2007: 332 posts for the year
Top 5 Pageviews in 2007 (*=all-time Top 10 pageviews)I read a lot of posts about blog development during my first year, and I clearly took their advice about frequent and consistent posting to heart. Despite not starting until the spring of 2007, I ended up with almost a full year’s worth of content thanks to double-posting days, participating in several weekly memes, and joining NaBloPoMo in November. I was much less serious about finding a focus and/or developing a niche, though. Although I started the blog as a book journal, my drive to discover a whole world of other blogs led me to write in response to non-bookish reading as well--randomness was leading the way!
2008: 428 posts for the year
Top 5 Pageviews in 2008
400-plus posts--I haven’t gotten anywhere near that number since! I posted 5-6 days per week; I was still doing several weekly reading and writing memes, and would often have an additional, non-prompted post go up on a “meme” day. But my most productive blogging year was my least productive for reading--I read just 35 books. I called myself a book blogger, and I was getting on publicists’ contact lists and hosting blog tours, but the numbers didn’t seem to support the claim--on the other hand, maybe the 3 out of 5 top posts associated with book-blogging-community leader Dewey did help give it some credibility. The randomness still seemed to be leading the way, though…and, perhaps, leading me a little astray. I started posting regular link roundups. I became a charter contributor to the LA Moms Blog (although I never did get comfortable calling myself a mom blogger), linking and promoting that more topical content here. The 3 R’s Blog got its own domain at www.3rsblog.com and became part of the BlogHer Publishing Network, where it earned good promotion and not-so-good ad revenue until 2013.
2009: 320 posts for the year
Top 5 Pageviews in 2009 (*=all-time Top 10 pageviews)Factors for a successful marriage: The Pew Survey * (originally posted in 2007)
Book Talk: FIREFLY LANE * (originally posted in 2008)
A full year of blogging yielded fewer posts than the 9.5 months of 2007. I was posting 4-6 days per week, but finally broke the two-a-day habit except for rare exceptions. I continued contributing to the LA Moms Blog, which inspired much of my non-book-based writing, and a reaction to the “Octomom” story became my all-time most-viewed post when it was picked up in a related-content widget on a CNN.com post. I dropped some memes, but became part of the team that continued Dewey’s “Weekly Geeks” book-blogger meme for more than two years. I went to my first blogging conference (BlogHer’09, Chicago), and I read and reviewed 47 books.
2010: 304 posts for the year
Top 5 Pageviews in 2010 (*=all-time Top 10 pageviews)
Recovery time was productive reading time, though; I read 54 books in 2010, none of which were audiobooks. (I can’t approach that number without audiobooks now!) I was part of a small group of book bloggers who founded Armchair BEA that spring, and I recovered from the first shoulder injury just in time to attend my first San Diego Comic Con and second BlogHer conference.
2011: 239 posts for the year
Top 5 Pageviews in 2011 (*=all-time Top 10 pageviews)Factors for a successful marriage: The Pew Survey * (originally posted in 2007)
Quick, change the station! Ten songs I can’t stand (originally posted in 2009)
I wasn’t regularly contributing posts to other blogs either, but I wrote occasional featured pieces on BlogHer, Moms LA, and CBSLA.com, and I started contributing (and being paid for!) book reviews to Shelf Awareness’ Readers edition when it launched that summer. I worked behind the scenes on the second year of Armchair BEA while attending my first Book Expo America and Bloggers’ Conference, and after years of a daily 80-mile round-trip commute, I finally started reading audiobooks. I wish I’d gotten into them long before, but they’ve helped make my drive more tolerable--and keep my annual books-read count above 50--ever since.
2012: 203 posts for the year
Top 5 Pageviews in 2012 (*=all-time Top 10 pageviews)Factors for a successful marriage: The Pew Survey * (originally posted in 2007)
A vacation story: NYC--A night on Broadway, a day at the museum (originally posted in 2010)
The post count fell further, and I wasn’t regularly writing anywhere other than here and Shelf Awareness. I came back from my second trip to BEA and the Bloggers’ Conference with fewer books than I had the year before, and didn’t feel at all deprived; thanks to my SA gig, I was cutting back significantly on blog tours and review books from other sources. I was out of nearly all reading-and-writing memes except for the Sunday Salon--and I was an irregular participant in that one--but I got involved in some photo memes during that summer. I didn’t really keep that up, but they did lead me to more frequent image-based posting here.
By this time, I did very little of my blogging on the fly--most of my posts were written and scheduled in advance, and I had a loosely structured editorial calendar. Working ahead led to some shifts in content, with fewer current-events reaction posts and more focus on books, entertainment, travel and events, and “the blogging life” (which became the source of most of the current-events reactions I did post).
2013: 171 posts to date--should end up in line with 2012
Since the year’s not over yet, I won’t list the Top 5 pageviews, but I will say that the “Factors For a Successful Marriage” post continues to get search traffic, and that the most-viewed post I actually wrote this year is “Three Reasons Why I Blog,” from September. It always fascinates me to note that there's rarely much overlap between what Google Analytics identifies as my "top posts" and the ones I consider my best, or even my favorite, work--but I'm pretty pleased to see that particular post doing well.
I left the BlogHer Publishing Network for the Riot Ad Network in May--I think pageviews may have suffered a bit from the loss of BlogHer’s cross-promotion of posts across their network, but RAN’s still growing--promotion opportunities may come, and they already pay better. I joined an online book club this summer, but I’ll be leaving it early next year--the selections just haven’t been interesting me all that much. I want to keep doing freelance book reviewing, but when it’s not for pay I want to move back toward reading what I want, when I want.
Fortunately--and I wish I’d understood it sooner--there’s no one right way to do this. The randomness has led the way through 2000 posts here--and it’s not going away, but it’s gradually steered me toward writing more about the reading, which is what I meant to do here in the first place. I think I'm understanding who I am--and how that's shaped by a lifetime as a reader--better, and this blog is central to capturing and telling that story.
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