This blog "went live" on 29 March 2009. In the 1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks and 3+ days since then, we have made 456 posts about a wide variety of book collecting topics. We thought it might be interesting to see which of those 456 posts (many of which were part of a series of posts) resonated most highly with our readers.
The professional version of TypePad gives us a number of ways to parse activity on this blog. For our present purposes, the most useful such information was the aggregate number of page views for each post, and the aggregate viewing time devoted to same. There were a few surprises (at least to us), which we deal with in our comments below. (Because the views and viewing time for most series were very similar for individual posts within a series, the links below are to the first post in the relevant series.)
So, without further ado, the top ten posts (thus far) at The Private Library:
(10) Numismatics and The Private Library: One of our earliest series of posts, this seems to have benefited from being mentioned in the Numismatic Bibliomania Society's e-newsletter, The Esylum. Interestingly, this is one of only two posts in the top ten to have received more views from non-U.S. visitors than from domestic visitors.
(9) Guest Editorial: The Write Collection for The Private Library: This was one of several posts that seem to have benefited substantially from mention in the American Library Association's e-newsletter, American Libraries Direct.
(8) The Folio Society and The Private Library: Considering how recent this post is, the number of page views has been quite surprising. Mention of this post in The Folio Society's own e-newsletter seems to be the major reason.
(7) Anthropodermic Bibliopegy and The Private Library: Gross. Disgusting. Sickening. But apparently fascinating for a huge number of our readers.
(6) Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction and The Private Library: One of several series of genre posts, we frankly expected this series to rank higher.
(5) Children's Books and The Private Library: Did this series bring back warm fuzzy thoughts of our readers' own childhoods? One can only speculate.
(4) Bibliomysteries and The Private Library: This was the only series that ranked about where we thought it might when we began examining the blog's statistics. Note to publishers: book collectors love mysteries that revolve around books!
(3) Bibliomania and The Private Library: We actually thought, before we began researching the numbers, that this series might wind up number one. The page views suggest that our readers often read "to know that we are not alone."
(2) Photography and The Private Library: The high ranking of this series was a bit of a surprise, but apparently a lot of our readers have an interest in the subject. Must be all those cell phone cameras.
(1) Movable Books and The Private Library: This, frankly, was a shock. We did not expect this series to even make the Top Ten. Not only did this series receive more page views and aggregate viewing time than any other posts, it also generated more non-U.S. readership than any posts we've ever done.
So, there you have it. We draw from this list a number of lessons.
- Archive! Many of these posts continue to receive a fair number of page views well over a year after their initial posting.
- Comments (or lack thereof) are not a particularly good indication of a post's readership. (Note to Peacay: when you're right, you're right!)
- Our readers like series.
- It helps to have one's posts promoted by others (thus, the green & white Share This button at the end of our every post).
- Expect the unexpected. Movable books?! We're still trying to figure that one out....
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