stargazer

Stargazer – Blogging Anniversary

Who would have believed it – the tiny stargazer who appeared from obscurity in March 2019 and wobbled along for a while, before finding its legs, made it all the way to its one year anniversary.

On 31 Jan 2019, I signed up for WordPress. During February I played around in private mode and finally, on the 8th of March, the stargazer took its first tentative baby steps out in the public domain.

So far it has been great fun. Yes, there has been a few frustrations (mostly relating to WordPress!) and in periods it has been difficult to find the time to blog. But writing and finding ideas for posts has been highly enjoyable. As an extra bonus, I’ve learned a lot, which I wrote about in Discoveries by a Newbie Book Blogger.

My total of 54 posts is not nearly enough to do any real statistics. And yet, let me throw in a bit of data – because who doesn’t love statistics? (Ok, just me then…).

Popular Posts
The most viewed posts during the first year are:

Did you notice something? There are no book reviews amongst the top posts. And the most viewed post is about travel and wildlife! But actually, I quite like that. I might even do some more travel posts in the future.

What I learned from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the most popular book review (and let’s face it, it barely qualifies as a review), whereas 7 Books Perfect for Comfort Reading is the post most often found via Google. I guess, there must be a great need for comfort reading out there.

My Reading
Lets take a look at the books I’ve reviewed (full length reviews).

My bias towards British authors doesn’t come as a surprise. I don’t make any effort to diversify geographically and in any case, I find it appropriate to read a certain amount of local authors.

Having said that, I mean to include more Asian and in particular Japanese literature in the year ahead, mostly because I have thoroughly enjoyed the few novels I have read from that region. Also, I’m warming up to approach some of the Russian classics – let’s see how that goes.

My first reaction to split on sex of the author was: What? Really? Nooo. Honestly, I had the feeling, I was reading female authors all the time. Talk about serious delusion. 🙄 I guess statistics can teach you something new.

And now to the fun part
Looking back at my first year as a blogger, I am thrilled, I decided to go ahead. And I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been joining me along the way. Meeting and interacting with other bloggers is a large part of the fun. To mark my blogging anniversary, I invite you all to virtual cake and a glass of bubbles. Cheers for another year of blogging and please take good care of yourselves out there!

59 comments

  2. Yay!!! Happy first blogiversary!!!! Thank you for the delicious cakes and champagne. It’s a great achievement. I love your stats! So interesting. Book reviews aren’t my most popular posts either. As I’m here, would you like to do a buddy read with me? We both read a book and ask each other questions and post them on our blogs? Let me know!

    • Thank you!! 😃 It does feel a bit like an achievement, apparently a lot of bloggers give up within the first year. I’m not good at anything which requires commitment, since I have a demanding job with a lot of traveling (actually business travel has been reduced due to the circumstances, so not too bad at the moment). However, at some point it might be fun to do an author interview with you, if you are up for that?

      • It’s a great achievement! Aw, thank you, any time. 😊 if you ever reconsider about the buddy read, don’t worry about deadlines or time lines. We could take all year to do it!

    • Thank you, glad you like the cakes (I didn’t do them myself, though 😉 )

    • Aww thanks, I enjoy your posts as well! As I remember it, you had your 1-year anniversary quite recently, so we must have similar blogging age. 🙂

    • Thank you! And good to hear, I’m not the only one who likes stats 😉

  12. Happy Blogiversary! Thank you for the cake. *sneakily takes two* Can’t believe you’ve only been around for a year – it’s been fun getting acquainted. 😀 Haha – my book review posts never make my most viewed list either – it’s all the frippery posts and horror story posts that bring in the… ahem… crowds. But I try to tell myself that the few people who read my reviews are clearly the most discerning of my visitors… 😉 Hope you continue to find bloggin fun for many years to come!

    • Thanks so much! And there is plenty of cake 😉 . I know, it feels like I’ve been blogging for a long time already. Probably, it’s because the learning curve and the development are so steep in the beginning. Actually, other bloggers tell me their book reviews are amongst the most popular posts, which makes me wonder. I suppose, it depends on a lot of different factors, but one of the explanations may be that non of us typically review the new and very hyped books? In your case, I would think of your frippery and horror post being extremely popular rather than your reviews not being popular. As I remember it, your reviews always get lots of comments. 😀

      • Definitely reviewing new crime releases is the way to get lots of views, since the authors often tweet or facebook them. But since most of the authors I’m reading these days are dead, they don’t tend to do that so much… 😉

        • Haha, good point! Well, I guess there are more important things in life, than number of views 🙂

  13. Congratulations on the first birthday. You’ve done really well to have posted regularly and tried new topics. The first year is a learning curve but everyone is tremendously supportive in the book blogging world I’ve found.

