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My First Interview
I was on Jimmy Fallon one time. Not really me, but my face was. (View here). That was pretty cool and I continue to bring it up at parties even though no one wants to hear about it.
That was the closest I’ve gotten to being interviewed. Well, I guess I was interviewed by our yearbook about our freshman basketball team. I said something really cool like, “I think we’ll be good this year.” Inspiring stuff. But I’ve never really been interviewed . . .
Until now.
My oldest friend in the world, Brandon Noel, started up a podcast called “The Makeshift Poets” where he interviews writers of all sorts. With the release of my book this year he asked me to come on, and it was a blast. If you write poetry, blogs, songs, books, or even write on the walls with crayons you will get something out of it. Or if you have a boring commute you can listen to it because I like to think this interview was better than 90% of Top 40 music right now. (Not Taylor Swift! I didn’t say T-Swift! Everyone just calm down! It’s cool. We’re all cool here.)
You can listen the following ways:
iTunes (This option if you’re a podcaster already and know what you’re doing with podcasts) – https://itun.es/us/PPrMbb.c
Podbean (If you don’t know how podcasts work you can just hit the link and play it from your browser or phone) – http://bit.ly/1T8aJl6
GooglePlay (Um, I don’t even know how this works but I assume it’s easy) – http://bit.ly/1X3AiZd
If you haven’t ordered the book, you can get it on Amazon right now in print or Kindle format. Leave a review if you haven’t yet and if you want to sow good deed seeds into the world and be a good person and be able to tell your children that you’re a good person.
Thanks!
Jonathan
Twitter / Instagram: @JonathanTony
The Selective Good Person
When I was in kindergarten there was a very prestigious position to be held. It was the goal of goals and the highest platform a mere mortal could ascend to.
Line leader.
The line leader got to . . . lead the line. That’s right. You were the first in a line of 25 children, leading them into exciting and adventurous places like the cafeteria, the playground, and the bathroom. Oh the power you could possess!
Each day, our teacher Miss Sylvia would choose a new brave soul to lead our fair class, and then they would get to wear a button on their shirt all day bearing the sacred name of Line Leader. It was a glorious tradition passed down from generation to generation.
I remember sitting in my seat as she would walk by and my heart would be racing. I’d be saying internally, “Please pick me! Please pick me!” And every couple of weeks, the gods would smile upon me and I would become the chosen one. And it was awesome.
The students used to think it was based off of how good we’d been or how smart we were. We were too stupid to figure out that the students were selected by alphabetical order. I guess that’s one advantage you can have over kids who don’t know the alphabet yet.
I wanted to serve my class. “Please pick me!” Nowadays, when I see opportunities arising to help others, I say internally, “Please don’t pick me! How do I avoid this request?” I’ve gotten pretty good at walking backwards and slipping into the darkness like a ninja.
I’ll admit it: I’m a selective good person. If you talk to people who know me, some may tell you, “Oh he’s been so great to us. Always willing to help in any way.” Others will likely say, “He’s surprisingly never been around when I needed him, and I didn’t realize it until you said something and now I hate him.”
It’s funny how many of us are selective good people. I’m trying to be better and keep my life open, but it’s a work in progress. So many people will tell you, “Go chase your dreams!” But really what they mean is, “Go away from me and chase them!”
It’s easy to endorse someone, but it requires a lot more to invest in someone. That’s why I’ve started to recognize who is an endorser and who is an investor in my life. To be candid, I don’t have many investors.
It’s a prestigious position in someone’s life to be an investor, and you probably don’t have many of them either. Sometimes we think someone is an investor when really they are just an opportunist. It hurts when you find out the difference.
We have to be selective on who we invest in and who we let invest in our lives. I hope you have made smart investments.
I’m not asking you to invest in my life, but I do have an opportunity for you to be a selective good person. And it’s super easy.
You can leave a review for my book.
That’s it! You don’t even have to finish reading it first. If you haven’t ordered it, you can get it on Amazon right now in print or Kindle format. If you’ve signed up on this email list, I think you’ll enjoy it. Then, just go leave a review.
It’s so easy and it will make such a big difference to the success of the book. I read somewhere that once you receive 50 reviews, Amazon will take notice and start to do their own promoting with it.
So there you go. That’s it. Simple huh? How much easier is it to be a good person right now than to leave a three sentence review? I’m not even asking you to help me move!
Be a good person and start here.
If You’re Cheap, This is Your Week
Get my new book here!
I’m not someone who is up to date on technology. I’ve never camped out for an iPhone. I don’t know 99% of what I’m doing on an Xbox these days. And I am trying my best on SnapChat but I seriously don’t get the point of it.
I’ve only been an early adapter once in my life. It was when I got dumped by my high school girlfriend and I’d just gotten some student loan money. I decided I deserved an iPod. I think that was even a 4th generation iPod. Totally worth it, though.
When it comes to books, I’ve always been someone who wants to see the real deal. I like having a book on my shelf, and I highlight and write in my books. So the thought of reading anything off of a screen sounded horrible to me.
Until my wife let me use her Kindle Paperwhite.
I have to say, I get it. That thing is amazingly convenient. It saves what you highlight, it’s easy to carry multiple books for trips, and you can even read in the dark. Best of all, it looks up words you don’t understand, which is huge for me because my vocabulary is not very sesquipedalian.
If you own a Kindle, this is the moment you have been waiting for, or possibly have not thought about in months or ever.
From today until July 18, you can get my book on Kindle from anywhere between 99 cents to $6.00! They are being sold incrementally this week. After a set amount of copies are sold at 99 cents, it moves up to $2. And so on up. So the quicker you move on the deal, the cheaper it will be.
Worst Book Launch Ever
Do you have your copy yet? Get it here!
I managed to pull off the worst book launch of all time. I was planning on launching it today and was going to have everything prepared. I was getting my final book edits in and making sure it would be available on Kindle and things like that. Then Thursday night I was watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with my wife and got a text from my friend Andrea showing me how she was looking at my book on Amazon.
I leaped off the couch in a panic and told my wife, “I didn’t know it was already up! I didn’t know!” like I was a horrible Paul Revere.
I went to Amazon and sure enough, the print version was up. So I decided, “Well, I guess it’s time.” I posted on Facebook and Twitter about how it was already up and then did a Live Cast on Facebook, and it was also my first time trying that out. That was fun, though.
Then the next day I was still trying to get the word out and noticed a few errors in the print version I had received for final checks. So I wanted to upload a new version with everything fixed before any more books were sold. I didn’t realize Amazon takes down your current version until the new version is approved, and that takes about 24 hours.
So I managed to not know my book was launched, decide to promote it, and then when people were actually ready to get it I was able to deny them that opportunity and ruin any momentum I had going for me.
I suppose it’s worth noting I have a degree in advertising.
After all of the madness and mistakes, you can now order it in print or on Kindle right here. Clearly I need help in promoting this thing because I don’t know what I’m doing.
The only hope this book has is you sharing it and writing a review on Amazon. If we get enough reviews, Amazon will start to bump it up on different lists and it will become more noticeable. I’m not trying to guilt anyone. This book isn’t going to make me rich and my family will have food and shelter whether anyone buys it or not, I have a great day job.
The reason it got written is because you read my blogs. You told me it was a book worth writing. This is your thing, too. And even though my name is on the cover, it really, truly is not about me. I mean shoot, I can’t even launch this book without making huge mistakes on day one.
So are you in? Let’s do this!