Professional Update/Upcoming Comedy Performances

Dear All,
 
My apologies in advance to anyone who has already seen this on Facebook or elsewhere. But once again, I would love a little help spreading the word about my upcoming performances.
 
I) Executive Summary: What I'm Up To
 
- Polishing a novel, The Loneliest Planet, which I've been writing for the last six years. The manuscript will go to agents and publishers in early 2015 (I swear!)
 
- Lecturing about online marketing for writers at colleges and adult education centers around Boston.
 
- My one-man show, The Chronic Single's Handbook, will be featured at theater festivals in Orlando, FL; Atlanta; and Edinburgh, Scotland; this spring and summer.
 
 
II) Pleading and Groveling
 
Can you help me get the word out about my upcoming shows?
 
- Mention to people you know who might go, post on Twitter, Facebook, etc. (Sample Tweets and links below. Also, I inserted my online flyer and link at the end of this note.)
 
- I'm happy to reciprocate and share your events or news on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
 
Sample Tweet:

A friend performs his show Chronic Single's Handbook: FL (5/14-24) Atlanta (6/5-8) Edinburgh (8/1-16) Go or RT http://www.chronicsingle.com/2014/04/the-chronic-singles-handbook-shows-for.html
 
Sample Facebook Post:
 
A friend will perform his one-man comedy play, The Chronic Single's Handbook, in Orlando, FL (5/14-24) Atlanta (6/5-8) Edinburgh, Scotland (8/1-16). The play is about a never-married guy who takes a trip around the world looking for the woman of his dreams. Please go or share. http://www.chronicsingle.com/2014/04/the-chronic-singles-handbook-shows-for.html
 
III) More Detail Than You Want
 
1) Here are some links to youtubes of me performing two scenes from a December performance in Boston. For the upcoming theater festivals, I'll have props but no mic, which means I'll be able to move around the stage.
 
- Opening scene:
"Chronically single? You've got lots of company"
Content warning for adults situations, black tongues, sadistic medical professionals.
http://youtu.be/zuzpRPWGg_c

- "One Day in Thailand"
Lady boys, tuk-tuk scammers, and the day I was almost gay.
http://youtu.be/p8AF_xhXctg

 
IV) Online flyer for the show
 
The link: http://www.chronicsingle.com/2014/04/the-chronic-singles-handbook-shows-for.html
 
The actual flyer:

"The Chronic Single's Handbook": Shows for 2014

The Chronic Single's Handbook: One man's global search for love

A solo performance inspired by actual events  
featuring Randy Ross 
 


 
Exotic Locales

Pepto-Bismol

A body-spa named The Curious Finger.



Early praise for The Chronic Single's Handbook:
 
"Hysterical, side-splitting, profound, a tour-de-force of droll insight. One of the year's best."
-- Randy Ross, writer/performer, The Chronic Single's Handbook
 
"The balance on your credit card is overdue. Please remit immediately."
-- Bank of West Boston



Upcoming Shows (all shows last one hour)

1) May 14-24 Orlando International Fringe theater festival

Dates/times
- Wed, May 14 (11:30 pm)
- Fri, May 16 (9:00 pm)
- Sat, May 17 (4:20 pm)
- Wed, May 21 (10:30 pm)
- Sat, May 24 (3:15 pm)

Location
Red Venue, Lowndes Shakespeare Center
812 E Rollins
Orlando, FL 32803
Directions

Tickets, more information.
- Cost: $12, plus one-time $9 fee for a festival entry button, which is required to see any show at the festival (sorry).

Sample show program


2) June 5-8 Atlanta Fringe theater festival


Dates/times
- Thurs, June 5 (8:00 pm)
- Fri, June 6 (11:00 pm)
- Sat, June 7, two shows (5:00 pm and 9:30 pm)
- Sun, June 8, (2:00 pm)

Location
Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge
644 N. Highland Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30306
Directions

Tickets, more information 
(tickets and prices available in May (should be $10 to $15. In addition to tickets, you will need to buy at $3 festival entry button.)

Sample show program

3) August 1-16 Edinburgh Festival Fringe theater festival

Dates/times (all shows start at 7:05 pm or 19:05 using local 24-hour time)
- Mon-Sat, Aug 4-9
- Mon-Sat, Aug 11-16

Location
theSpace @ Surgeon's Hall
Nicholson Street, EH8 9DW
Edinburgh, Scotland
Directions


Tickets, more information 
(tickets are 8 British Pounds, or about $12; there may be other fees)

Sample show program


4) Boston-Area Appearances

Dates/times
- May 1, with Judah Leblang at Somerville Public Library (details)
- Events calendar with more listings.



