We've broken a record!

Long-time readers of my blog know I'm a data junkie. Looking at hard numbers appeals to the left-brained, logical side of me (I do have one, you know!). Every month I record my sales numbers for each book and where they sold the best, then I make charts comparing this year's sales to all the years previous. I know what books have done well (Secret Submission) and what hasn't moved (Timeless Love).

A while back, Blogger started offering stats for the blog. I'd already put a counter from StatCounter on the site, but Blogger's data provides a better overview. I still use StatCounter when I want to drill down and find out things like how long people tend to visit (25% stay five minutes or longer) or what words people typed in to get to me ("diana hunter" is the most popular, although recently two people typed in "nude teachers" and got to my site. Don't ask me how, I've no idea!).

Blogger started collecting hit information in July of 2009 and, in that year, I had an average of 263 hits per month. In 2010, that went up to an average of 320 hits/month. Not great in the world of blogging, but I had a steady stream of dedicated readers and the occasional fly-by, so I was happy. In 2011 the stats went up again, although not by a lot, to 353 hits/month. Steady on!

However, in September 2011, I started the writing workshops and, while they took a bit to get going, they soon started having an impact on my blog hits. Every Tuesday I'd see a spike as people came to try out the new activity, raising the number of hits per month to 477/month for the first part of this year. Three times the blog registered over 500 hits in a months' time and I was thrilled.

Then, early this month, I switched the dianahunter.net address to point to this blog. I never had a good idea if that site was ever getting hits as my webmistress never gave me that info, even when requested. For me, the static website was always a shot in the dark. And the data junkie in me cringed.

Well, now I have an idea of just how many people were hitting that website because August has broken all my previous records, shattering them for all time. In the three weeks both addresses have pointed to this page, there have well over 1500 hits. Yep, that's FOUR digits, folks! I'm doing the happy dance on this side of the computer (be glad there is no video!).

Of course, the big question becomes: does the higher number of hits mean a higher number of sales? That, unfortunately, I do not yet know. The data is still too young. I'm not seeing a huge uptick in my self-published sales, but I won't know EC sales until October's statement. I'm hoping those who are sticking around the site long enough to read the posts are also visiting the Publishing Info tab at the top of the page (it does have the highest number of hits of all the tabs. I told you I'm a data junkie!).

So I'll keep watching the stats (and keep writing the workshops -- they're definitely popular! Although look for some guest posters to the workshops in the coming months) and I'll keep writing the stories, if you keep reading the posts and buying the books!

Oh! And I'll be getting a newsletter out before Labor Day that will have a juicy little surprise in it. Tied to Home is done and if you want a sneak at an excerpt, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter (use the link in the upper right corner of this blog).

That's all for now. Keep visiting and play safe!
Diana