2005: Year in Review
Wednesday, December 28, 2005 at 09:49AM This past year has been one incredible ride. How incredible? Here are the figures:
Website:
Raw Hits: 64,513
Raw Hits/Month (Avg): 5,376
Unique Visitors/Month (Avg): 735
Busiest Month: October (9,543 hits, 1,108 unique)
Slowest Month: February (1,957 hits, 459 unique)
Google Page Rank: 3/10
Most Popular Search Engine Queries:
- Randy Richardson
- Lost in the Ivy
- Marla Collins (or Cubs Ballgirl) nude (or Playboy)
- Jo Frost (or Supernanny) nude
- Bubs Daddy Gum
Total Blog Entries: 99
Book:
Amazon Sales Rankings:
Highest: 5,373
Lowest: ~ 600,000
Current: 270,653
Amazon Customer Reviews: 9
Average Rating: 5/5 Stars
Bookstore Appearances: 4
Books Sold: 45
Library Appearances: 3
Books Sold: 1
Book Fair Appearances: 3
Books Sold: 24
Book Launch Parties: 1
Books Sold: 34
Total Author Appearances: 11
Total Books Sold in Author Appearances: 104
Books Sold/Appearance (Avg): 9.5
Radio Interviews: 6
Newspaper or Newsletter Stories or Interviews: 8
Newspaper, Magazine or Online Reviews: 7
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What do the number show? One thing they demonstrate is that promotion pays off. The busiest month in terms of website activity (October) coincides with my busiest month of promotional activity. They also show that measuring purely in terms of book sales, library events do not pay off.
Do the numbers tell the whole story? Not even close. There were so many stories behind all of these numbers, many of which you can read in the 99 blog entries.
The one number that I'm asked most about is the one that I don't know. That is the total number of copies of LOST IN THE IVY that have actually been sold. All I can tell people is, I wish I knew. There are at least those 104 copies that were sold during my author appearances. In addition, I've hand-sold dozens of copies on my own and distributed quite a few review copies. But the Internet sales are an unknown factor. In late February I should be getting a sales report from my publisher that, hopefully, will give some kind of an answer to the question of how many books have been sold. Until then, your guess is as good as mine.
But no matter how many books were sold, it has been truly a year to remember. I've done so many things this past year that I'd never done before and met so many wonderful people along the way. Those who've followed me on this incredible ride, I thank you and hope that it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me.
Now it's time to park the car for 2005. There's a new model revving up for 2006. Feel free to hop in again for another ride. Just be sure to buckle up. I have no idea where I'm going. But if getting to 2006 was any indicator, the ride to 2007 should be one fun trip.
Randy Richardson
A couple more figures:
The most commented upon blog entry: Pickles and Hiccups (8 comments).
The most popular (read) blog entry: Only in America (0 comments).
Randy Richardson
A loyal reader of my blog kindly pointed out today that she found a measure of success in Entertainment Weekly's end-of-year book lists. While my novel didn't make the magazine's 10 Best list, it didn't make it's 5 Worst list, either.
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