True confession: I expected to hate blogging.
Having a blog never crossed my mind until I started reading about stuff you should do if you have a book coming out. I hemmed and hawed for a while and finally decided to give it a try. Imagine my surprise when I found I actually liked it.
I’ve long been a fan of blogs like Nathan Bransford’s and Jackson Pearce’s. Ones with very regular posts that are always thoughtful, well-written and usually entertaining.
That’s not my blog.
I learned really, really quickly that blogging takes time. Much more than I’d have guessed: fifteen-to-thirty minutes for a short post, easily a couple hours for a more meaningful one. I give a lot of credit to those bloggers out there who come up with insightful posts day after day.
I squeeze them in when I can, prepare ahead of time as much as possible and, when time is tight, try to pop in with at least something every few days. It’s not perfect, but I’d miss having a place to share if I’d decided it had to be all or nothing.
My bar might be set lower than I’d like, but it’s sustainable and, approaching next week’s one year anniversary, I still really like doing it.
So, on to the stats…here are some first-year numbers and info that’s probably mostly interesting to people who blog, are thinking about it or are stat-geeks like me.
Total visitors: 6329
Top referrers: 11% came from my website, 9% from Twitter and 2% each from my livejournal profile, www.ellzreadz.blogspot.com, www.the-bibliophiles-lounge.blogspot.com (thanks, Elie and Chase!).
Top search terms: Searches for my name were first, followed closely by KISS – from this post – which brought in 122 people. Then came searches for my editor or other authors who’ve been featured.
People have also come here searching for: jenna dol - which is NOT my name though Dia Reeves insists it is, raw shark texts jacket notes, food wich ceep the blud tenner (spell check anyone?), dirt green leaf background website, dirty little secrets jennie – sorry, only PG content here - and I hate Carolyn Hennesy.
For the record, I do not hate you, Carolyn Hennesy. I do not even know who you are.
Top posts: Contests brought the most visitors, taking the top four spots. Fifth was the Selling Your First Novel post. Stat geeks unite.
The lesson? If you’re thinking about blogging, be sure to include a picture of Gene Simmons, talk about your editor a bunch of times, and of course, give away free stuff…
The Giveaway: A signed copy of The Mark plus bookmarks, notepad and glow pen. To enter, just leave a comment on this post by the end of Friday, May 14.
One entry per person. Giveaway is open internationally to anyone age 13 or older. I’ll announce the randomly selected winner on Saturday, May 15 – the official anniversary of the blog.
However you got here, thanks for stopping by :-)
May 6th, 2010 - 9:22 pm
Congrats on 1 year of blogging!!!
Please enter me and please keep up the great writing!
Amy J
May 6th, 2010 - 9:23 pm
Happy Blogiversary! I can’t wait to read The Mark!
May 6th, 2010 - 9:42 pm
Great giveaway. Congrats on a whole year of blogging!!
May 6th, 2010 - 9:53 pm
I loved The Mark! Congratulations on your blogiversary!
May 6th, 2010 - 10:08 pm
Happy Blogoversary !
I just can’t believe that it’s already A year
I’m soooo want to read Your book !
May 6th, 2010 - 10:47 pm
Congrats on 1 Year of blogging. Its been an exciting year.
May 6th, 2010 - 10:54 pm
Happy Blogoversary!! And thanks for the giveaway
May 6th, 2010 - 11:20 pm
Congrats on making it a full year!
May 7th, 2010 - 1:14 am
Couldn’t agree more. Blogging takes time, effort and a driving passion to not only write but think and engage with the readers.
I really hope those are things I pull off while updating my blog. 
Congrats on this milestone and many more to come!
I’d love to read your book.
May 7th, 2010 - 5:37 am
Congratulations on your one year blogoversary!!! I am very glad you did make the decision to start blogging
I always find it interesting to read the weird and wacky search terms people use to stumble across sites LOL.
I would love to be entered, please and thanks!
May 7th, 2010 - 9:45 am
Hi, Jen,
I very much enjoy reading your blog, and am grateful for the time and effort you spend making it a thoughtful and helpful resource. (I’m a stats gal myself, so please keep ‘em coming.)
Congratulations on your success so far, and may it only multiply.
Best wishes,
Kristin
May 7th, 2010 - 2:14 pm
Wow, that is really cool. Thanks for mentioning me.
