, kick around cash and who knows what else.
I wouldn’t promise to do anything with it. Would I donate some to charity? Sure, I would but not because I had a million bucks but because I try to give back. But I am not going to try to convince anyone to give because I would give some to charity. I won’t guarantee a percentage or anything like that.
In this experiment all I am going to do is say that I will donate something. If I ever do it I will probably blog about it, assuming someone doesn’t steal my idea.
The Mutiny of My Legs
I played two hours of basketball last night and was disappointed to find learn my legs are on strike. Damn things mutinied again. Do you know how frustrating it is to drive to the basket and find the left you always had has left.
It pissed me off so I went to bathroom and threatened them with harm, but they just laughed at me. I blame my metabolism for this. I never should have let it run away because once it did chaos erupted.
These mystery aches and pains show up unannounced and stay for as long as they want. I keep threatening those damn squatters, but they just laugh at me.
Children and Star Wars
My almost 12 year-old son and his friends have this funny idea about their generation and Star Wars. Those little buggers seem to think they own the movies and have some sort of knowledge the older, wiser generation doesn’t.
I need to write George Lucas and thank him for raping my childhood by producing some prequels that weren’t as good as the originals and for turning Darth Vader into a character you feel sad for. That dude used to be bad. He was evil. He was mean.
Back in the day if you told someone you wanted to go Vader on them they knew you were serious and not a joke.
It is late and bed calls, but I think we are about due for another post about aggressive promotion and blogs. Before I go here is an invitation to join TheJackB facebook fan page.
Don’t miss out on all the cool things that happen there and don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter. Use the form at the top right of this page.
Good night from Los Angeles.
No more rhymes and I mean it!
Well, your headline worked on me. I’m a big fan of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Maybe I should do some posts on The Princess Bride to get my recently-moved blog going again. I didn’t realize Buttercup and Wesley were so magical (at least as it relates to blogging)!
Hi Azara,
I am glad you liked it. Wesley and Buttercup are filled with magic and all you have to do is write to unlock it.
Hi Jack
Love Star Wars, not so keen on the Princess Bride.
I remember having so many Star Wars figures when I was a young lad. What a shame I don’t have them still. I agree wholeheartedly about Darth Vader though, he was bad and then came the prequels…
Being a pirate sailing the seven seas would be a great life; pity I get sea sick though!
Hi Tim,
Star Wars captivated me as a kid, it was simply stunning to me. I can’t say I got into the figurines, but I spent time trying to figure out if I could make the force come to life.
Darth Vader really bugs me, that comment of mine wasn’t tongue-in-cheek like many of my others. I thought he was a great character and Lucas emasculated him,.
Hey Jack:
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
Another way to really grow your…reach is to actually reach out and give back to other writers.
We like to give bonified linky-love via Twitter (not automated SPAMBOT stuff via Triberr) to people who interact with us by making nice comments on our writing.
So.
You can try to put quotes out there to grab readers’ attention.
I am not a fan of The Princess Bride, and I actually made it to the semi-finals in a blogging contest where I tried to say Farris Bueller was a better all-time movie than The Princess Bride, and I almost won! The point is: It is the way YOU interact with people that will decide how many people follow you.
Sure, you might draw someone in, but you want to try to keep people and not have people come and go: grow your audience, not have it turn over with new people.
Right now, I have a contest going on. If you go to my link at #writeonedge, you’ll see the link I put up. It’s an opportunity for someone to be my featured blogger of the month. I will write up the winner and then tell people to visit you all month! See the comments people have made. See if you can earn a place on my sidebar! Be nice to people. Comment on their comments! Visit some of my bloggy friends. They are very nice people. Seriously. In fact, go check out Pegoleg’s Ramblings. She is amazing.
Think about it.
I’ll be looking for you. 😉
Hi Renee,
It is nice to see you. It sounds like you aren’t familiar with how Triberr works. The links that are being tweeted aren’t automated. People have to approve them first.
I suppose that is possible that some people just tweet things out without reading them, but that is not how I operate or most of the people I know on Triberr.
And FWIW, I don’t decide to Tweet or not Tweet out a post based upon whether someone comments on my blog. I don’t comment or not comment based upon that either. I know some people believe that commenting should always be reciprocated by a comment on the other person’s blog, but that is not how I work.
I think it is kind of silly, but that is a post for a different day.
We agree about the importance and value of retaining readers while growing our blogs. Some of the folks that hang out here started out with me in 2004 when I was on Blogger. I am grateful and appreciative.
But there is a certain amount of ‘turnover’ that takes place no matter what we do. Some people just stop blogging and visiting blogs,others feel like they have seen all a blogger has to offer and spend their time elsewhere.
I suppose I should add that some of the 17 long time readers are here because I haven’t defenstrated them yet and they fear that I might. I know that isn’t nice, but I gave up nice for Lent and here we are.
Vanita’s right – pirates are … hot. I rather fancied Johnny Depp, but I digress.
Interesting to see the mention of Triberr – and reach….over at Josh Wilner’s, he’s talking about measuring this reach. Makes me wonder about Bill Dorman’s mention that you and Josh are the same guy 😀 Be that as it may, I like both of you.
Star Wars brings back so many nostalgic memories! I used to be very short in school, and my classmates referred to me as R2D2 and I so did not appreciate that. Not that I’d be Spock…just saying!
No, you don’t need to be a pirate. Hugs! Jack.
Yeah, some people have suggested that I am his evil twin or maybe it is the other way around. Who knows.
So your classmates called you R2D2, well it is better than being an ewok. 😉
One of my sisters isn’t even 5 feet tall so she has spent her entire life being teased and sometimes taunted about her height. I am a good big brother so I would never tease the shrimp about her height or lack thereof. 😉
Shrimp?!?
I am all of 5’3″ now 😉
My sister wishes she were, but she is not and so she has benefited from various monikers like shrimp for almost 40 years.
PS – that would be cool to be a pirate by day and being able to blog about it…….
My thought exactly.
Poor Darth, almost as bad as Ozzy going Reality TV. It just ain’t right……..
Here’s how we are going to make our money; you questioned how can we engage our new tribe mates and the massive reach we have. If we get 50 cents from everyone in our reach, not monthly or yearly, just one time; I will split that with you. And yes, I will gladly donate to my local YMCA; in fact, maybe even set up an endowment fund. How cool is that?
Hi Bill,
We need to think bigger than 50 cents. There is psychology involved here and we’ll get a better response rate if we go higher, besides Uncle Sam will come looking for his piece so we want to bump it up a bit just because.
I look forward to the William Dorman Blogging For Dollars Endowment.
I think I’ll start sending letters to businesses stating I’m seeking a position as a pirate.
Hi Erin,
It increases the response rate. Let me know if you do and how it works out for you. P.S. Don’t forget to send me a copy of your flag, need to know what colors not to attack. 😉
Jack I really can’t see why you need to become a pirate to keep us enthralled. the stories you tell and the way you weave always have me coming back for me. however, i gotta admit, pirates are super hot. 😀
Hi Vanita,
I don’t want to become a pirate for you, it is for me. I am selfish that way. 😉 But it never hurts to have another tool to pull upon.
Hope all is well in your world.