October was the fifth full month since I started Hillbilly Highways. To my considerable chagrin, it was also Hillbilly Highways’ worst month for views. It isn’t awful. I went back and checked, and my monthly average for my first five months at Hillbilly Highways is still well above where Every Day Should Be Tuesday was for its first five months. But I am finding just how hard it is to jumpstart viewership for a new blog. October was a very busy month, and while I kept up a regular posting schedule at Hillbilly Highways, I didn’t do as much promotion. There is nothing for it to except keep plugging away.
I didn’t set a record for views here at Every Day Should Be Tuesday, but October beat out September, I didn’t have the weird October swoon I had last year (where I saw a 40% drop between September and October), and I would have set a record but for the four months of Tolkien 101—my best four blog months ever. So I can hardly complain, especially with how much time Hillbilly Highways takes.
Keeping a regular blog schedule across both blogs—often five posts per week—is starting to wear me down. I will need to reconsider what is manageable. But, as always, I have far more ideas for posts than I have time to actually write them.
If I’ve seemed absent from your blog this past month, well, yeah. Between being mashed by real life and a couple work trips (and a work trip for my wife that left me single parenting), my blog reading was way down for October.
I also continued to do poorly at whittling down my TBR. With a giant stack of unread books, and a pretty big stack of current reads, I acquired eight books and only finished five—the same number that I started. And I am starting to build up a big backlog of reviews to write (mostly for Hillbilly Highways).
Reviews
- Mortu and Kyrus in the White City
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Some Dark Holler by Luke Bauserman (reblogged from Hillbilly Highways)
Top 5 Posts at Every Day Should Be Tuesday
- Throwback SF Thursday: The Right Hand of Doom, Red Shadows, Rattle of Bones (Solomon Kane)
- Throwback SF Thursday: Mortu and Kyrus in the White City by Schuyler Hernstrom
- Throwback SF Thursday: Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Short Review Roundup – Movie Edition, part 4
- Daredevil Season 3 is the Best Netflix Season Yet (non-spoiler review)
Top 5 Posts at Hillbilly Highways
- Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Books by J.G. Hetherton, David Joy, and Stephen Markley
- SF: Some Dark Holler by Luke Bauserman
- Music Monday: The Carolina Chocolate Drops
- Nonfiction: The New Mind of the South by Tracy Thompson
- New Music Friday (early): Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing by J.P. Harris
Books acquired
- The Line That Held Us by David Joy
- Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
- Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity by James D. Gwartney, et al.
- For God and Profit: Finance, Capital, and the Good Life by Samuel Gregg
- Cold Iron by Miles Cameron
- China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building along the New Silk Road by Tom Miller
- What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte
Books started
- Dracula by Bram Stoker (reread)
- Last Girl Gone by J.G. Hetherton
- The Line That Held Us by David Joy
- Ohio by Stephen Markley
- Cold Iron by Miles Cameron
Books finished
- Last Girl Gone by J.G. Hetherton
- The Line That Held Us by David Joy
- Dracula by Bram Stoker (reread)
- Cold Iron by Miles Cameron
- Ohio by Stephen Markley
Every Day Should Be Tuesday 
Different blogs, different topics, or so it would seem, but maybe combining the two might be the answer. As they’re both about books. It took me several months to get a steady number of visitors to my blog, and that was because I visited others every day, till they started reciprocating. And those that didn’t reciprocate, I stopped visiting. Good luck with the blogs and numbers.
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Sometimes trying to interact with people to drive traffic and followers to Hillbilly Highways gets me traffic here. Maybe they look at both and decide they prefer EDSBT, but it is probably usually because of EDSBT is my “default” blog. A downside to trying to promote tow blogs through one set of accounts.
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Yeah, I tried a two blog approach and had the same problems. It took quite a while to go with the one blog, and draw in traffic. Hopefully, you’ll find your readers.
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If that red nose is any indication, I’d say Angelbaby started dipping into the “cider” just a wee bit early 😉
Best of luck figuring out how to deal with 2 blogs. Do you think you would lose people if you combined things?
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I considered just adding that content here, but for various reasons I decided to start a separate blog. I don’t know that that was the wrong decision. Mainly I think it is just going to take time.
We WERE partying pretty hard at the daycare in those two pics.
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Reblogged this on Hillbilly Highways and commented:
Hear how both blogs are doing and see what books I’ve been reading and acquiring (mostly acquiring) at my October month-in-review:
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