My wonderful friends! We have been on this literary adventure for two years! Isn’t it amazing, while being a bit scary, how fast time flies? I’m still astounded at the support my blog has garnered with just over 2,600 followers. Thank you to each and every one of you who I’ve had the privilege of interacting with over the past 24 months. To celebrate, I though it might be fun, keeping to the spirit of my analytical chemist background, to look at a variety of my blog statistics with regard to Fiction vs. Nonfiction, Subject Matter, Pages Read, Words Read, and Medium.
General Stats
How fun are these statistics! I can’t believe I’ve read 166 books in two years, equating to almost 25 million words! Of note, I read 12 less books in year two, however read over half million words more in comparison during the same time frame. This deficit likely finds root in my blogging goal for year two, which was to reread A Song of Ice and Fire series, which I successfully completed a few months ago, i.e., GOT, ACOK, ASOS, AFFC, ADWD. As for year three, I’m not sure yet what my blogging goal should be. Any suggestions?
Fiction vs. Nonfiction
Interestingly, I’m holding steady at 80% fiction, which I would have thought would be a bit more even. Since picking up audiobooks, I would have expected my quantity of nonfiction to significantly increase.
Subject Matter
It should be no surprise that the vast majority of my reviews are book reviews, however I’ve very much enjoyed expanding to other subjects that occupy my interests, such as travel, DIY, and beekeeping. I’m excited to see how these statistics change with year three.
Medium
I’ve really liked analyzing the breakdown regarding the mediums I utilized to consume literature over the past couple of years. I’m by no means surprised that Kindle books, at approximately 50%, were by far my medium of choice. While I prefer physical books, the ebook and audiobook availability and ease at my local library makes the Kindle a convenient tool based on my busy lifestyle. Year two has seen a significant surge in audiobooks, to the point of eclipsing Kindle books. Adding to this increase has been my discovery of the 1.5x speed function in my listening app. Plus I now listen to audiobooks when I drive, exercise, mow the yard, or do housework, instead of mindlessly listening to music as was my previous practice.
Advanced Review Copies
One of the most exciting developments with my blog growing has been my ability to petition publishers for review copies prior to their respective release date. Every time I’ve received a physical copy of one of the books I’ve requested, you can just picture the ecstatic happy dance that ensued. In the photo below you can see a few of the ARC copies that I’ve received, with my favorites being the Fate of the Tearling (Queen of the Tearling #3) and Waking Gods (The Themis Files #2). I’ve also received a few highly anticipated Kindle ARC copies, one of which I’m flying through and loving right now, The Dinosaur Princess (Dinosaur Lords #3). Stay tuned for a review! I’m excited to see what ARCs I might have the opportunity to read in year three!
Congratulations on your two years 🙂 x
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Thank you! Thank you!
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That’s really special, congrats on two years and all those followers
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Thank you! Thank you! 😀
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Congratulations!!!!
I love the visuals!
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Thanks! I’m glad you like them! I had to fight with Excel!
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High five for science backgrounds! I too am a stats geek 🤓 Happy two year blogiversary!
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Thanks Emily! I must confess I got the idea months ago from one of my fellow bloggers. Perhaps it was you!
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Stats are good, period.
Congrats!
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Agreed! Next year I’ll have to add error bars! 😉
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I don’t know, that sounds awfully close to “Graph Porn”.
Larry Correia might get away with gun porn, but do you have the writing chops to go all Full Statistics on us? In public no less? Don’t do anything you’ll regret in 2 years 😀
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I wish I was that clever (though I will certainly be keeping it in my back pocket 😉). Inquiring minds want to know though… How did you keep track of the book medium?
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I love this!! I did a similar post for my year in review and it was so much fun putting the graphs and charts together! Congrats on 2 years!!
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Perhaps you were the blogger that inspired me! I saw someone’s post and loved the concept and wanted to implement it but couldn’t remember who the blogger was!
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Happy 2 year blogaversary. ❤ WOOT WOOT for science girls (bio and chem girl here). I totally fangirled over your charts. 🙂
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Thanks you!! Science girls are the best! 💚
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Happy anniversary!!
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Thank you!
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Congrats on 2 years! That’s amazing! Keep up the awesome blogging!!
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Thanks Em!
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Congrats! That is a great accomplishment and I love your stats. Looking forward to year three 🙂
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Thank you! Thank you! I’m so thankful for all of our interactions over the past year or so!!
