Since I started this blog six-and-a-half years ago, I’ve had over 1.6 million visitors, 3300 on my busiest day, with over 20,000 comments on the 1,376 articles I’ve written about writing. I have several columns:
- writer’s tips (sign up by clicking here)
- book reviews (Fridays)
- tech tips for writers (occasional)
In between, I write what’s on my mind, but always about the art of writing.
If I didn’t look at the statistics on my blog, I would guess that the most read posts were about how to market what you write. Last year, the series I wrote on Genre Writing Tips was wildly popular. This year, a series I call Descriptors–sixty-nine collections on how to describe a variety of stuff you include in your stories. The second most popular was Tips by Genres–covering 23 genres from Cozy Mysteries to Young Adult (which is the inspiration for my upcoming A to Z participation).
What a surprise to find out what you-all actually are reading. I am thankful for the WordPress statistics section. Here they are–my top 10 and bottom 10 of 2016:
Top Ten Hits
- 51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination
- How to Describe Nature
- How to Describe a Landscape
- 35 Weird Traits Your Characters May Have
- 65 Ways to Describe Sight and Eyes in Your Writing
- 178 Ways to Describe Women’s Clothing
- 103 Most Beautiful Words? You Decide
- How to Show (Not Tell) Emotion–E to O
- How to Describe Your Character’s Home II
- How to Describe a Fight
If I remove all the description articles, here are the remaining top ten:
- 103 Most Beautiful Words? You Decide
- Word Count by Genre
- Plotting a Story–with a Spreadsheet
- 7 Tips for Literary Fiction Writers
- 13 Tips for Cozy Mystery Writers
- How Many POVs is Too Many?
- 4 Ways to Plan Your Writing
- 21 Tips from Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style”
- Funny One Liners I’ve Read in Books
- 19 Self-editing Tips
Here are the ten that received the least amount of activity, but were no-less carefully-written:
- 11 Tips You Don’t Want to Miss about Writing a Novel
- How to Virtually Visit a Location You Can’t Drop In On
- Writers Tips #84: 20 Hints that Mark the Novice Writer
- The Funny Side of Writing
- 5 Must-have tools for Writers Conferences
- Writer’s Tip #14: Similes and Metaphors Have Rules
- 7 Tips to Avoid Email Phishing
- 7 Tips to Avoid Email Phishing
- Writer’s Tip #4: When to Follow Rules
- 6 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Blogging
What were your most popular posts on your writer blog? Give me some topic hints for this year!
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, and the thriller, To Hunt a Sub. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning. The sequel to To Hunt a Sub, Twenty-four Days, is scheduled for Summer, 2017. Click to follow its progress.
I love your blog! So many helpful tips for writers, and now I have a new page to bookmark. 😊
After my home page, the most popular posts of mine were under the Newfoundland tab. There are a lot of homesick Newfoundlanders living away, not to mention the folks who like to visit a part of the world they’ve never been.
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That’s interesting. I’ll say, I too love those posts. Newfoundland is quite different from my homeland, for which I am appreciative.
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Hi Jacqui – you have some great advice for us … I’ve no idea which of my posts would be the most popular and for now I’ll concentrate on the needs of doing the things I need to do .. but I will get to check things out sometime … Happy New Year and cheers – Hilary
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I love your latest post–the country calendar one. It has my vote for this year (so far).
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Love your tips.
Juneta @ Writer’s Gambit
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Thanks, Juneta!
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It doesn’t surprise me that marketing posts are the most popular. Writers are desperate to figure out what we can do to get our books in the hands of readers. Sometimes it can feel like nothing we do works. Very frustrating.
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I’m there. I read a great post on KDP advertising, but I feel like it’s the same thing I tried with Google. With no luck. Sigh. Blogging seems to be the best approach. That word-o-mouth thing
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Nooooo not a spreadsheet…lol…I love your posts and I learn so much from them… I will check my stats but it is hard to call I think…Sometimes a post that you think is ok and it goes sky high ..no rhyme or reason to it. I write for Niume as well and sometimes I get over 5k views in 2 days…I like it because I can share with other social media..more than on wordpress and it drives traffic to my wordpress especially flipboard. It is a good platform and lovely and easy to use..great layout. I hope 2017 is a wonderful year for you. 🙂
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I have never had 5000 in two days–how cool. I’ll have to check out Niume. I write for a few ezines and collaborative writing blogs, but nothing that seems to work for building visibility. Sigh.