If I were to win a signed copy, I will donate mine to the library. I can’t wait to see more from you Jen, Happy Blogoversary.
May 8th, 2010 - 10:45 am
thanks for the congrats & kind words, everyone!
Emily – so great to hear you liked the book – thanks for reading!
Jess – good luck with your blogging!
Brodie – glad I’m not the only one
Kristin – thanks for reading & happy mother’s day!
Elie – thank YOU for all the referrals!
May 8th, 2010 - 11:00 am
Mmmm, Gene Simmons.
I have the same thought about my own blog. It is a LOT of work! Most of my better posts are given to my other blog, the one I share with my crit partners.
For the record, I like your blog. Pennsylvania girls unite!
May 8th, 2010 - 11:09 am
Yay congrats on hitting one year of blogging! I find that posts with lists tend to be popular as well.
Also, totally agree on the amount of work blogging takes, it’s hard, but I think well worth it.
May 8th, 2010 - 11:49 am
Hi Jen!
Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary
Whilst I haven’t read your book yet, I know the premise sounds very good and am looking forward as to what you have in store for us all next!
Happy Blogoversary
Best wishes,
Shy
May 8th, 2010 - 7:38 pm
Happy Blogoversary! I loved The Mark and can’t wait for a sequel.
May 8th, 2010 - 10:19 pm
Congrats on your blogoversary. I didnt expect so much work went into running of a blog until I started mines so keep up the great work!
May 9th, 2010 - 6:51 am
Congratulations on your first year of blogging! It is rather addicting, isn’t it…especially (I find) stat. checking….
Thanks for the giveaway– The Mark is already on my too be read list…so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
May 9th, 2010 - 9:47 am
Congrats on your 1 year of blogging!
Thank you for international giveaway. Please enter me) I would love to read The Mark, but it’s hard to find in Russia.
rouxsoleil@gmail.com
May 9th, 2010 - 1:23 pm
Congrats on your anniversary. Please count me in.
May 9th, 2010 - 9:22 pm
Congrats on your first year of blogging!
Everything you said in the post rings true.
I’ve found that having a blog takes a lot of time.
Just a short book review takes me like ten minutes to write.
I honestly don’t know how experienced reviewers write long reviews.
No matter what though book blogging is so fun.
Thanks for the giveaway. I’ve been wanting to read your book for sooo long.
May 9th, 2010 - 10:28 pm
Congrats on a year of blogging!
throuthehaze at gmail dot com
May 10th, 2010 - 10:44 am
Congrats on the blogoversary! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
Email Address:
thebooksophisticate@hotmail.com
May 10th, 2010 - 3:15 pm
Hi! Grats on your Blogoversary! What an awesome giveaway! I came over from Clevery Inked.
May 10th, 2010 - 7:57 pm
Congrats on the blogoversary! And thanks for the giveaway!
hanjie.1992 @ live.com.my
May 11th, 2010 - 7:15 pm
yay! I love celebrating anniversaries, especially when free stuff is involved. I found your blog because I enjoyed your book! thanks
May 13th, 2010 - 2:49 pm
Gotta love blogging! Congrats on the blogoversary!
May 13th, 2010 - 2:50 pm
Congrats on the blogoversary! I will definitely say that blogging is not for the faint of heart. Count me in on the giveaway! Thanks so much!
May 13th, 2010 - 2:52 pm
Happy Blogoversary! Poor Carolyn LOL
Looking forward to reading more about book two… hint, hint;)
Mel
May 13th, 2010 - 2:53 pm
Happy Blogoversary! You have an awesome blog.
I have been trying to get my YA book review blog off the ground and it is TOUGH!
Please enter me in to the giveaway. I have been dying to read The Mark!!
courtneyyrae@gmail.com
May 13th, 2010 - 2:58 pm
Congrats!!! I agree does take a lot of time and effort! Thanks for the giveaway. I followed someone’s tweet.
cariblogs[at]gmail[dot]com
May 13th, 2010 - 3:05 pm
Congratulations on your one year blogiversary! I’m not sure how the bloggers who post 3-4 posts a day manage, but I’m always impressed!
Thanks for the great giveaway!
May 13th, 2010 - 3:12 pm
Haha, happy blogoversary! This was an awesome post!
May 13th, 2010 - 10:57 pm
Happy blogoversary!!
May 13th, 2010 - 11:47 pm
Congrats on the year. I found this interesting, since I just started my own blog.