Seeing the Value in Others
by Anne Leighton
There are probably two or three dozen Anne Leightons in this world. One is actually the mother of Jethro Tull's Australian publicist, Samantha Leighton. Another was an in-flight radio programmer's piano teacher. Then there was a famous gardening scholar who wrote several books, including American Gardens of the 19th Century: For Comfort and Affluence. She spelled her first name Ann. I dug her because she wrote one book about 17th century Puritan gardens, which is an era in history that I've been reading about for the past five years. Also, I wrote a book called Using Your Art & the Media to Comfort People. So, maybe true Anne and Ann Leightons love comfort.
I was a bit shaken one day when I received an e-mail from AnneLeighton@----.com that read:
Hi Anne,
Well we have the same first and last name. I live in California and wanted to know if you are willing to give up the domain name anneleighton.com? I'm a young aspiring actress in Los Angeles, and would really like to have this domain. Thank you for your time and I appreciate your response.
Anne Leighton
At first I laughed, because I'm sort of a public figure as a working author and publicist. There are enough people who know my website, it's mentioned in all my press materials, and of course it comes up through Google searches. In addition, I have paid something like $12 a year through 2016 to own my domain name.
I felt a little bit intimidated as well. After all, it was an aspiring actress who wanted my site, and she obviously has the potential to be more famous than me. For a split second, I thought, Well, maybe I'll give her my domain name. For all I know, AnneLeighton@______.com might have encountered some awful things in her life. Only our imaginations combined could have rivaled her real-life encounters of the wrong people showing interest in her for less than savory reasons, or maybe she was motivated to act because nobody gave her the type of attention she wanted. Who knows?
After the split second, I realized that 10 years ago I might have sacrificed a domain that I'd spent my hard-earned money on and publicized just to help some struggling young gun. Let's face it, she chose to become an actress just as I chose to become a writer. Not everything in our careers is easy. The reality is ".com" isn't an issue that matters when you choose a website. There are many other domains that one could use with the name AnneLeighton, like ".net" and ".org." So I wrote her back:
Hi Anne,
Well, I'm pleased to meet another Anne. Especially a Leighton. But I have a better idea for you. Why don't you do AnneLeighton.tv? You're the actress. What do you think?
Let's stay in touch, compare notes.
Anne
I was happy with my e-mail and suggestion, because it fit her mold as a star. I think more actors should use ".tv" for their websites. I was also satisfied because the e-mail didn't show all the effort (time and money) that I put into my website. I think it's wrong to show inconvenience or problems to outside people, no matter what their names are.
As of this writing, she hasn't stayed in touch. And in a way I feel a little saddened she hasn't written back, because of the great idea I gave her.
Before I started working on my column, I chatted with a fellow writer and publicity mentor, Raleigh Pinskey. Raleigh's website is www.promoteyourself.com. She called me because she has a friend named Dustin James who has a great version of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance," and he needed online marketing. His website is www.dustinjames.us. Raleigh mentioned his last name is also Leighton. I told Raleigh how disappointed I was that the young actress didn't write back to me. "I hope her career flounders," I said. Raleigh had to set me straight. "All we are saying is give peace a chance," she replied. "You're right," I said. "I hope someday she writes back to me, saying she has her website up and running and that she's starring on a primetime show."
Maybe someday I'll be Anne Leighton's publicist … the sociologist's or the artist's, that is.
