Four years ago today, I started writing blog posts on book, magazine and association publishing. In the time since, I’ve posted my thoughts about 800 times, hopefully offering some focused perspective along the way.
Over the last four years, the site as a whole has welcomed over 138,000 visitors and served nearly 170,000 page views. During that time, the blog has captured about 71% of the visitors and two-thirds of the page views.
At the start of 2013, I took a look at the most frequently viewed posts for 2012, noting that several had carried over from other years. It’s no surprise, then, that the top 10 posts for the last four years overlap with the 2012 list:
- Context first (2010)
- The impact of piracy (2009)
- The walls we build up (2010)
- A new kind of hello (2011)
- The opportunity in abundance (2011)
- Kindle periodicals (2010)
- 50 shades of DRM (2012)
- Making frenemies (2010)
- A holiday tale (2011)
- Curation nation (2009)
There’s a risk in trying to draw any conclusions from this list, but length alone does not appear to be an immediate roadblock. Amazon (naturally) generates some interest, as do book topics (although there’s a bit of selection bias there, as my Twitter followers are decidedly bookish).
At least a couple of posts – “The impact of piracy”, featured on boingboing, and “A new kind of hello”, recommended by Tim O’Reilly, demonstrate what can happen when a voice trusted by a larger community decides to point your way. That’s useful to think about as we debate the best ways to promote discovery in the wake of abundance.
In looking at the posts that had been viewed the most since 2009, I learned that one I’d written last month about my father’s passing was among the top 20. That, too, is a measure of community. Whether commenting on the post, sending an e-mail or seeking me out at a publishing event, you’ve reminded me that, in facing difficult moments, we are not alone.
As for my Dad… well, he’s probably campaigning somewhere to move that post up the leaderboard. He can be pretty persistent. You might want to check back next March.
