Tagged: the best and worst of
The Best and Worst of January 2015
Well, January was a pretty good month for me in terms of posting. I posted every day except Friday and I didn’t post that day because I was pretty sick. So far, so good. Hopefully in February I can honestly say that I posted every single day in keeping with my new year’s resolution. And while blogging was pretty good for me, my personal life wasn’t too bad aside from the aforementioned sickness. I’m fine now, however, and am looking forward to both The Walking Dead and John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight returning next Sunday.
In January I received 6,644 views in total with 3964 of those being unique views. I noticed that my comments were way down for most of the month but that’s probably because I didn’t post anything too terribly interesting/controversial other than some Saturday discussion posts. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it and I’m just happy that January did so much better than December and that I’m back on a regular posting schedule.
So what were the best posts this month?
1. Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal
2. How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour
3. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
4. Best Seller by Martha Reynolds
5. The Mad Reviewer Reading and Reviewing Challenge 2015 Sign Up
Once again, there are no real surprises here. All of the top four have been in the top five for at least the last three months and my reading challenge sign up is always popular. I just have to get around to updating the official list since more people joined! It’s not as many people as last year but I think those people that did join this time around are more serious contestants. I can’t wait to see how everyone does with their goals!
So what were the worst posts this month?
2. The Best and Worst of November 2013
3. Goddess Born by Kari Edgren
4. Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars by Sheri Holman
Um, ouch? My Forgotten Figures article on Zenobia seems to be truly forgotten by pretty much the whole internet since it only had one view in the entire month. I spent two hours writing it and far more time researching it so yeah, that’s one of the most disappointing ‘worsts’ in quite a number of months. The others aren’t that surprising as they’re not the most popular books or they’re quite dated but I was sad to see Goddess Born by Kari Edgren on there since that is an amazingly underrated novel. But, like Zenobia, my beloved main character Selah was forgotten.
Well, that was how my January went. How was yours?
The Best and Worst of December 2014
As is my tradition, I’m posting my monthly stats analysis early so that tomorrow I can do my full-year analysis. This December was down from last December, with only 5,025 views total, including 3,066 unique visitors. Seeing as my posting was erratic yet again, this isn’t really much of a surprise. I’m happy that I actually did this well. December is always a hectic month and in two out of three years it has been worse than the previous months because everyone wants to spend time off the internet and with their families and/or friends.
So what were the best posts this month?
1. Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal
2. How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour
3. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
4. Best Seller by Martha Reynolds
5. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
As usual, nothing new this month. Two reviews, three of my most popular articles all make up my top 5 this month and pretty much every month. I’m hoping to write more articles in the new year so hopefully I’ll break the streak of the same posts always making the top 5. We’ll see. My Forgotten Figures articles don’t seem to be doing as well as I’d hoped. But maybe they’ll catch on.
What were the worst posts this month, then?
1. The Commander’s Desire by Jeanette Green
2. Genghis: Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden
3. The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld
4. What do you think makes a good book?
5. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
I think this is the first time a couple of posts have appeared twice on the worst list: The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld and The Sorceress by Michael Scott. They’re not really popular books that people are searching out because they’re a couple of years old. Still, this is the first time in a long time we’ve had a repeat offender despite the relative popularity of both authors.
Well, that was my December, folks. Stay tuned in tomorrow for how my entire year went. But in the meantime, how was your December? If you blog, do you notice a traffic dip in December as well or is it just me? What was your best month in 2014?
The Best and Worst of November 2014
November went by in a blur for me, to be honest. Between not having internet for half of it and not having water for the past day and a half currently, I’m really quite sick of rural life. Still, it makes me appreciate all the more the fact I’m moving to a real-life city in the summer. So overall, not a bad month but not a great month.
In November, despite spotty posting, I managed to get 6,022 views including a total of 3,875 unique views. That’s fewer views than October, but I can’t really complain because of the aforementioned spotty posting. Hopefully the internet I pay through the nose for will be slightly more consistent in the future.
So what were my best posts this month?
1. Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal
2. How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour
3. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
4. Best Seller by Martha Reynolds
5. The Mad Reviewer is Open to Review Requests (Temporarily)
That’s actually a pretty respectable list, with two new posts finally making it. My review of Best Seller by Martha Reynolds is still going very strong and I’m glad that the author is still promoting it. It makes me far more likely to review books by authors in the future when they promote the heck out of my reviews, even mediocre ones. As for the last item on my list, I’m quite happy with the response I’ve had to my call for submissions. I’ve got 14 locked in right now and I’ve reviewed four of them; so far, so good.
And what were the worst posts this month?
1. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
2. Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess by Carolyn Meyer
5. “Game of Thrones man hatred” and More Weird Search Terms
The only surprise there is that one of my weird search term posts finally made the list of the worst in terms of views. That’s shocking, actually. As for the rest, I can’t really complain. They’re either old articles or announcements or books that aren’t necessarily the most popular at the moment. Next month that list will totally change, just like every other list of the worst articles/reviews.
Well, that was how my November went. How was yours? Did you watch that heartbreaking mid-season finale of The Walking Dead last night?
The Best and Worst of October 2014
I had another exhausting Halloween of scaring kids and then organizing a local dance, but overall I’d say October was pretty good. The good weather is holding here in my corner of Saskatchewan and although work is getting slower, the construction industry never stops around here. Add to the fact that The Walking Dead is back on and you’ve got the recipe for a pretty decent month in my life.
It was so good that I re-opened my review requests and have been getting some awesome submissions. It also didn’t hurt my stats as I received 7,317 views including 4,778 unique views. That’s pretty good considering September was awful, with 4,861 total views.
So what were the most popular posts this month?
1. Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal
2. How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour
3. Best Seller by Martha Reynolds
4. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
5. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The only new one on this list is my 3 star review of Best Seller by Martha Reynolds. It’s nice to not only get extra views from a blog tour, it’s also nice to know that some authors actually care about their reviews and promote the heck out of them. Even if they’re generally positive but not the most flattering ever. I can definitely appreciate that. None of the other top posts in October were a shocker, but it’s nice to see a new post reach the top 5.
So what were my worst posts this month?
1. Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer
2. The Eagles’ Brood by Jack Whyte
3. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
4. Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn
5. Kane Chronicles: The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
As with my past bottom 5 lists, none of these are really a surprise and I don’t think many of them have made repeated appearances on the list. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld has appeared before and that’s a shame because it’s a very good book. However, the others haven’t been on before and they are older/less popular books in general so it’s not all that surprising.
So overall, my October was pretty good. How was yours?
The Best and Worst of September 2014
September was a slow month traffic-wise, with only 4,861 views in total and with about 3,401 of those being unique page views. That’s down from even August, which would be surprising except that the same thing happened last year. However, once schools start their novel studies of The Hunger Games I think I can safely expect more views on my usual articles.
So what were the best articles in this pretty pathetic month?
1. Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal
2. How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour
3. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
4. The Day an Author Suggested I Kill Myself
5. Discussion: The Most Overhyped Book (For You)
For the first time in a while, we have a discussion in the top five. Considering the topic, it’s not all that surprising, but it is nice to see something new up there. My author article about a certain jerk was also strangely popular, which leads me to believe that someone Googled his name and the word spread through their circle of friends. Bringing up the incident in question isn’t my favourite thing ever, but if it keeps future reviewers from being victimized, I don’t mind all that much.
And what were the worst articles this month?
1. Song of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
2. Parsifal’s Page by Gerald Morris
3. The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
4. Short Story: The Princess of Egypt Must Die by Stephanie Dray
5. Now You See Them, Now You Don’t by Gordon Korman
Stephanie Dray is one of my favourite new authors, so it kind of hurts to see that two of her pieces of work were on the worst list. But I’m not going to worry about it too much unless her name remains consistently on the list, which no author’s has in the past. The ‘worst’ articles of the month change around, providing a nice contrast to the ‘best’ articles, which seem to never change. It’s always nice to know that there’s something predictable out there.
So how was the month of September for you guys, life-wise and stats-wise?