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Happy 2nd Blogiversary! I love your stat charts 🙂
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Thanks Tina! It was a fun little project!
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Congrats!
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Thanks Swalia!
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I absolutely love the visuals on this! Happy 2 years – here’s to many more! x
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Thank you Jasmine! 😀
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I absolutely love this so much!! First off, Happy Blogiversary!! Secondly these visuals are so amazing. I love keeping track of my reading and different info but I’ve yet to put it all together. Did you use something special to track it all and put it together? I’d love to learn more or your method!
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Tay! Thank you! I’ve been recording the books and any stats I want to keep track of like word count and page number in a google document, similar to an excel file. That way it was relatively simple to make the graphs. However, don’t let yourself fall behind. Catching up is the worst! Message me if you want to learn more!
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Happy Blogiverary!
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Thank you! Thank you!
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Well done!
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Thanks Jamie!
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Congratulations!!🎉
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Thanks Kyera!
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What a cool accomplishment! Well don. Also, I finally read “The Summer That Melted Everything.” Thanks for the recommendation. Unfortunately, not a book I was crazy about, but I like trying things out of my normal pattern.
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Thanks R.J.! That’s too bad you didn’t like that book as much as I did but it is one of the wonderful things about literature. We are allowed to have different interpretations. 😀
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Happy anniversary 😊🎉
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Thanks Patty!!
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Are you folks still bee keeping?
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Hello! Yes we are. 😀 We should have our first harvest from the busy bees later this month. 🐝🐝🐝
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Good luck, and Happy 4th!! Post on bees was very interesting, just curious as to how the survived.
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Thanks! I had a new post this year too introducing our three new hives because unfortunately all three of our hives died this past winter. 😕 Fingers crossed we have better luck this winter!
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Also! Happy 4th to you too! We are spending ours in an airport! Hopefully you are enjoying good weather and grilled food somewhere!
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Thank you, I am! Good luck guys, safe travels!
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Congrats on the achievements. Also, have you joined NetGalley? They are a pretty good source of ARCs.
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Thanks Tyson! I am and have gotten quite a few arcs from that source. I do enjoy a physical book though. 😀
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Congratulations! I hope to be as successful as you someday!
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Thanks Kacy! I’m sure you will! Stay consistent! 😀
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Congratulations on your two year anniversary, and that many followers seems difficult to imagine.
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Thank you! It really is! I still have a hard time realizing I have that many followers! I remember being ecstatic over 30!
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I have 41 and I’m happy with every new follower
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Awesome!! Great job! 😀 It took me forever to get over 40!
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happy bloggiversary!!
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Thank you!!
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You’re welcome!!
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Happy Bloggiversary! What a creative idea to celebrate this way! Love it!
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Thanks! 😀
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Hi Sarah! I see you’re in my neck of the woods now! To what do you owe your success in cultivating blog followers?
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I would have to say interacting with the blogging community! Once I started really talking to other bloggers my followers significantly increased
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Happy 2 year Blogiversary! What an awesome milestone. And looooove your stats. 😂
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Thanks! I’m glad that you liked the stats! They were fun to do!
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Wow, 2 years! I love how you kept track of your stats but there is no way I’m going back and figuring that out for myself. I think Goodreads will give you #books and maybe words for calendar year. You can make editions on there too, so I’m sure other stats should be available at some point.
Do you have a favorite book for each year?
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Thanks Maria! When I decided to start I did five books a night so I wasn’t overwhelmed! Red Rising year one and the Warded Man year two! 😀
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I’m going read your review for Warded Man right now!
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I need to go look at my review for that book too! I can’t remember how I felt about the first book but the series is phenomenal!
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I actually couldn’t find it! I don’t see a search feature on your website and I looked through a few of your archives but didn’t see it. I did, however, read the description on goodreads and it sounds really interesting.
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https://critiquingchemist.com/2017/01/04/the-warded-man-by-peter-v-brett/
There’s my post! I really need to figure out how to add a search bar. 🙂 I think you’re similar to me in how much we enjoy detailed books. If so you’ll really enjoy this literary realm!
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Hey, congrats on two years – I’ve just started out and every ‘like’ is precious so thank you for yours!
– Jess
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Congrats on two wonderful years. I love the various stats and graphs shared.
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Thank you James!
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! Red Rising year one and the Warded Man year two!
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Yes! A agree! Both great reads for consecutive years!
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