Postscript (or is that post post?)

Last summer, without any fanfare (or while my attention was elsewhere, also a possibility), Blogspot began providing its clients with detailed statistics about their blogs. When I noticed the stats feature and clicked through, I found a wealth of interesting info about SF and Nonsense.   

So: today's post is a quick look at past posts. I was sometimes surprised. Maybe you will be, too.

The most popular post by a significant margin is Betrayer of Worlds. That post went live on October 12, 2010, to announce the publication of a new novel. Betrayer of Worlds is a well-received book and the latest installment in a well-received series, so I wasn't totally surprised by the related post's popularity ...

Although I was by the second most popular post. That turns out to be Trope-ing the light fantastic (life-sign detectors), uploaded on February 15, 2009.  LSD first appeared in the middle of my series on SFnal tropes. What's the draw for that specific post in the blog series? I don't know, or even have a guess, but something in that post appears to have staying power. (Theories welcome!)

Betrayer of Worlds is among my collaborations with Larry Niven. Most-viewed posts 3, 4, and 5 are from among announcements of my solo novels.

Representing my InterstellarNet series are posts InterstellarNet: New Order (September 30, 2010) in third place and InterstellarNet: Origins (March 29, 2010), tied for fourth. (Caveat reader ... InterstellarNet: Origins is the first book in that series.) The other half of the fourth-most-visited tie is Real nanotech. Real medicine. And zombies. (August 3, 2010), announcing the re-release in paperback of near-future nanotech thriller Small Miracles.

So people reading my blog visit pages about my books. I'm pleased by that, of course, but not shocked. But what besides my books and life-signs detectors brings readers?

To answer that question, I looked for themes common among often-visited posts. One popular theme jumped right out: posts about aspects of Known Space. Known Space is the  background common to all the Niven/Lerner Fleet of Worlds series books and some of Larry's other projects. Popular posts in this category include:

• Of fleet Fleets and Known Space on reading orders among related books (February 1, 2011)
• Of Gw'oth and Jotoki on distinctions between similar looking aliens (September 15, 2010)
• Ring(world) around the betrayer pointing to interviews Larry and I separately did last October when Betrayer of Worlds was issued on the 40th anniversary of Larry's magnum opus, Ringworld

Some of these popular posts predate the new Blogspot statistics feature. Those posts had the full nine months (or so) in which to rack up eyeball count. Some comparatively new posts made the hit parade anyway.  I assume those will keep drawing viewers. But what about very recent posts?

In visit statistics looking only at the past month, most posts already mentioned also pop up high in the rankings. But from that last-month-only view, I sense some up-and-coming challengers:

• There is a tide in the affairs of spacefarers ... relates astronomy news to some of my fiction (March 22, 2011)
•  Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise announces my second short fiction collection (May 26, 2010)
• It's the tsunami, stupid considers the media's disproportionate focus on Japan's nuclear issues amid the far greater tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami (posted just April 5, 2011 -- this post spiked in just the past week)
• Head in the clouds about cloud computing and the user's responsibility for his or her own data (January 3, 2011).

 For context, I've mentioned twelve posts. This is my 189th post, my first having been made on August 25, 2008.

Do you have a favorite topic or post on this blog? Do you remember which post first drew you to SF and Nonsense? Comment away!

(April 11, 2012 update: for another year's stats, see Post postscript.)