Analytics

.
.
When I first published, I became obsessed with numbers: how many printed, how many books were still in the warehouse, how many had sold ... ? I don't do that any more: I don't watch my Amazon.com ratings, I don't call the warehouse. When people ask how my book is doing, I tell them I haven't a clue.

But lately I've been watching my blog and website numbers — now that I've finally figured out how to use Google Analytics. Through Analytics, I can see how many people are reading what (not many), how many move quickly on (most everyone), how many linger (only a few), and even how people got there (and what search terms were used if they used a search engine).

This is dangerously intriguing. Through Analytics I can see what pages on my website are most often visited. I can't help but consider these relatively low numbers in terms of the thousands of dollars I've invested in my website, but will any of this information change how I do things? Doubtful.

I tell myself that I rather like talking in the dark, that I'm blogging for myself (this is true) — but too, I've a weakness for a rising graph curve, I know. Perhaps I'd better return to the 17th century.