Thursday, January 10, 2019

2018 Reading Statistics



Welcome to my giant post of 2018 reading stats! I don’t know how interesting this post will be to other people, but these graphs help me figure out what I want to change about my reading. If you’re the kind of nerd who wants to know more about my reading year, check out my favorite books of 2018. Let’s get into this. Prepare your scrolling fingers. They are about to be busy.




2018 Quick Facts



Total number of books finished: 100
Number of rereads: 2
Total number of pages read: 31,351
Approximate pages read per day: 85
Number of books given up on: 6
Number of translations read: 6
Number of unread books owned at the beginning of 2018: 63
Number of unread books owned at the end of 2018: 43
Average amount of time a new book sat on my shelf before I read it: 143 days







GoodReads Stats













Spreadsheet Pie Charts





Once again, I struggled with a glitchy reading spreadsheet. Either I’m not good at using these, or random internet strangers aren’t good at making them. I’m tempted to blame everyone except myself. Here are the statistics that I managed to track.




3 stars = average.
4 stars = above average.
2 stars = below average.
DNF = did not finish. It was too horrible. I quit to save myself.


Analysis: I read fewer books than I did in previous years, but I enjoyed most of them.






Analysis: The large majority of the books I read in 2018 were published in the past 8 years. I really need to get back to reading classics. I miss them.




"Children" includes young adult books.


Analysis: Once again, I read more adult books than children’s books. Once again, I’m going to try harder to get it to 50/50. Adult books are just more appealing to me at this point in my life. I'm a grown-up (sort of), so I guess it makes sense that I want to read books for grown-ups.






Analysis: I really like hardcover books. I think this is because most of my books are traded for or bought scratch-and-dent. I’ve had too many battered paperbacks fall apart in my hands. I’m more likely to buy/trade for a used book if it’s hardcover.






Analysis: Nothing about this is surprising or likely to change in 2019. I love my novels.






Analysis: I did pretty terrible at reading books that don’t come from the “Big 5” publishers. Once again, Penguin Random House is my favorite publisher. I still don’t know why. Am I drawn to their books? Do they just publish a ton of stuff? Are they better at promoting their products than other publishers? Are their books easier to find? It’s a mystery.




"Publisher" = books given in exchange for a review.


Analysis: This is the “Where did all my money go?” graph. Most of the books I acquire are traded for or purchased in slightly-less-than-awesome condition from Book Outlet or Amazon sellers. In 2018, I acquired 85 books and spent $203 on books. That’s around $2.38 per book. Many of those books aren’t included on this graph. About half of my 2018 purchases are sitting unread on my shelf. This graph only shows books I read. Most of the books on this graph are 2017 purchases.






The Diversity Stuff



This graph only tracks the presence of diverse casts of characters. It does not track if those characters are portrayed accurately.


Analysis: Either I’m getting better at finding books that meet my diversity criteria, or publishers are getting better at publishing diverse books. I don’t usually have this many books in the “Yes” category. My results could also be skewed because I read more “modern” books than I usually do. I barely read any classics in 2018. I failed to track this stat, but I know that I am still terrible at reading books that aren't written by white ladies.

Here’s how a book ended up in the “Yes” category:

It’s #OwnVoices
And/Or
It’s a work in translation
And/Or
It features a point-of-view character who is a member of a minority community
And/Or
It discusses issues that disproportionately impact minority communities






Analysis: Sigh. This happens every year. Almost all of the authors I read were born in the US or Canada. I live in the US, so it’s easy to get books that were written and published here. I didn’t read any books from South American authors. I’ll try again this year to read the whole world, but I don’t have high hopes. 




"Multiple" = books by more than 1 author.


Analysis: This happens every year. I tend to read books by female authors who are writing about female characters. Probably because I’m a woman. This probably won’t change in 2019.






Did This Blog Actually Grow?



Blogs sometimes grow so slowly that it seems like they’re not growing at all. Here’s how mine grew in 2018.


Gained 426 Twitter followers.
Gained 29 G+ followers.
Gained 152 Goodreads followers.
Gained 164 Bloglovin’ followers.
Gained 176 Instagram followers.
Gained 168 Pinterest followers.
Gained 95,425 pageviews.






The Posts You Clicked The Most



Thank you to everyone who reads my nonsense or shares it on social media! These posts were uncommonly successful in 2018. 






You reached the end! Congratulations!


Did you achieve your reading goals in 2018? Do you keep spreadsheets or track your reading?





29 comments:

  1. I love pie charts! I read mostly 3, 4 and 5 star books this year so I must be getting better at picking the right reads for me! I have so much trouble finding out about who publishes my books! I seem to have to go through sub sections before I find out the main publisher when it comes to the big 6! I do mostly read Indie though. I don't see much diversity in the books I read but that's not a great surprise given the genres I read. I do take note of my stats through the year so I can do a few pie charts!