    • Thanks so much! Yes, the book blogging community has been extremely supportive, which is just invaluable, when you are just starting out and have very little clue what you are doing. In the long run, I suspect it’s the book blogging community as much as my urge to write, which will keep me going.

  14. Happy blogiversary lovely! I’m so happy you took the plunge that 8th March! It is surprising to see which posts did best… I have a one or two star review on my blog and that also scores high, quite surprisingly. Oh I would also quite like to read more travel posts btw, it makes me travel abroad and learn new things without having to leave, quite perfect for me 🙂

    • Thank you!! I’m happy too. 😀 It’s interesting about the reviews, perhaps I review the “wrong” books? Anyway, I guess the number of views isn’t really that important as long as you enjoy what you are doing. Perfect, I probably will do some more travel posts in the future, travel is something, I’m quite passionate about. I did read though, that you shouldn’t spread out too much in terms of topics on your blog.

        • Yes, you are right of course! Might be a while before traveling is back on the agenda, though 🙁 Stay safe!

          • Staying at home does seem preferable these days! From tomorrow I will start working from home for at least two weeks (we are doing rotations). It’s great not having to go on the tube, but I will probably miss my colleagues. I hope you don’t have to go on a crowded train or bus to get to work.

          • They decided to let us work from home too. One person has to go to work each day to scan mail and if there’s any need to things that can’t be done from home. It’ll be my turn at the end of next week.

          • Glad to hear you are working from home, take care when it is your turn to go to the office. Honestly, it does feel a bit isolated to be at home for so many hours, but it’s better than the alternative at the moment.

  16. Happy first blogging anniversary to you! Here’s to another year filled with blogging goodness and success. I do hope we can connect further this year.

    • Thanks so much! Looking forward to see what you do with your blog, it looks like you are a relatively new blogger?

      • Yes, I’m very new and just 2 blog posts old. I’m just trying to find my way around here and discover blogs to follow and read. It should help me understand blogging trends and visibility in addition to adding quality to what I read.

        • Good luck then! I have learned a lot by following other bloggers. Also, if you want to be part of the blogging community rather than just write, it’s a good start to find some bloggers, whose content you enjoy and try to comment on their posts. As everyone will tell you, book bloggers tend to be really nice and supportive. For me it has been a great experience.

  17. Happy Blogiversary!! Good to see there’s still some cake left – and it’s not even stale! 😀 After your newbie post I realised that the first post I remember from you was on The Owl Service for Paula’s Dewithon, which of course is running again now. I wish I could post more regularly, it’s always fits and starts with me. I always enjoy your posts and think you have the balance just right. Looking forward to another year of great posts from you Stargazer 😊

    • Thanks so much Sandra! 😀 Not stale yet, but might be getting there. 😉 Honestly, I don’t think it matters how often you post, every blogger has to figure out what suits them. I look forward to another year of blogging as well! I am very happy to have come across your blog (all down to FictionFan) and thanks so much for being one of my early followers, it really meant a lot to get the support of more established bloggers!

    • Thanks! 🙂 I’m probably a master in self-deception. In my head, I read sophisticated, challenging literary fiction and in real life, I read fast-paced crime thrillers! Ok, perhaps that was an exaggeration, I mostly do own up to my taste in books 😉 but you know what I mean! The split on author did come as a real surprise, though.

  19. How beautiful are all these cake pictures, stargazer! Huge congrats on one year! You may not be a prolific poster, but you are one I most look forward to, and I hope you know that. I need to check out some of those popular posts I’ve missed! ANd YES! More travel posts! I love travel posts!

    • Thanks so much 😀 Haha, you are right, I’m certainly not prolific, but I’m happy to hear that you look forward to my posts. And I will definitely do some more travel posts in the future!

    • Aww thanks so much, Meggy! I am happy to have been accepted by all of you lovely book bloggers as part of the community!

  21. happy belated bloggiversary!! And wow I’m surprised that you read more books by men than women (for me it’s definitely the other way round- so I guess I’ve got a very skewed expectation there! 😉 )

    • Thank you! 😀 I am surprised as well, I genuinely believed, I read more books by female authors!

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