Self Promotion (Changing Values?)

[virginia boy]

I'm only 50 years old but I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I've become a curmudgeon before my time.

I'm an avid reader of sailing blogs and my favorite thing to do is look at the pictures and pretend it's me having all those grand adventures, but lately it seems that more and more blogs are self promoting, grandiose bits of marketing or a sly way of panhandling funds to support a cruising lifestyle and I'm feeling manipulated.

One blog for example: after a couple of years of minimally admirable adventures to the Caribbean, but plenty of whining and panhandling, this young blogger sells her boat and has turned her blog into a slick commercial enterprise and has gone on the lecture circuit. Now I don't begrudge anyone a living and even admire a well-done marketing campaign, but for god's sake, please accomplish something worthy of selling before you turn completely to the dark side.

If I ever write my story I might say something like:

"I'm going on the same adventure thousands of other people have done before me, and my adventure will not benefit anyone but myself, because it's about me and my very private spiritual growth."

It's not about you or saving humanity ...

There are plenty of old-timers out there who have actually done something noteworthy and while some may have commercialized their adventures, the ones I admire most do not self inflate their own importance or feign altruism. The Pardeys, for example or Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger, for example. The guy who wrote his story on "Atoms Voyages" described a fantastic adventure. It was well told and included not a bit of self aggrandizing egoism in the whole damned book, and he offers it to the public for free! How refreshing!

I guess I haven't had enough coffee this morning but really, take your self tooting horn and....

So this morning I'm announcing the beginning of my journey to Starbucks. I'm doing this for humanity so please clap and cheer for me as I make my way there, and remember I'll be signing autographs when I'm through. Actually, let me start signing autographs now before I've actually begun.

Oh, and If you'd like to sponsor this amazing adventure I accept paypal.

[SailFastTri]

Did you forget to out up your PayPal shopping cart? Where can I send the $5 for your Starbucks coffee?

[barnakiel]

Well, well, well, my boy: you started growing up pretty late ...

Will it soothe you somewhat if I tell you that for every single marketing gig there will be a couple of people going to every corner of the earth: no blogs, no sponsors, no big drama - just pure and genuine interest of what it is like there where we aren't?

BTW 50 is a great age (as great as 15 perhaps) to jump into a boat and go! Imagine this: just you and the road, the seagulls, the medusas, the volcanoes. No blogs, no sponsors, no big drama.

The funny thing is when you return, nobody will ever believe you have been there done that. After all, if you are not on FB you may just as well not exist.

Modern men's perception of what it is like 'out there' beyond the cubicle is formed by such gigs. The only way to influence this is to be in it, publishing your version of this world. But if you say it the way it is, you have nil chances of gaining large publicity: the reader wants ADVENTURE not adventure. BIG MAC sells better than a plain sandwich.

This is the world as it is. Take it or leave it.

Now coffee time!

Love,
b.

[sailorboy1]

clap ............... cheer

hope this makes it all better

I don't really notice ads on the internet for the most part. Must be my special vision!

[Beersmith]

who cares. most people can only dream of earning a living doing something they love. More power to them if their blog has turned into a career.

The best thing you can do is to stop reading their blog if you dislike it.

I feel no guilt for the $0.53 I earn per month with my Ad revenue

[Celestialsailor]

.....but then there are the folks on here that have done everything there is to do in life. Have 50 years sailing experience, performed brain surgery with a spoon and magnified glass, a roadie for the stones, an authority on everyone's health but theirs and can tell you in detail the life expectancy of every type of exotic wood.
....oh...and their boat is the best because yours is not.
I don't need to read their blogs...this is entertaining enough!

[David_Old_Jersey]

PLEASE VISIT
MY
WEBSITE!

- For World Peace -


.

[thinwater]

Nice rant. I enjoy a good unapplogetic venting from time to time.

[SailingwithSoul]

To be fair. The wind may be free, but that's about it. Maintaining a blog takes quite a bit of time and effort, let alone writing creatively and entertainingly. Maintaining a boat takes even more.

I'm happy to offer my support to those sharing their adventure and perspectives(especially, while I'm locked to my desk for 9 hours a day), and I hope that same support, however small and not expected, will one day be shown to me.

[captainKJ]

One blog for example: after a couple of years of minimally admirable adventures to the Caribbean, but plenty of whining and panhandling, this young blogger sells her boat and has turned her blog into a slick commercial enterprise and has gone on the lecture circuit.

What blog,,,you forgot to give a web address

Maybe some of want to read it to

how was the coffee this morning,,,i still have not had mine

[captainKJ]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

PLEASE VISIT
MY
WEBSITE!

- For World Peace -


.

YOU ARE MY HERO

BUTT you do not have a daily blog on it,,,how can you go on the lecture circuit without one

[SailingwithSoul]

Originally Posted by captainKJ;

What blog,,,you forgot to give a web address

Maybe some of want to read it to

how was the coffee this morning,,,i still have not had mine

I know the blog he's talking about. I think it's actually improved since she commercialized it. There are guest writers and her speaking tours are actually fun to listen to. Many have done the same thing. The Pardey's are probably one of the most successful examples.

The blogger in questions did have to sell her boat and consolidate her plans. Hopefully, the money she earns from these ventures can help her buy another ship.

[captainKJ]

Originally Posted by SailingwithSoul

I know the blog he's talking about. I think it's actually improved since she commercialized it. There are guest writers and her speaking tours are actually fun to listen to. Many have done the same thing. The Pardey's are probably one of the most successful examples.

The blogger in questions did have to sell her boat and consolidate her plans. Hopefully, the money she earns from these ventures can help her buy another ship.

If BOTH of you know the blog how come one of you doesnot tell me what it is?? that not fair. I want to read something that will make me sick to

[captain58sailin]

While I am slightly older (53) I heartily agree with the OP's view. Like others, I vote with my feet, or in this case my mouse. If I were to chronical my life for public digestion, I would most likey be called a BS er. Oh well, my experiences are important to me, all the rest can shovel sand. Self agrandizing has become an art form. Mostly bad art. Of course the difference between a sea story and a fairy tale is "Once upon a time..." and "This ain't no Sh*t..."

[SailingwithSoul]

Originally Posted by captainKJ

If BOTH of you know the blog how come one of you doesnot tell me what it is?? that not fair. I want to read something that will make me sick to

I don't want to be too presumptuous or throw anyone under-a-bus if I'm wrong. You could try looking into sailing simplicity. You may find it enlightening.