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Why You Can’t Just Google Love Quotes
I knew when I set about collecting Shakespeare wedding quotes that it’d be tricky to set myself apart from the many “love quotes” sites on the net. Not in terms of quality, of course – they have none. No, it’s explaining this to people that’s tricky.
Just now, for instance, while Googling for “wedding quotes from Shakespeare”, I found a site (that shall remain nameless) that claims to have a Top 100 Shakespeare Love Quotes. Ready for a few samples?
“A young man married is a man that's marred.”
“I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine”
“You cannot call it love, for at your age the heyday in the blood is tame”
“Lechery, lechery; still, wars and lechery: nothing else holds fashion.”
Great stuff, there. I’m surprised they didn’t throw in that Capulet line about our dancing days being in the past. Try pulling one of these out during a wedding toast and see what happens.
Hear My Soul Speak: Wedding Quotations from Shakespeare contains over 100 selections from across all of Shakespeare’s works, specifically chosen for their positive thoughts on love, marriage and romance. Available now in Kindle, iBook and PDF format.
4 comments:
"Not in terms of quality, of course – they have none."
Just a tad...overstated...or something, don't you think?
You of all people should know how Google fans out in categorization.
No matter what we might "prefer", Love isn't all hearts and flowers. Actually, some of the quotes you quoted (without a source for anyone else to refer to) are quite good.
Just my 'opinion', but perhaps a better way to promote your book would be to find something more "positive" to say about IT, rather than passing out of context negative comparison judgments re: a site that never billed itself as a "wedding quotes" source in the first place.
I've spent a large part of the last year hunting for Shakespeare quote collections on the net. Trust me when I say that the quality is, as a general rule, lacking. Few care about quality, they care mostly about their search engine optimization. I didn't start the site notbyshakespeare.com because people are interested in checking their sources, after all. The site I was referring to also listed "When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew" among their list of "Top 100 Shakespeare Love Quotes". As I'm sure you know, not even Shakespeare (it is Arrigo Boito). But you catch more flies with quantity than you do with quality. Assuming flies means "advertising clicks".
Re: out of context, I will quote from the site, shall I? "Use them in your next St Valentines communication with your loved one !" I'm not sure when "Pray do not fall in love with me" is appropriate for Valentine's Day, except perhaps for the ironic crowd.
I have been trying to promote my own efforts in a positive light, without being too spammy about it. I wrote my own "Shakespeare Toasts" post for exactly that reason. I did post the announcement of my book, and not a single person commented. I'm still not fully sure what happened there, I was kinda sorta hoping for at least one or two acknowledgements.
Surely you can't be too thrilled with the world of "It must be true, I read it on the Internet." I am waging my own little battle against the trend. It is an uphill, frustrating battle when I'm in the business of educating people, and they're in the business of making money.
True, I wouldn't mind making some money - but far more important to me was to write something of quality that had value to a particular audience.
"But you catch more flies with quantity than you do with quality. Assuming flies means 'advertising clicks'.
--Or just clicks in general--assuming clicks means "traffic". Being relatively new at "the game", I remember being given the very same "quantity" advice re: blogging once upon a time. Know what? I found out it's true. But it didn't change my practices.
If I have a beef with a site, I let people know which one it is, so they can judge for themselves. If I feel like I'm right enough to comment on them, why wouldn't I? Did you let THEM know what you think? If so, why not?
"Trust me when I say..." it's only fair, no? :)
"Surely you can't be too thrilled with the world of "It must be true, I read it on the Internet." I am waging my own little battle against the trend."
"How does that saying go, J? A rising tide lifts all boats, even those piloted by loony birds?"
http://shakespeareplace.blogspot.com/2010/04/www-willys-worldwide-web-friend-or-foe.html
I guess inspiration assumes many forms.
Sorry if you're a bit disappointed with how search engine optimization sort of negatively sculpted the internet. You're right that the internet is an excellent tool for education. Here's an excellent site for Famous Quotes and such. I think they're pretty accurate with the quotes as to who said it and how it was said. hope this helps
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