Happy New Year's Eve, friends! Are you ready for 2017? I sure am.
I've done this post over the last three years, and I always enjoy putting it together. I'd like to share my end-of-the-year statistics roundup with you all. Like an annual report on my blog.
Here are some numbers and data for 2016:
- Total Pageviews: ~887,000 (since December 2012)*
*Approximately 322,000 unique pageviews during 2016
- Total blog followers (does not include Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads): 6,746
- GFC: 1,211
- Bloglovin: 2,483
- Email/RSS: 632
- Linky: 368
- Pinterest: 644
- Tumblr: 296
- Google Plus: 1,112
- Goodreads friends/fans: 2,076
- Twitter: 3,003
- Facebook: 3,025
- Number of reviews in 2016: 179 (includes three sampler reviews and two 2015 reads' review)
- Number of 1-star reviews: 5
- Number of 2-star reviews: 9
- Number of 3-star reviews: 30
- Number of 4-star reviews: 121
- Number of 5-star reviews: 9
- Average rating for 2016: 3.69
- Total books read in 2016: 174 (42 less than 2015)
- Number of pages read in 2016: 60,830 (this may not be totally accurate, if Goodreads' information is not accurate per book)
- Total number of published posts in 2016: 536
- Days missed in publishing a post: 0 (since the December 2012)
See all 174 of my 2016 reads below:
Check out my Top Ten of 2016 posts:(Click on the button!)
Data for Books read/reviewed in 2016:
(I did this via Excel - I kept a spreadsheet throughout the year. It made it easier to put the data together and make charts and things.)
What this tells me:
- Age Level: This year, my YA/adult ratio got even closer. I'm reading nearly as many adult books as I am YA books. This does not bother me at all! I love adult romance.
- Debut: This was a new category I tracked this year. I was curious to see how many debut novels (YA or adult or whatever) that I read in a year, especially with 2016 being a year in which YA debuts were so championed. It turns out... the "debut" label means very little to me, in terms of reading selection. Which makes sense - I don't really read books specifically because they are debut novels.
- Dominant Genre: Back to fantasy being the highest read genre! The large number of contemporary is due to all of the adult contemporary romance novels I read this year. See my comments on "Age Level" directly above.
- Number in Series: I'm still reading way more "first" novels than I'd like, but I also read a happy amount of standalone and conclusion novels.
- Publisher: Surprise surprise, HarperCollins dominates yet another year, in YA and adult. In my pie chart, "HarperCollins" refers to their teen imprints only (HarperTeen, Balzer+Bray, Katherine Tegen, etc.). Avon is an adult imprint of HarperCollins, but I have it noted separately.
- Rating: My average rating jumped a lot, from 2015 to 2016. In 2015, it was 3.509. In 2016, it was 3.69. The sheer number of 4-star ratings and drop in number of books read supports this. Which is cool - it means I enjoyed what I read. You'll also note that I got pickier this year - I read 42 books less this year.
- Source: I'm a little surprised to see my Edelweiss numbers drop. I didn't do a lot of downloading/requesting on Edelweiss this year, so it shouldn't surprise me, but still. I did a good job of clearing my NetGalley account though, and getting through print ARCs. It should surprise exactly no one that the main source of my reading material is review galleys (electronic or print). I'm not really in a hurry to change that, to be honest. I tend to read more if they're galleys.
- Year of Publication: 2016 was the biggest year, which is expected. I'm behind in my 2017 reading (that's really low, compared to where I want to be), and I did a poor job of reading backlist this year.
Things I did well in 2016 (and in general):
- Post my reviews on Goodreads.
- Post my reviews on Amazon.
- Post my reviews on Barnes & Noble.
- Get my NetGalley ratio to 100% (several times).
- Keep my NetGalley ratio at or above 97% at all times.
- Review the eARCs/ARCs within a month before publication.
- Diversify my reads in terms of genre.
- Comment on new blogs.
- Reply to comments on my blog within 24 hours.
- Return comments to the blogs that commented on mine, within 24 hours.
- Read less. (Yes! This was a goal that I made!)Did I meet my goals from my 2015 post?- Read more backlist. --- No. For shame. *sigh*
- Read less in general. (uni comes first!) --- Yes. I read 42 books less. That's more than I expected not to have read, but at least I met that goal?
- Comment on unfamiliar blogs. --- Yes. I met a lot of great people by doing this.
- Comment on blogs (any) without them commenting on mine first. --- Yes. This year, I spent a lot of times commenting on blogs. I made that a priority over reading.
- Do a little more on Twitter. --- Yes, kind of? I reached over 3,000 followers (barely).
- Attend more events. (This isn't quite my fault - Baltimore doesn't have many!) --- Sort of? Besides the Baltimore Book Festival (my usual), I went to Kathy MacMillan's release party. That was cool! But really, I didn't quite meet this goal like I would have wanted.Things I'd like to do better:- Read a little more. More than 200, this year. I was hoping to read 200 in 2016. It was not feasible, towards the end, and that's fine. My grades from Spring 2016 and Fall 2016 were reaaaaaally good, as a result.
- Keep up with the good commenting. Like I said, I made commenting a priority in 2016. I'd like to maintain that level of rigor (or do better), in terms of replies, returns, and new comments.
- Keep up with the level of posting. Note that even though I read 42 books less than in 2015, I published 17 blog posts more than in 2015. Which is cool.
- Create an Instagram. I MIGHT do this, after I graduate in May. I feel like I flood Twitter with my weekly book haul, and I'd love to post that on Instagram instead (or maybe both?). I don't want to get carried away though. This isn't about followers or publicity.
- Attend more events. This might actually happen since I'll be graduating in May, and hopefully employed after I graduate.
- Figure out what to do on Tuesdays. I ran a year-long debut feature (Sweet Talk with the Sweet Sixteens) every Tuesday. I have nothing to replace that and no idea what to do on Tuesday. We'll see how it goes! I do not like winging things. I need a plan!So that's that! The Eater of Books! blog in terms of numbers, for 2016. I'm a tiny bit disappointed in my reading numbers (especially my early reading for 2017), but I can't be too upset because I slayed in my academics. Between the two, academics will always come first. I'm really looking forward to 2017, in terms of reading and blogging. Hopefully it's a better year in general. Happy New Year, everyone! 