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    1. Publishers have so many imprints! I know there’s a chart somewhere that shows who owns what, but I often have to Google it.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I absolutely love reading these wrap-ups. The presence of pie charts in a post pretty much brings me instant satisfaction, even though math is not my thing. Go figure. Love seeing how your blog has grown this year! I should keep track of that.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I sometimes get sad about how slowly my blog grows, but at least it’s growing! I like making the pie charts. It’s fun to see how my reading has changed over the years.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. I love when people do posts like these. I do not track nearly as much...really, whatever Goodreads tracks for me. LOL I can say that I probably read more women authors than anything though!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I’m a bit obsessive with my spreadsheet. The first thing I do when I finish a book is update my reading trackers.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  4. Bring on the stats! I don't know why I find this stuff so interesting bust I do. Knocking 20 unread books off your shelves sounds pretty good. And how did I not know about The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky? *scampering off to check that out now*

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    1. I’m hoping to acquire fewer books this year so I can knock more off my TBR shelf. So far, January is off to a terrible start. I think I’ve gotten 10 books so far this month.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. That's a pretty great year! I love seeing my reading stats, but I have to keep track of gender myself. All the apps/sites I use only break things down into male/female, which excludes a lot of my reading. :(

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    1. My spreadsheet came with male/female/non-binary. I added the multiple authors category. I might add Unknown because I’ve read a few mystery authors who have an alias and nothing else.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  6. Besides tracking on Goodreads, I also have a spreadsheet that I input everything into. It's definitely helpful in helping me keep track of all the challenges I'm participating in.

    I read way more female than male authors, probably because I read a lot of women's fiction. And I've been reading less YA, I think, sometimes it just feels too immature for me, although there are still some I enjoy.

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    1. I’m having the same issue with YA. I think I’ve either outgrown it or read so much of it that I burned myself out.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  7. My gawd I love pie charts! I need to figure out how to track publishers. I made it my mission to feature self-pub and indie authors, or at least lesser known imprints after I had been blogging a few months. However, I'm not quite sure I'm as compliant with that as I was a couple of years ago. 📚

    After tRump was elected my Twitter followers went from a little over 1,850 to 800 something. I refuse to believe that many bloggers and authors were tRump supporters, but I'm sure that it was because my tweets were probably 50/50 political angst and book related, even though it was mostly retweeting authors' and other bloggers' tweets. It see-saws around 1,140 now and I don't think it has topped 1,150 since. Thanks, tRump. 😒

    You had a great blogging year! Here's to another in 2019. 🎉

    Where do you trade books? 📚

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I lose followers when I tweet anti-Trump stuff, too. It’s never very many followers, so I don’t mind. I did unfollow a few people who flooded my Twitter feed with political stuff. I don’t mind occasional political posts, but I mostly like to keep my Twitter bookish.

      I trade my books on the Paperback Swap website or at the used bookstore in my town.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. WOW! I love when all the graphics come out tracking the different areas that concern you!! Plus its great to see for yourself how your work has caused you to grow!! <3

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    1. Thanks! I’m very happy that my blog has grown. I’d be upset if it didn’t.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. I love stats posts! I love that books sat on your shelf for an average of 143 days after buying them lol. Mine is prob longer, tbh. Seems like you had a pretty good reading year, lots of 4 stars, not too many below 3. You read so many backlisted books compared to myself and what I've seen of other bloggers, that's awesome! Also great that you found so many diverse books :-) I hope you have another great reading year!

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    1. I love backlist books! New releases are too expensive and have massive waitlists. This year, I’m going to try to get through my TBR a little faster. I don’t like that books sit around for 5 months before I touch them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. Everyone awes me with all their stats. I got nothing, but my Goodreads stats. I am really impressed with your blog growth. That's awesome, congratulations!

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    1. Thanks! I’m happy that the blog is growing. Sometimes it feels like it’s going nowhere.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  11. LOVE all the charts. Really good stuff. Dude you have so much blog and other social stuff growth. That is awesome!!

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  12. I love these types of posts, especially with all the charts and graphs you do! I never seem to find the time to do such an in depth end of the year post. Maybe I should go ahead and schedule it on my calendar for my blog for December right now! You can check out my end of the year post HERE.

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  13. I love reading stats posts! Congratulations on your blog growth!

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  14. I love reading everyone's stats posts. I'd love to do a stats post as well, but I'm awful at charts. =P Your stats are so good. Congratulations on how much your blog grew in 2018.

    Happy readings! ;)
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret

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  15. Congratulations on finishing so many books last year!!

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  16. I usually just rely on the Goodreads summary to give me an idea of my yearly reading habits but I think maybe I will track it a bit more in depth this year. See what I read in December at Girl Who Reads

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  17. These statistics are wonderful, and congrats on reading 100 books, I only managed 88 this year but I had a few months with barely any reading so there's that.
    Tori @ In Tori Lex

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  18. I really enjoy seeing book stats, and Homer thrown in here was hilarious. 100 books even is amazing. Congrats on your blog gaining followers--you always make me laugh and I'm happy to have found your blog.

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