5) Watch Videos Excerpts from Recent Performances

 - Opening scene: "Chronically single? You've got lots of company"
Content warning for adults situations, black tongues, sadistic medical professionals.

- "The Day I Was Almost Gay"
Content warning for prescription drug abuse, gooey sunburns, and men kissing on the lips.
 


Thanks again!

--rr

Google+ for Writers and Authors

The social media site Google+ can help writers promote their work three ways: by letting writers interact with online groups frequented by potential readers, by increasing writers' visibility in Google searches, and by allowing writers to host free online video calls using a feature called Hangouts.

Note: Google+ recently got bad press because of management reshuffling that has led to predictions that the site might disappear. Other pundits believe the site will stick around but in a diminished form. The tips below use features that will likely remain intact regardless of management changes at the company. (Six months ago, pundits predicted Google would shutter a product called Feedburner -- this has yet to happen. I use Feedburner for this blog)

Posting to Google+ Groups

I am not a fan of spending time on social media sites trying to develop a huge number of followers. The main reason: The sites can change their rules, hold your followers hostage, and force you to pay to reach them. (For more on this, see my article on Facebook Pages for Writers) As a result, I prefer to spend my time connecting with people in social media groups.

Google+ has a lot of offbeat groups you won't find on Facebook or Linked In. For my fiction and humor, I found a group called Cynical Singles filled with funny, smart people with bad attitudes. For my nonfiction (marketing for writers), I found a group called Literary Agents Hate Kittens, which is also filled with funny, smart people with bad attitudes.

Tips on Posting to Google+ Groups
- Search for groups the same way you do on other sites: search on your topic, verify that there are lots of active members, look for intelligent posts, and read the group's rules to make sure it's OK for you to post links to your work.
- When posting one of your articles or blog stories to a Google+ group, make the post longer than what you'd typically post in Facebook or LinkedIn groups. For Facebook and LinkedIn, I post the headline and a link -- and that's it. For Google+, I include half of my article with a link at the bottom that directs people to the rest of the story. Google+ allows for longer posts.
- When someone comments or gives your post a +1, give their comment the same, comment on their comment, and follow them -- you may have found yourself a fan.

When posting one of my pieces to a LinkedIn group, I copy and paste the headline and article url, and LinkedIn takes care of the rest.

Ditto with posts to Facebook groups.

When posting to Google+ groups, I copy half to two-thirds of the article and include a link to the rest of the piece at the end of the post. (see red arrow)

 

Boosting Your Visibility in Google Searches

Google and Google+ have interrelated features known as Social Search, Google Authorship, and Author Ranking that claim to make you more visible to search engines. The features are relatively easy to implement by tweaking your Google+ profile (easy) and tweaking your blog or Web site (a little more involved.)


Definitions and Details

Social Search: When one of your followers on Google+ performs a search, relevant articles created by you will appear higher in their search results.

Google Authorship, Author Ranking: Articles written by you that appear in a Google search will include your photo and information from your Google+ profile.

For example:

I implemented Google Authorship by connecting the bio used in my blog to my Google+ profile.

With Google Authorship implemented, my smiling face appears in searches. Does that mean people are more likely to click my stuff?

Note: I implemented these changes a while ago and have noticed no increase in search traffic. Would my traffic have dropped off had I not implemented them? Don't know. But I'm the superstitious type and prefer to appease Google search algorithms.

More than you want to know about these topics and how to implement them:

From Google

From Social Media Examiner

From Search Engine Journal

 

Google+ Hangouts

This features lets you easily create free video chats, which could be useful for talking to book groups or other gatherings of potential readers who are on Google+. A feature called Hangouts on Air, lets you create lectures, webinars, and other events that can be broadcast to the general public. Setting up Hangouts on your Google+ account requires a Web cam, downloading some software, and some fiddling around. Hangouts on Air adds another layer of complexity because the feature uses your Youtube account.

Note: I have not used Hangouts extensively, but plan to in the coming months.

An opening screen for setting up a Google+ Hangout. Here, you choose who you want to invite to your video Hangout. You can invite up to 10 people. Adding more people requires a feature called Hangouts on Air and your Youtube account.

A Hangout in action: It will take some work to make a Hangout look professional, but tools (red arrows) can help. If you got a mug like mine all the tools in the world might not help.

Instructions for setting up Hangouts

Interesting Uses for Hangouts

 

More on Google+

 

Getting Started Guide

Why Writers Should Bother with Google+

Tips and Tools for Advanced Google+ Users

More on Social Media for Writers

Using Groups to Find Readers

Building a Writing Platform: My Results for 2013

Why Facebook is Not Your Friend

Google+ Art at top of page: By B!ttu (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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