[ADMIN] Help A Geek Out?

Hi everybody,

Mind if I interrupt for a bit?  Time for a bit of shameless self-promotion.  Well, it’s not really shameless, as I’m very self conscious about doing it.  There are folks that are good at this sort of thing and are always selling themselves. I’m not one.

But, honestly, I think maybe I should step it up a bit.  The site’s been up and running, building a respectable audience, for almost 5 years now.  People “get” what I’m trying to do here.  I get linked and referenced on a regular basis.  People ask me to review things, they ask for my thoughts and opinions.  I now regularly carry on conversations about Shakespeare with random people every day, very often because “I run a Shakespeare site in my spare time” comes up in conversation, opening the door for more.  I love that.

I’m also all over the social networks, spreading the word. I’m on Twitter, I’m on Facebook. I’ve got a good following.

But I think it can be better, a lot better, and that’s where I’m hoping some of my regulars can hook me up.  I’d like to celebrate Shakespeare Geek’s 5 year anniversary by starting to put some real numbers on the board, and I’m asking people who enjoy the site to help spread the word.  Are you following on Twitter?  I’ve got 770something followers, I’d love to get that number up over 1000.  Can you help? Even if you’re already following (thank you!) how about passing the word along to some friends, maybe some “retweets” to help introduce me to your network?

Maybe you prefer being a Facebook fan? Although I’ve had the fan page for a little while I’ve neglected it, and I’m trying to remedy that.  So if you’re on Facebook and could do me the favor of becoming a fan of Shakespeare Geek, I’d appreciate it! How many fans could we get?  There are assorted Shakespeare groups and pages all over Facebook, but most of them seem like they were abandoned long ago. Why don’t we the Shakespeare Geeks storm Facebook and put him back on the map?

My goals for myself and for the site remain the same, I’ve got nothing new to pimp.  I want to talk to people about Shakespeare.  I want people to talk to me about Shakespeare, so I can learn more, so I can talk to more people about Shakespeare.  I want to talk to parents who go home and talk to their kids who go to school and talk to their teachers who go to conferences and talk to their fellow teachers who go back to their own schools and talk to their kids who go home and talk to their parents …  get it?  I want now, and have always wanted, more Shakespeare in the world.  Know what I did this weekend? Went out for pizza and listened to my 7yr old explain to my 5yr old how to properly pronounce “To be or not to be.”  In the middle of a restaurant, while other parents wrangled other children into other booths.  And every time a head turns and somebody realizes what they’re hearing, and who they’re hearing it come out of, we win.

I’ve decided that by not being more aggressive in getting the Shakespeare Geek word out, I’m doing a disservice to that mission.  So that’s my plea, and I’m hoping you can tolerate the brief interruption in service and hook a brother up. I’m open to ideas, if people have them. Merchandise? I’ve thought about advertising, but I don’t bring in the kind of money to spend on that sort of thing. I’ve often wondered if I could work out some sort of sponsorship with a local Shakespeare group.  I’ve thought about seeing if I could teach some sort of “Shakespeare for Grownups” class at the local continuing ed place.  Who knows where the next idea will come from?

Thanks for listening, and I appreciate any social network love that comes this way.  Now, back to the entertainment. :)

            - Duane, your friendly neighborhood Shakespeare Geek