For what should feel like one of the longest months of the year, August went by relatively quickly. At least for me, I think this was because I had something going on every weekend, which made it feel like I didn’t have a lot of down time. And despite feeling like I didn’t read a lot, I ended with this month with 7 books read and a new milestone for my blog. I’ll take it! Onward to my monthly book blog wrap-up for August.
Book Reviews
I posted three reviews on August. From earliest to latest they are:
- Portrait of A Scotsman by Evie Dunmore
- To Wake A Kingdom by Nisha J. Tuli
- He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
I also participated in some book memes, which you can find in my August 2023 archive.
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.
My top five posts for total page views are:
- Book Review: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: 371 views
- Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 299 views
- How To Improve Social Media Interaction: 146 views
- ARC Book Review Etiquette: 110 views
- Book Review: Gild by Raven Kennedy: 103 views
Again, SEO is a major driver to my monthly views. Search engines are the main referrer to my blog now. Every month I’m newly astounded at reaching or surpassing the previous month’s total views. As I write this at the end of the day on August 29, GA4 says I’ve had 2,957 views. This is already a new personal best for me and I’ll be even more excited if I hit 3,000 views! What’s interesting is now that SEO is the principal referrer, my views per visitor have been declining each month. Why? Because my visitors stop by for one view and then move on whereas subscribers theoretically view this site more than once per month.
Anyway, I won’t bore you anymore with that. I just find it interesting, especially after putting in 2.5 years of hard work into this hobby. Lastly, I gained a few more followers for a total of 148 subscribers. Thank you!
#BeatTheBacklog
I finished three books that were on my TBR prior to 2023: KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD by Scarlett St. Clair, PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir, and THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Even better, KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD is a book I have a physical copy of, so finishing it felt extra good. This was my first time reading a book by St. Clair and it was an entertaining mood read.
Other Bookish Items
I finished seven books in August. I’m more or less content with that, though I wish I’d had more time to read. That’s what winter is for, right?
- LOVE, THEORETICALLY by Ali Hazelwood
- THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (audiobook)
- PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir
- CICADA SYMPHONY by Sue Fliess (children’s book)
- THE EMPRESS OF SALT AND FORTUNE by Nghi Vo (audiobook, novella)
- HE WHO DROWNED THE WORLD by Shelley Parker-Chan
- KING OF BATTLE AND BLOOD by Scarlett St. Clair
I completed five of the Common Challenges for Trope-ical Readathon August 2023.
I posted another On My Radar roundup of posts I enjoyed in August.
I’m still technically on a book buying ban. Yes, I technically broke it twice. I already had a couple of exceptions baked in (library sales and a book subscription sale). But I broke it when an out-of-stock book suddenly became available. (Only to get an email the next day saying that my order was canceled because it was still out of stock.) And I broke it once more to purchase a copy of HOUSE OF ROOTS AND RUIN by Erin A. Craig. My Kindle purchases don’t count because they don’t take up physical space.
NetGalley
My feedback ratio dropped a little bit compared to last month and I now sit at 76%. This is because I acquired three more ARCs, but only submitted one review. Once I finish THE PHOENIX KING I’ll probably tackle one of the novellas I was approved for.
Non-Bookish Items
I made a little progress on my non-bookish goals in August. That is, I made more of an effort to work out. I wasn’t perfect every week, but it still counts.
The garden production has ramped up. We’ve picked quite a few tomatoes. The cucumbers are starting to produce more. And the eggplant plants finally have tiny fruits on them. I am SO happy about the eggplants because I had such a hard time growing them in our community garden. We moved a couple of years ago and now have a backyard garden and they are much happier. I also saw the result of a tobacco hornworm run in with a parasitic wasp. I’ll just leave it at that. If you saw my IG story, then you know.
This weekend I get to meet my newest nephew and I can’t wait!
And that’s it for my monthly book blog wrap-up! How was your August?
Sounds like a pretty good month overall! I read 7 books in August as well. Still need to get to Love, Theoretically!
Love, Theoretically is my favorite of the three. I hope you like it!
For the first time since May, my review of Fourth Wing was pushed into 2nd place by my review of Delicate Condition (because there’s a TV show coming out). I love stats too and seeing what people read on my blog, it’s fascinating! Congrats on a good month😁
Poor Fourth Wing review! Lol! I’m sure you’ll see it back at the top soon.
Looks like you had a great reading month! I thought King of Battle and Blood was a good time read as well and I’m looking forward to eventually checking out the next book. I also loved Vo’s book and need to continue with that series asap! I hope you have an amazing month in September 🙂
Thanks! I’m still surprised and fascinated by my stats. It really has been worth it to focus on SEO. I’ll probably read the next book after King of Battle and Blood, but from the library.
Congrats on the SEO success! I hope you make it to 3000 views before the day is over. 🙂
Thank you! I haven’t checked google analytics, but my Jetpack/WordPress stats say I’ve made it over the 3000 mark, so that’s exciting!
Those look like great stats to me! You’ve definitely been working hard and putting out some great content!
I, too, have been trying to actually read some books on my TBR list. Right now I’m trying to read two a month from it. We’ll see how that goes….
Thank you, Krysta! 😊
It’s always surprisingly hard to stick to books that are on our TBRs! There’s always something new and shiny! Good luck!
Good luck with your backyard garden. I fairly recently got into gardening (about a year now but still learning) but do houseplants. Eventually I’d like to grow fruits.
Thanks! The okra are really loving this week’s heat wave. Gardening is so satisfying, especially when you see the fruits of your labor, pun intended. You could totally grow melons and cucumbers and strawberries if you want to grow fruits! Just make sure you have space (or a trellis) for those first two…there are some melons that are more personal sized that I like to grow because they need less space (check out silver line melon & there’s also a small cantaloupe).
I agree that SEO visitors tend not to linger! It makes sense – they found what they are looking for and are less likely to poke around.
Thanks for sharing your stats, as always!