I am pretty sure 2011 has by far been the best year Good Books & Good Wine has EVER had. I mean, guys, I did SO much this year. I thought I would break it down for you.
2011
In 2011:
I scheduled 402 posts not including any today. More than half of these posts were book reviews.
I posted 237 book reviews. March was my slowest book review month because of teaching a class on the weekends. BOO! My best review month was August with a grand total of 28 reviews. Awesome.
I had 15 contests, although I waited until March to do my first contest of 2011.
My stats have quadrupled from December 2010 to December 2011. Hard work, yo. And for some numbers for those of you who dig that kind of thing:
Good Books And Good Wine had 134,562 unique visits and 221, 442 page views in 2011, all verifiable by clicking site meter in sidebar. I went by site meter instead of the wordpress site stats because I find stat programs like the wordpress ones and the blogger ones to be inflated because they count spam views as well as self views. And google analytics while the best free program, doesn’t have a real time count for today so far. Also I just like having my site meter open for people to see, it is something I am very proud of.
I achieved a Google page rank of 5 which is very good for a book blog. You can get your page rank by clicking here.Â
I spent $87 on my wordpress theme Thesis which is SEO ready.
I also monetized in November and have made $293.68 via Blog Ads. I signed up for Google Ad Sense in December and have made $15 so far with them. Just fully disclosing because I like to have an open door policy with y’all.
I also bought a new header from Katie at KD Designs.
I became the Monday blogger for Interrobang YA.
I was a round one panelist for the MG Science Fiction Fantasy CYBILS awards category.
As for my 2011 Resolutions which you can see here, I pretty much failed them all.
My number one resolution was a big fat fail: Review books within one week of reading. Although I did not fail TOO hard as I only have 8 books on my need to write review pile as of today. And well, that number has been in the 30s. So, I am just simply human.
My second resolution was to stop being a slave to ARCs. Which okay, I actually did pretty well on. From January to November (I haven’t calculated December yet) I read 232 books, of those books, 130 were review copies which means that I read 102 NON-REVIEW books in that time, which is awesome. YAY for kind of accomplishing that goal.
My third resolution was to DNF, which I got pretty decent at, although there were some I just kept reading just to see what would happen. And some that I set aside and picked up later only to enjoy much more.
My fourth resolution was to be a kinder person which I definitely failed. I mean, okay I made some new friends. But I let my mouth run away with me and made a lot of impulse tweets and rants. So, no, I did not grow a filter this year.
My fifth resolution was to get off the couch and see the real world and work out. I did OKAY at this. I mean, I went to book signings and the gym, but that was all very sporadic.
My sixth resolution was to not ever look busted in a vlog which I mostly passed. There were maybe 3 which I wish I wore a paper bag over my head.
My final resolution from 2011 was to read more widely, which hey I read a few non fiction books and some romance, but for the most part I spectacularly failed. I think this is due in large part to the CYBILS which were AWESOME, but obviously heavily focused for me on middle grade and also because the world of YA is SO exciting right now that I want to be in on the ground floor of YA books, and so focus on them.
Stay tuned for my resolutions of 2012 and books read in 2011 posts tomorrow!
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Your goal for 2012: Hang out with Jamie more! <33 Also, learn to pack lighter and navigate the subways with our huge ass suitcases. 🙂
Congrats on all the amazing stats this year! You deserve it…you work hella hard and it shows! 🙂
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re a real champ! Congrats on the great year! As for your 4th resolution, whether or not you got “kinder” this year, you certainly are a kind person. And for your final resolution – reading widely – one thing that I appreciate the most about your blog is how diverse your reading is. I never know what to expect (aside from a well-written and thought out review) and I like that. Look forward to seeing you in the new year!
My New Year’s resolution for 2012 is to be more like April from Good Books and Good Wine. She’s funny, sarcastic, and never apologizes for who she is. She runs this awesome book blog that has the best book reviews, but most of all, she posts topics that people actually want to comment on. I love reading them and rarely scan past any of her posts in my Google Reader. Sure there are other bloggers out there, but none of them have a blog like April does.
Happy New Year!
Wow–definitely some awesomeness with the blog stuff in 2011. Actually, you’re the one who inspired me to look into improving my blog’s SEO (esp. since I really didn’t have a clue as to what that was). Enjoy your posts and your snarky humor — here’s to a great 2012! Cheers!
You definitely accomplished a lot in 2011! I’d say this has been an awesome year for you and your blog. I always love reading your posts. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned for 2012!
It actually blows my mind how many books you read this year. I mean seriously. That’s unreal!
Yay for all your blogging awesomeness! I was so excited to stumble upon a blog that is fun and funny while still being able to bring across a great review. Keep up the good work in 2012 and good luck keeping your resolutions!
Thanks for being such a lovely part of my 2011 — here’s too a great new year, filled with good books and good friends <3
You have so much to be proud of this year, April.
I don’t know how you do it, but I am forever and always impressed by you.
Pretty stoked to see what you roll out in 2012.
I agree, you do work really hard so you deserve the payoff. And holy smokes, you wrote a lot of review. I find that sometimes when I’m done with a book, I do not want to revisit at all – it’s a good thing I don’t get too many books for review (though the book whore in me would greedily want more). Good luck with 2012 and hope there are fantastic books in your future.
i always love reading when you post this factual stuff, even though i have to google have of what it means! especially on new years eve after half a bottle.
here’s to quadrupling again in 2012! you’re a blogging beast, and that is a very good thing!
Wow- those are some awesome goals!! Also, Google PR of 5 is LEGIT! 😀
I just got on BlogAds myself and I think I’ll email with a couple of questions. Here’s to a well-read 2012!!!
Email away, I will happily answer 😀
That is so awesome! About your stats! I mean if there is something to brag about that is one of them! Fabulous!
And I need to do some of these resolutions with you! I am such a slave to the ARC! Need to cut that out! And I don’t think your mouth makes you a mean person. That’s just you! You need to love it! Embrace it. I think you are a wonderful person! AND NICE!
Here’s hoping we both have a kick ass 2012!
You are an inspiration! You are one of the first book blogs I found, and one I read regularly. I always love your reviews – your humor cracks me up. And if you recommend a book, I know I’m going to love it.
It’s always interesting to look at the numbers, it shows just how much you’ve accomplished. (My goal for 2012? Double my meager stats. I’d be thrilled with that. So it’s double inspiring to watch my “blog heroes” and their numbers.)
My non-book reading goal is also to exercise more. I saw you were doing the c25k on twitter. I got up to 20 minutes on that thing and quit a couple of years ago. I really want to do that again and actually keep doing it.