New Post: Stats Raise Questions

(Fried Steak. Recipe Self Evident.)


by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2011

All Rights Reserved


After taking a belated interest in my stats, they seem to raise as many questions as they answer.

One of the neat things on a Google blog is 'traffic source' data, which startled me.

I had no idea that my French-language blog, 'Les Shalako,' was getting so much traffic. That blog started off as a place to experiment with the online translation technology that is available to writers today. This kind of data used to be the exclusive province of the really big players.

So now we know what 'metrics' are! By using the translator, and then spelling and grammar check, the translated poems and stories, few as they are, are of some interest to some person or persons out there in Canada.

***

It's nice to know that some of my traffic comes from India, some from Iran, and Iraq, and Russia, and Eastern Europe.

Some of it comes from South America, including Peru, and Brazil as well as Canada, the US, Eire, etc. Somebody in Germany hit on my blog--why did that happen? How are they getting here from there? When and where did they stumble across me?

Exactly which post or promo, posted exactly where and when, resulted in this specific book sale?

Why did they pick this book, as opposed to another of my titles, or any other title?

What is it that they are specifically reading, and why are they reading it? A certain post might bring a certain number of hits from a certain place. We want new readers, and new friends. We also want to know why.

***

During the course of our E-Book Week promotion, back on Mar 5-12; we observed that it took approximately 13.9 page views to give away one copy of our e-book, 'Heaven Is Too Far Away,' and that same book takes a little over a hundred page-hits (on average) to sell one copy of the book. As anyone can see, the price is competitive.

So the goal for the next while is to drive up page hits, and take some steps, (I have no idea what,) to lower the page-hits/sales ratio.

The interesting thing is that I have never said that before in my life. I have never asked the question, 'Just exactly how is that done?" before.

Disruption brings fresh insights, and new questions will reveal new questions again.

Big Changes: A Nexus, Crux, Watershed Moment, etc...

by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2010

All Rights Reserved


The next few months look very busy for us here at Shalako Publishing, what with our dad going into an old age home, the need to prepare a house that has seen little maintenance for forty years for market, and developing our web presence, and a few other things.

Just clearing out a lot of old junk, and putting a few tons of it to the curb will take some time and energy. Pop has deteriorated quite a bit in only a month, and some say he won't actually come out of the old age home--he's supposed to be 'trying it out,' and I'm getting a two-week 'respite.'

That's the story, and everyone seems to be sticking to it...I can't shake 'em.

What that means is that I can drag all of his model airplanes out and take pictures. I need the photos for some online ads. Dumb things, questions like, 'who gets my roller skates--they cost $500,' will no doubt rear their ugly heads. Hopefully the seeds of dissension are minimal.

(I don't frickin' want 'em.)

In some ways I can't deal with it, but I do have a brother and sister.

All I can really do is to put my head down and try and achieve as much as I can regarding my own goals. As for writing new material, I don't know why, but it is about the farthest thing from my mind.

With three novels in the can, and some small experience in self publishing, maybe I just feel more in control of my own future, or maybe I just got hooked on editing! You have to admit, it can be all-absorbing, and it is a new skill.

All of this leads to my own fate. Where the hell will I be living in three months? Theoretically, my number comes up for geared to income housing in May or June. I get two refusals, and then I either take the third option or go off the list and then re-apply, which results in another 18-month to two-year waiting list.

Here's the thing: I might be going from a house in a fairly affluent working-class neighbourhood to an eleventh-floor highrise. I have a cat...an outdoor cat. Right now, my back gate opens onto a park of three hundred acres...you see my point. A balcony is something people jump off, in my humble opinion.

I have a bicycle, camping equipment, construction tools, a canoe, model airplanes, dressers, desks...the whole lot wouldn't bring $500 at auction. So I have some angst, all things considered. The 'replacement value' of all this junk is considerable. Do I have a garage sale, let it go for pennies on the hundred dollars, or store it indefinitely? And if so, why?

But the truth is, my dad needs more care than I can actually give him, including physiotherapy, constant supervision, help dressing, the whole schlemiel.