Some of you may have noticed that I keep separate bibliography tabs at the top of my Home Page for ten favorite authors of mine - along with an eleventh tab listing all the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners by year. In looking over my "Last 30 Days" recap that Blogspot provides, I've often wondered if the number of page views for each of the author tabs accurately gauges current reader interest in this small group of writers:
- Michael Connelly - Bosh series, Lincoln Lawyer series - 63
- Louise Penny - Gamache series - 45
- Craig Johnson - Longmire series - 40
- Ian Rankin - Rebus series - 40
- James Lee Burke - Robicheaux series - 33
- Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove - 31
- Ruth Rendell - Inspector Wexford series - 30
- Elizabeth George - Inspector Lynley series - 26
- Ann Cleeves - Shetland series, Vera Stanhope series - 20
- Ann Tyler - quirky standalones - 18
I suspect that the readers most likely to stop by Book Chase do so because they see some of the titles I've reviewed. That would have a lot to do with why Ann Tyler is at the bottom of this small sample. Too, Larry McMurtry and Ruth Rendell are both deceased now, so I would expect some drop off in interest in their body of work now that they won't be producing new titles for the best seller lists (the out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing). But really, I think this is pretty much what I expected from this particular grouping.
What do you think? Does this 30-day sample accurately reflect who's hottest at the moment among these great writers? (I love statistics, but I know they can "prove" anything.)
That's an interesting stat. Not sure I would've thought Connelly's page views would beat Louise Penny and the rest. I loved the Bosch TV series but haven't read the books. Keep it going!
ReplyDeleteI think that writers like Connelly, Penny, and Cleeves who have seen such hit TV series produced from their books benefit significantly from those who don't have that happen to them. Sort of like being tapped on the shoulder by Oprah. Of course, looking at this group of mystery writers, they've all had that happen to one degree or another. BTW, the Bosch books are even better than the TV.
DeleteMaybe Connelly gets more hits because he has multiple series out that are all pretty popular, so maybe he captures more readers that way than Penny or Johnson.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. And Penny's latest TV version of Gamache was absolutely terrible in my opinion. None of the characters approached anything like they were in the books, and the mysteries were softened to the cozy style. Little realism; it was sad to watch. And Johnson's TV series has been over for a while although he still milks it to death in his annual fan gathering up in Wyoming (I'd love to make it one year myself).
Delete