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Interesting what posts people gravitate to. I love all your posts, they’re always full of great info! 🙂
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Thanks, Deb. I usually write what’s bothering me about writing at the moment. Over the holidays, it was catching up on my TBR pile. I got so much done with that!
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Oh I’m envious! That’s my plan when I take a winter break – read, relax, sightsee, and did I mention read? 🙂
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It’s weird what people are interested in reading and what they don’t like. I am going to check out your article on using a spreadsheet to plot a story.
Happy 2017, Jacqui.
BTW, thank you for the awesome review on The curse of Troy 😀
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I still have this feeling that I once knew Helen of Troy, that is how powerful your writing is. I can’t wait to read the rest.
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Wow, thank you, Jacqui 😀
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You are amazing, Jacqui. Thank you for all your legwork and elbow grease. 😀
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It’s fun. I get a kick out of blogging.
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That may be, but you’ve been a huge help to everyone reading. 🙂
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Thank you Jacqui, for all your hard work and sharing so much with us!
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I’m not sure what I’d do if I wasn’t writing.
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I’m thankful you are!
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You do have to wonder why some post resonate and others just don’t. Here’s to more resonating posts in 2017.
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I haven’t figured it out, that’s for sure!
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After suffering through statistics in college, I tend to avoid stats. 😦 I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday, Jacqui!
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It was a wonderful holiday–yours too I hope!
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I am just not that orderly. A spreadsheet for a novel? Some of them come to me in dreams. It would seem unappreciative of me to reduce dream inspiration to a spreadsheet. Not that I don’t know where I’m going, but I don’t mind getting a little bit lost, from time to time, along the way.
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I have to say, I was surprised how many people liked that one. I thought I was an outlier. For me, it’s the only way to get all the details in place. Then, I add the emotion.
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Oooh, I have to go check out my stats! This could be interesting!
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WP has good basic ones, plenty for my interests.
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Basic is good – I think anything else would be overwhelming!
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Someday I should look at my blog stats.
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A lot of people load the Google stats program because it is so detailed. I don’t do that. I just look at WP’s overview. I can do that in a few minutes.
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I look at some of the WP stats, but I rarely get more that 80 views in a day so I’ve stopped doing much looking at the numbers.
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One of the things I learned from your blog is something in this post, but only indirectly: how to look at the stats on your blog to determine who’s reading and what they find interesting. It will lead to writing a better and more responsive blog and it’s something I should do. Thanks for the tip, Jacqui, and Happy New Year.
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That’s what I learn. I also copy ideas from other’s blogs–the ones I like reading. If I like it, others probably do too.
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Our community is way better because of your work. I love your blog however… I am super dyslexic. Do you have you tube videos on the subject? Found you while on Tumblr and I am glad we connected. I couldn’t refrain from leaving a comment.
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog and commented:
Here is a recap of some of the most and least active posts on the Word Dreams blog. There are some very good ones.
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Thanks for the reblog, Don!
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You’re welcome.
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I read your tips and I try to learn and remember, but then I go back and read what I wrote – and I think – a 5 year old could have done better!! When they say “find your own voice”, I take it that mine never grew up!! 🙂
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That’s funny, GP. You may have found your voice, just need to refine it, let it loose, to be itself. I think most voices that are honest are believable by readers.
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I came across a link in your lineup that I didn’t read, probably because I didn’t know you yet, Plotting a Story–with a Spreadsheet. It’s just what I need right now as I reformate how I go through the writing process, one of my try-outs for this new year.
Definitely a good post for me. Thanks! 😀
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I am sold on using a spreadsheet. It really kick starts my writing process.
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Welcome back Jacqui! Wish you a happy and successful 2017.
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Thanks, Ankur. I’ve missed my blogging friends. I tried to stay in touch but I can see I didn’t do too well!
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