Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Top Ten Posts for 2013 (and a Contest)

2013 was a great year for me, blog-wise. I increased my weekly number of posts. My readership increased. I switched to WordPress and figured out how to use the stats. The stats really get me going--I LOVE to check out how many hits I had on my last post and try to figure out how to get MORE hits on my next post. It's an OCD thing.

The most useful tool in my stats toolbox is the Top Posts. I can scan for the week, the month, or the year. For kicks, I asked for the Top Posts of 2013. Boy, was I surprised to see what ya'll loved about my blog! Wanna see? Here are the Top Ten Posts from my blog for 2013 (excluding the Home Page).


I'm going out on a limb here: I'm guessing you folks are interested in creating believable bad guys for your novels. Either that, or you're hoping to diagnose your sister, or step-father, or your strange Uncle Harvey. By the number of hits these pages get, I think I'll devote more time in 2014 to discussing bad guys and how they tick.

The other nice feature I found in the stats folder was a summary of comments: who commented the most, how many comments I received on each post, and how often a single commenter posted something. I'll admit, those numbers aren't where I want them to be. Ya'll just aren't sharing your thoughts and feelings with me very often.

So, in a shameless act of self-promotion, I'm going to give away something (for FREE) to one random commenter on this post. Are you paying attention now? Put down the sandwich and prepare your witty comment. IF I chose you, I'll send you a FREE... *drumroll please...* Starbucks Gift Card worth ten bucks. That's close to two free drinks! How can you pass that up? You know you want it. All you have to do for a chance to get that Starbucks Gift Card is to comment on this post. On Friday, January 3, I will choose one commenter at random. (I'll probably conscript one of my minions to make the pick, just to make it totally fair.) If you win, I'll contact you for your mailing address (and I promise I won't stick that address on my mailing list or sell it to someone who desperately wants it). The odds are in your favor, so comment now! 

Yeah, I really just want to hear from you. It's a bit lonely in the basement right now...

-Sonja


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