Five Takeaways from 2018

As exciting as a new year is, I always find it interesting to look back for a moment as well.  Here are five things about 2018 (writing-wise) that stuck out to me.

1. Many of You Share My Curiosity Gene

What was my most popular post of 2018?  It was “Nice, but tell me when it’ll do my laundry” (https://bit.ly/2AqYSyy), a tongue-in-cheek look at some state-of-the-art home automation.  I fully admit a fascination with future technology and how it will affect humanity, and it appears a few of you feel the same.

2. You Like Giveaways

You’re thinking, ‘well duh, doesn’t everyone?’  And they do, but you, the subscribers to this blog, enjoy them more than most.  How do I know that?  When I got the addresses from the last one I participated in, you were a disproportionately large part of the list.  And when I look at page visits on my blog, the giveaway of a signed proof copy Of Half a Mind drew over 2,000 visits in three weeks – I typically get about 1,000 visits a month.  With that information, you can probably guess what you'll see again in 2019!

3. Two New Books 

Independently publishing two books in 2018 has to be a highlight - I am an author, after all.

Of Half a Mind (http://amzn.to/2ozkD9g) came out March 24th.  

Killer in the Retroscape (https://amzn.to/2Cn7xE0) followed on November 5.

Both have been very well received.  Thanks readers (and reviewers)!

4. Book Reviews Yield Blog Visits

After the giveaway page, the most visited one on my blog was ‘Book Reviews’.  To cut down on your inbox clutter, in November, I changed from individual posts on each book to a monthly summary, so I can no longer trace visits to specific books.  However, before the change, Silent Waters by Jan Coffey, Tomb of Aradia (Lost Origins Book 1) by Antony Davies, and Stolen Prey (The Prey Series Book 22) by John Sanford had drawn the most looks.

Since most blogs on blogging talk about the importance of the ‘About the Author’ page and mine was a distant third for visits in 2018, I may have to let slip some details of my secret life helping Einstein with his theories … you know, in a former life.

5. You Searched for What?

And finally, it’s always interesting to see how people find my blog.  I’ll just have to say, however, that whoever is using the search phrase ‘bruce perrin arrested’ is going to be disappointed.  So far, even the grammar police are leaving me alone.

Enough looking backwards.  Happy 2019!

Image by Ramchand Bruce Phagoo [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons