written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Saturday 10 March 2012

A Poet's Giveaway


By Ashley Lister

Dear Reader,

Thank you. Thank you for making this blog a success. I know a lot of the credit goes to the bloggers who contribute on a daily basis – but the bloggers are all writers and I think it’s fair to say that writers don’t exist without an audience.

So thank you, dear reader, for making us exist.

The Dead Good Blog has been going from strength to strength over the past few months and we couldn’t have done it without you. It’s our intention to make the blog go even further.

Those of you who attend the live poetry events will know that the No. 5 Café is invariably packed to bursting with 50 or more audience members at a typical event. It’s an impressive turnout for an evening of poetry and the support and enthusiasm we encounter at each meeting is, frankly, overwhelming.

And, whilst those figures are impressive, I have to admit that readership of the Dead Good Blog is even more formidable. This site sees a huge amount of traffic on a daily basis. The figures for each month are even more astounding. And, whilst I know this is going to sound greedy, I’d love to see more traffic.

To encourage more visitors I’m offering bribes and incentives to entice more readers here.

I have two copies of A Poet’s Guide to Blackpool to give away.

As most of you will know, A Poet’s Guide to Blackpool is the published anthology of Dead Good poetry that was launched on Friday 2nd March at the No.5 Café. It was edited by Lara and myself and it really is a bloody good read. We’re trying to work out how to sell copies online. As soon as we figure out that small detail you’ll be able to buy a copy.

Until then, unless you’re already the proud owner of a copy, this is the only way to get your hands on the book. And I shall be giving one copy each to two lucky commentors who make comments in the box below.

The comments can be whatever you want to say.

· If you think we’re doing something right, please tell us.

· If you think we should stop doing something, then let us know and we’ll take it under consideration.

· If you think there’s a theme we should cover, or if you want to be one of our guest bloggers for a forthcoming Sunday, let us know.

· If you simply want your name acknowledged as one of the people commenting in the hope of winning a copy of the book, then leave an empty comment (or write: ‘Ashley is great!’ which should put you in with a better chance of winning a copy).

Everyone who comments will be eligible (with the exception of the regular bloggers) and I’ll contact the chosen ones to organise postage and delivery.

If you’re not already a follower or linked through Network Blogs or RSS feeds, then please subscribe to those buttons on the right hand side of the page. It helps us to know who’s reading us, and it’s also handy for you when you’re trying to find us in the future. In addition, if you can persuade a friend to subscribe to our blog (which you have to admit is damned entertaining on a daily basis) then we’ll be grateful that you’ve helped make our audience bigger and better.

You can do additional things to help increase the blog's traffic if you wish. You could retweet the page's address, or share us through FaceBook, or do whatever you think might get more readers to notice this dead good blog.

I’m a proud member of the Dead Good Blog. It’s one of the first things I read on a morning- every morning. Writing my entry for each Saturday reminds me I’m in the company of some of the north west’s most talented writers – and that’s company I’d love to share that work with as many readers as are interested.

So, to reiterate, if you want to be entered for the draw to win a copy of A Poet’s Guide to Blackpool, simply place a comment in the box below. In one week’s time (March 17th) I shall go through the comments and select two people at random. I shall then contact winners privately to organise mailing copies out.

I look forward to reading your comments, especially if they say: “Ashley is great!”

5 comments:

Standard said...

This has left me with an uncomfortable feeling that I only exist because people read me. Is this some kind of 'Speed' thing but instead of not letting the bus drop below 50 I can't let my postings drop below one blog a week? I'm scared! Am I real? What would happen if I didn't blog? Would I pop out of existence? I better get writing!

Fine post Ash. Given my problems regarding posting to facebook from work you will have to teach me that trick you've got of setting it up automatically.

And I would heartily encourage people to send us themes. It's always a challenge and a pleasure to bend your thoughts round something random ;)

Ashley Lister said...

This is one of the reasons why I love this blog. The essence of existence is made analogous here to a shite movie staring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.

Nowhere else in the world would we get such a contrast of the intelligent and the popular.

I shall see if I can sort out some handy tips guides for the network blog thing.

Ash

Standard said...

I liked that film! Granted, it was only as I was perving on Sandra Bullock the whole time but, still...

Ashley Lister said...

In the canon of Sandra Bullock films (there's the opening to a sentence I never thought I'd write) I'd have to say Miss Congeniality is more perve-worthy and Demolition Man is more intellectually entertaining (because of it's tenuous link to Huxley's Brave new World).

However, I was being unduly harsh on Speed because I always think of that movie when I'm using the sat-nav's on a long distance journey.

Ash

Standard said...

And also she does look pretty hot in those tight fitting spandex tights in Demolition Man. (not that I was looking, you understand. I too was thinking about Aldous Huxley the whole time...)