1,000 True Fans

Kevin Kelly is a tech-thinking guy who founded Wired Magazine and has done lots of writing about technology over the years. One of his thoughts that I just came upon has to do with the distribution of work by artists. He thinks it is possible for artists to have just 1,000 True Fans to make a living. What's a 'True Fan'?

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

He goes on to say that much of this requires a lot of direct fan contact management, which requires taking advantage of lots of the new technologies for keeping people updated with your biz, like Twitter and Facebook. Keep them engaged, let them know what you're doing, and keep them hungry.

It's an interesting read, with lots of interesting comments to the post. Give it a look here.

my first dictionary

http://myfirstdictionary.blogspot.com/


this blog is fantastically awful...
The Gashlycrumb tinies is the only thing with which i can compare it.

Friendship leads to longer life

I saw this article in the NY Times about how the benefits of friendship are largely unstudied, especially compared to family relationships. I have been very lucky to have some great friends in this lot in life, and those relationships have for sure been great for my own well-being. I particularly enjoyed this quote from the article:

Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

Link to article.

John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil

"Buck" O'Neil was named the first black coach in the major leagues by the Cubs in 1962. He was an incredible baseball player in the organization of Negro League Baseball. Last year, Ed told me about a site called American Rhetoric. I've had his speech on my computer for awhile, and I love listening to it. Everything I read about the guy is inspiring. He gave so much back to baseball, blacks, and communities he worked in. Truly inspiring human being.

Here is the link to his American Rhetoric site with the speech I love:

"Buck" O'Neil

Lucille

A young Little Richard rocking all the "hip" white kids. I appreciated the choreographed steps of the band. He was punk rock before punk rock knew it was punk rock.