Author Archives: BettyW

Prepare Yourself for Web Notoriety

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You may or may not have taken to heart the many articles about checking your privacy settings on Facebook and presuming that anything you post on the Web may be seen by anyone. Unless you are being stalked by an ex-lover or rabid fan you may have assumed “This doesn’t effect me, because why would a stranger care about my Facebook page?”

What many people don’t realize is: when you do something that makes people more interested in you, and specifically if you are soliciting money from them, the smart potential donors/customers are going to Google you to research whether you are legitimate. Do you know what they will find?

As I’ve mentioned, I back a lot of Kickstarter projects (over 50 so far). While some of those are presented by people I already know and trust, many more are presented by strangers to me personally, and frequently not even known to a more general audience (i.e., not performers/businesses known in some other location).

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Friday Faves: Contests and Kickstarter Projects I Like

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Here’s another roundup of projects I’m supporting and contests I’m entering:

Kickstarter:

Do you look through the Mens and Boys clothing sections hoping to find items that vaguely fit your female figure? Get custom-fit shirts, vests, and blazers from this project:

 

Get some cool cigar box instruments:

 

Turn your iPod touch into a wifi hotspot with 500MB of free data per month (check their coverage map first to see if you are in it):

 

Still time to get a Ninja Standing Desk!

 

Contests:

Enter Engadget’s back to school givaway to win a bag full of electronic goodies – comment daily on each new post that appears at noon ET (see linked page for links to each post when they are live) through August.

Win a violin, bow, case, strings and accessories from D’Addario – enter once daily now through October 1st.

The Korg MicroKorg giveaway is still running through December – enter once daily.

Kickstarter Promo If You Are Not Amanda Palmer

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Kickstarter is my new craic, especially for inovative high tech and music gear. So it really pains me to see Kickstarter projects I’d like to succeed whose owners seem to believe all they need to do is create a project and sufficient random strangers will find it interesting enough to pledge and make their goal.

Since I repeatedly find myself wanting to message these owners and tell them things they need to do if they want any chance of succeeding, instead I’ll write that here and send them the link ;-)

Because many people don’t bother following links, I’m going to summarize my basic suggestions, then give links for further reading at the end… and if this is STILL too much information, contact me about my rates to critique your KS project and/or do some of this PR research/setup for you :-)

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What Should I Charge For A Special Event Gig?

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So one night after your band plays a set at the local club, a fan comes up to you and says: “Hey – I love you guys! I’m having a BBQ/birthday party/wedding and I want to hire you to play – what’s your rate?”

If you are not making a living playing GB (“General Business”) gigs you probably have no idea what musicians-for-hire in your local area are charging. Here’s a quick way to get a rough idea:

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