Posted in Clash of the Gods, Craig Ferguson, David Foster Wallace, Futurama, James Joyce, Jonathan Franzen, Paul Debraski, Pearl Jam, Pierdomenico Baccalario, Roberto Bolaño, Terry Moore, The Simpsons, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! on January 22, 2012| 4 Comments »
I’ve more or less stopped counting milestones on this site. But today I hit a quarter of a million views. Sure, some site get that traffic in a day, but it’s not bad for a site that’s all about the books I’ve read.
And since I’m at 250,000, here’s a snapshot of my most popular posts: (more…)
Posted in Alex Stone, Craig Ferguson, David Foster Wallace, David Goldberg, Dropkick Murphys, Edmonton Folk Festival, Evan Goldberg, Flight of the Conchords, Futurama, Gordon Korman, Gordon Lightfoot, Jeff Kinney, Jens Lekman, Kurt Vonnegut, Late Late Show, McSweeney's, Paul F. Tompkins, Pearl Jam, Pierdomenico Baccalario, Pseudonymous Bosch, Seth Rogen, Sonic Youth, Swedish Music, The Airborne Toxic Event, The Decemberists, The Flaming Lips on July 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
On July 25, I reached 90,000 hits.
It took me seven months to get from 60,000 (Dec 25, 2009) to 90,000.
It took me nine months to get my first 30,000 hits.
There are some obvious contributing factors to this improvement (not the least of which is links from referrers that make absolutely no sense whatsoever (and which are pretty clearly spam, but hey, numbers are numbers, right?) But the most obvious is the huge outcry at the failure of Scholastic to continue publishing the Ulysses Moore series.
If you Google “Ulysses Moore” I am the first post (after the official Scholastic site, Amazon, and fantasticfiction). I have received so many comments from people who are frustrated that the can’t finish the series. It is amazing that so many voices are ignored. As you can see, this series has garnered me 4020 views.
At 60,000 views I posted some theories as to why I thought these posts were so successful. Since very little has changed (mostly just a little shuffle of the top ten), I won’t bother repeating that. But, there is one post (see the bottom, hee hee) which has absolutely skyrocketed in just a few short months.
1. 4020 views posted April 25, 2009 [was #1 at 60,000: 1663 views]
Pierdomenico Baccalario–Ulysses Moore series Books 1-4
SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Vitalogy (more…)
Posted in Pierdomenico Baccalario on January 26, 2010| 67 Comments »
[UPDATE October 18, 2010]:
Check out the comment below from Sydney Veldhuis who is offering to do some of the translating if Scholastic won’t!
Currently in the U.S. there are four volumes of the Ulysses Moore series published in English. There are nine original books in the series (in Italian). Readers of this blog have wondered fro quite some time whether or not the rest of the series would be translated here. According to Rachel, a reader here, Scholastic sent this reply:
“I’m so sorry. We are not planning on translating the rest of the books. I thought perhaps the British publisher might have done a translation that you could purchase. I did make the editor aware of your interest.”
While I don’t believe in overwhelming an employee (it’s certainly not her fault that the books aren’t being translated… unless of course she’s the person who makes the decision, but I suspect she’s just the outreach person), we’ve all seen how grassroots campaigns can make a difference.
But the key is to be organized. It’s possible that a petition would work, although I’m not sure how to go about setting one up. If anyone wants to take the reins on that, please do. In the meantime, I think the best thing is to sent a polite email saying how much of a fan you are of the series and ask that they do continue to translate the books.
I think a good sign of continuity would be if everyone used the exact same wording in the subject line as well. Unless someone has a really catchy phrase, I’m suggesting:
We need more Rick and Julia–please translate the rest of Ulysses Moore.
I’ll post here what I’m going to email. Obviously, you can copy what I wrote, but if you have something better or want to get some other things across, please wrote your own message! (more…)
Posted in Against Me!, Alex Stone, Clash of the Gods, David Foster Wallace, David Goldberg, Dropkick Murphys, Evan Goldberg, Flight of the Conchords, Gordon Korman, Gordon Lightfoot, Harper's, Infinite Summer, Jeff Kinney, Jens Lekman, Loudon Wainwright III, Marisha Pessl, McSweeney's, Paul Debraski, Paul F. Tompkins, Pearl Jam, Pierdomenico Baccalario, Pseudonymous Bosch, Seth Rogen, Sonic Youth, The Airborne Toxic Event, The Flaming Lips on December 28, 2009| 1 Comment »
[cue music]:
I saw these stats come sailing in, on Christmas Day on Christmas Day.
I hit 60,000 views on Christmas Day in the mor-ning.
I hit 30,000 views back in March, and I was quite thrilled. When I started the blog in May of 2007 I didn’t expect to get all that many views, it was more or less a blog to keep track of my books and maybe have other people comment too. And so, it took nearly two years to get to 30,000. Imagine how delightful it is to reach the next 30,000 views in the span of just nine months!
So thanks everyone for checking out what I had to say. And thanks also for all the comments. As with the first 30,000, I’ve included the stats that have brought me to this hallowed (but random) spot. And I must add that Infinite Summer, which is underrepresented in my top ten posts, was absolutely essential for this huge spike in views (thanks DFW fans). But, by far the biggest surprise was the surge that came from the first book(s) on the list below. I posted about the Ulysses Moore series in April. And it was by far the most frequently sought and (presumably) read post on the blog. So, Scholastic Publishing, if you read this, please note the craving that my readers have for the rest of the series! And please update your site!!
So, anyhow, thanks all. Listed below are the Top Ten (and a few extra) viewed posts on my blog. Happy New Year!
Posted in A Life Less Ordinary, Big Books, David Foster Wallace, Digression, Don DeLillo, Foreign Books, Pierdomenico Baccalario, Soundtrack info, Stephen King, Vikram Chandra, William H. Gass on May 18, 2007| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack (1997).
For those keeping score: at lunch, I have been listening to all of my CDs in order. This process started several years ago and really bespeaks my growing insanity. I had long since finished the A-Z bands, and have moved onto soundtracks. So, yesterday’s lunch had the great pleasure of listening to the Little Mermaid, Lock Stock and Two Smocking Barrels and A Life Less Ordinary at lunch, while reading this book!)
[READ: May 2007] Sacred Games.
MADERCHOD! MADERCHOD! MADERCHOD! ! (more…)
I Just Read About That... 