I am truly
gobsmacked by these figures. By the time you read this, who knows where they’ll
be. That’s upwards of twenty thousand page views for sixty-one blog posts - and it’s not just the hits
I’m amazed by here. It’s the
sixty-one blog posts too. That’s a lot of
writing about Shrewsbury, believe me.
And yet there’s still so much more to be written about.
When I started
My Tonight From Shrewsbury back on January 1st, I had no idea that
I’d find so many subjects to include in this blog, nor that it would garner
such a following. The original
high figures I put down to curiosity, and I waited for the numbers to
drop. Instead of that they’ve
grown. Particularly thrilling is that when I check my stats I find that a
staggering number of readers are coming from across the globe.
Since January 1st,
2,663 Americans have read My Tonight From Shrewsbury, 485 Germans and 331 French. It’s being read right
across Europe from the Netherlands to Russia, across the Middle East, including
Iraq, in Asia, including India, China, Thailand and the Philippines and across
the Americas, from Canada down to Brazil.
Just today, it’s been read by ninety-nine people in the UK, thirty in
the US, and in France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Canada, Brazil, Lebanon, the Philippines,
Poland, Spain, Slovenia, Indonesia and India. And the day's hardly got going yet. I'm writing this at 11.00am.
Isn’t that
fantastic? My Tonight From
Shrewsbury has had nothing to promote itself except for Facebook and Twitter.
There are no promoters or sponsors. It has no agenda except to present a
picture of a contemporary English country town during one year of its
life. This is most definitely a
one-woman show. Sometimes, as the
one woman in question, I feel fairly run ragged keeping up with what I’ve set
out to achieve, but I’m just loving what I’m doing - and I’m loving having you
along.
If you’re one of
those people in one of those countries that I’ve just listed [or indeed if yours is one of
the many countries that I haven’t listed], thanks for being here and reading
this. Do keep coming back. And leave a few words in the comment section to tell
me who you are [though no advertising please – My Tonight From Shrewsbury is an
advertisement free site]. Numbers
are exciting, but behind every number is a person - and that’s more exciting
still. It would be great to hear from you.
If you’re from
Shrewsbury, or surrounding Shropshire, it would be great to hear from you too.
What are the things that matter in our county town? What else should I be writing about? I can’t promise to get round to
everything in my year. I’ve nearly reached the half way mark, and have some
great things still lined up and am beginning to panic about how I’ll fit them
all in. But I’ll do what I can.
Here you go https://plus.google.com/u/0/100146646232137568790/posts/7dGPKVVpFYY
ReplyDeleteAlways an entertaining read.
Congratulations! :-)
ReplyDeleteHer over the road in Shrewsbury is still reading - and enjoying very much. Coming from science-fiction fanzine fandom, where people comment frequently and intelligently, I was surprised and very disappointed to discover how few comments came in on posts, despite large numbers of hits. And those comments were usually from the same few people, most of whom I already knew from other sites. You are getting far more 'hits' than I do. (Not surprising as this is a great blog with lots of variety and good writing.) Don't let the apparent silence put you off - t'Internet is like that!
ReplyDeleteHello Sue,
DeleteGiven how close you are we ought to get in touch some time. So glad you're still reading and enjoying. Yes, I was surprised not to have more comments because I write for a number of author sites which, similarly to the ones you mention, attract a lot of comments. However, my stats tell me that I'm being read, and I AM meeting a lot of people who comment personally on posts, so I don't feel discouraged at all. In fact I'm loving doing this.
I've visited Shrewsbury a few times, and when I found your blog I thought this would be a good chance to find out more about the place - and it's fascinating! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI do something similar, but on a smaller scale, in Hay-on-Wye, with Life In Hay.
Thanks for getting in touch. Sorry for not replying sooner but have been away, out of internet connection. Will look with interest at Life in Hay. Good to see what other people are doing. Sorry to hear about the Herefordshire Museum situation - will reply to the comment you left on my museum post back in May.
DeleteHello from Spain!
ReplyDeleteWe talked briefly on twitter once but I'm a shropshire lass abroad, although am returning in just two weeks!
I really think you should feature The Hive and the wonderful team there! :)
(I may be slightly bias as I used to work there but still - it's one of the best things in the town!)
Keep up the good work
Nikki
(blogging every day of this year over at http://www.nicolaruth.blogspot.com)
Hello Nicola, Yes we have, haven't we? Good to hear from you again. You're right about the Hive, and I fully intend to. It's all a matter of pacing myself - I don't want to have all the interesting things in the first half of the year! I'll look up your blog. Every day is a big achievement. Thanks for getting in touch, and thanks for reading my posts.
ReplyDelete