Jared Dees's Blog: The Latest from Jared Dees, page 26

The Starbucks Test

It is getting increasingly more difficult to get people on an email list to actually open your emails.

Let’s assume that a person has an email inbox with a lot of messages to read and respond to. How do you get that person to open and read your email?

Try using The Starbucks Test.

Imagine someone is standing in line at Starbucks and pulls out their phone to check their email.

Look at the subject line you for the email now. If you were in line at a Starbucks waiting for coffee, would you open...

Native Content Wins on Social Media

When I first started a blog in 2009 and social media was relatively new, Facebook and Twitter (and other smaller social media) were considered to be outposts from your main blog/website. These social networks were ways to get traffic back to your blog posts. Most of the engagement came in blog comments not in social media posts.

Things have drastically changed in the last ten years.

I know a lot of authors, traditional bloggers, and content creators who have seen a big drop in traffic from so...

The Word Count of Children’s Books

While there are no hard and fast rules about word count for children’s books or any genre, it is helpful to know what is generally expected. I have found the website DOGObooks to be the most useful place to check the word count of popular books for kids. The word count range for each age level is only a guideline. Obviously, the examples under each category are above and below what is generally accepted.

Children’s Chapter Books Word Count (age 6-9)

Word Count: 5,000 – 15,000 words

Examples:

...

You can be funny and faithful.

Chris Pratt’s speech at the MTV Movie & TV Awards has been watched and shared millions of times in less than a week.

Most of the speech is exactly what you would expect from Pratt. He’s a funny celebrity. Ironically, if he was serious, he might not be taken so seriously. Yet, by being authentically himself he is able to appeal to his audience.

He shared his faith but kept his funny personality.

My biggest take-away from the video is a little lesson on how to be a witness.

Be yourself.

If you...

How do you write OK: Okay, OK, or O.K.?

I did some research on the proper use of the word “OK” because I always doubt whether I am writing it the correct way.

Is “okay” acceptable?

Does “OK” need periods (as in, O.K.)?

I found two helpful articles on the subject:

OK vs. Okay (Grammarly) OK vs. okay (Grammarist)

It turns out that all three are acceptable (OK, O.K., or okay), but OK (without periods and not spelled out phonetically) is the most common.

So, like a lot of common words in our English language, any of them work. Just b...

37

Today is my 37th birthday.

I thought about writing a post with 37 life lessons for this Daily Learning Log, but instead I’ll just share one.

The lesson is:

Keep going.

Whatever it is, just keep going.

Don’t stop at just one try or a few attempts.

Try and try again.

Ignore the outcome.

Keep going.

You’ll look back after many years and see some big accomplishments.

You’ll forget about all those little steps that got you there along the way.

It was those little steps that mattered the most.

And...

Prioritizing Projects with Index Cards

I organize all of the projects and tasks I have to do in Trello, which stacks “cards” vertically in lists. Within each card I can add checklists, notes, documents, links, deadlines, and almost anything else I would need for a project. It is an amazing tool that I have relied on constantly every day for many years.

Trello helps me keep things organized, but it hasn’t helped me finish projects.

Like a lot of entrepreneurs and creative types, I have ideas for all kinds of different projects. I w...

May 2018 Project Report

Welcome to my May 2018 Project Report. My goal with these monthly reports is to help other authors, entrepreneurs, leaders, or anyone else who wants to make an impact through their work. Each month I will share how I spent my time as an author and creative entrepreneur and the successes, failures, and lessons I learned along the way.

How I Spent My Time in May 2018

I track every minute of time I spend working on projects using an app called Toggl (here is why). Here is a list of the projects...

Social Media Platforms: The Opportunity, Cost, and Opportunity Cost

As an author, I want to make an impact on the most people possible. To do that I have to connect with people on platforms where my audience likes to communicate, connect, consume, and create content.

The puzzle I am trying to solve is where to focus my time and energy instead of trying to excel on each platform at the same time.

Here’s a quick thought exercise. I’ll use Instagram as an example.

Opportunity

Is the platform growing in usage and engagement particularly among your audience?

Insta...

The Three Phrases that Inspire Science Fiction

In his introduction to the sixtieth anniversary edition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman lists three phrases that inspire works of science fiction/speculative fiction:

What if . . . ? If only . . . If this goes on . . .

Fahrenheit 451 is a “If this goes on . . .” story as are most works of dystopian science fiction.

Right now I am reading The Punch Escrow, which is a “What if . . .” book about 3D printing. Or maybe it is a “If this goes on . . .” book about a variety of technol...