The Meta Blog Analysis--What's My Most Popular Posting of the Last Month? Also, a Video Link

Here's a hint. I wrote it in January. I got the numbers from Google Analytics, which once I figured out how to set up and get working, has been addictive. Don't worry, I'm not turning on the advertising function in the near future...

Our most popular post of the last month is "Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops to Close."

It's proof that we still have a long way to go in getting the word out to the community. And before every advertiser and underwritin coordinator contacts me (again), I get it. We'll be doing some of that. But you didn't have coffee with the friend who had a failed bookstore, who blamed one of the problems on the store being "blowing the marketing money too quickly" by locking into advertising contracts.

On the other hand, I've got a competitor in the making that has already done a lot of marketing, outspending my sign budget alone by a large multiple. Believe me, I'm pretty much continously frantic about the whole thing, and I'm not saying anything more about it on this post.

We've still got some issues, including that dead space in the front of the store near Starbucks. I need to spend some money to fix some things, hard things to do for someone who is by nature rather...frugal.

That said, it's been great to get compliments from folks coming in the store. The store looks full, and while many sections are compact, almost all of them have interesting books in them. Many of the displays have recently been freshened, and some of my initial attempts at sideline buying have been big hits (well, the robots, anyway).

If I haven't said it to you in person, I'll say it to you impersonally right here. Thanks for your support, and we'll keep doing what we're doing, as long as you want us to do it.

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Here's a link to a video of Eva Rumpf on Fox News. She's going to be reading from and discussing her new memoir Reclamation: A New Orleans Memoir. We've also got a nice New Orleans table featuring several new and classic books about New Orleans, including Dave Eggers bestselling Zeitoun.