And here we are -four years of blogging, and the last one happened so quickly my head is spinning. Not all the plans I had for this blog have materialised, mainly for lack of time: I have changed job (more precisely, same academic job, different institution) and this means a certain amount of working hours spent to learn the new house rules…! This has also translated into fewer posts (I remained stable at two per weeks, which is the minimum acceptable for me) and in fewer book reviews than in previous years. On the other hand, I’ve finally managed to publish my long-overdue author page and my fiction writing increased substantially. 
Blogwise, numbers have kept growing in terms of visitors and views -around 15,000 this year, a net increment from 2016 – so I can’t be too gloomy. This year I have done something different from the past and prepared a ranking of the posts with top views in 2017, and I was a bit surprised with the results: not what I had expected. Apart from “Archive”, which means all and nothing, the others are for me quite interesting -especially Gundam, that this year was viewed 1,418 times. 
As last year, USA was the place where roughly half of the visits came from. The UK is an obvious second, but others are less obvious, like Argentina or India. East-Asia is now less present, which is a marked difference compared to my start in 2014.
Plans for the future: in 2018 I definitively need to post more book reviews. While I keep reading a lot, most of the books are non-fiction and of no interest for a blog of speculative fiction. One thing of this year is the number of movie reviews I’ve posted, higher than in the past, which will probably remain stable during next year.
A final word: I’d like to thank my fellow bloggers (amazing, all of them) and anybody that took the time to visit and post comments here. This blog won’t exist without you. Thanks for another year together, and I look forward to seeing you again!
Happy blogiversary Steph! It’s quite the milestone in blogging years! I’ve really enjoyed your blog, although I may not comment all the time, sometimes I lurk Here’s to the next four
Thank Tammy, your blog is always a reference for me!
Huge congratulations on your blogiversary, Steph – I find your blog always an informative read, especially your roundups of the science community. As for not going according to plan – I think that’s Life. I hope you have a great week and look reading your articles for the forseeable future.
Thanks Sarah, I look forward to the next year… and to reading more of your work! I’ll post my review of Running out of Space in January (a bit later than planned, apologies, but I’m getting there). 🙂
Oh, please don’t think there is any impatience on my part! I’m just so thrilled and excited that you read it and are writing a review…
I love the reading. I’ll send you a line as soon as it is live.
Thank you:)
Wow, happy blogoversary! That’s quite a milestone. Congrats on four years, and here’s to many more!
Many thanks for that! much appreciated. 🙂
Felice blogoversary!
Many thanks, Chango!
Happy Blogiversary! I always enjoy the astrophysics posts a lot, and the science fiction, of course. It’s fun to read your posts, so you can expect me back in 2018!
Many thanks, Cinda. In 2018 science posts are going to be more frequent, since my research for the book is picking up. 🙂
Yes, happy blogiversary! I may not be one for comments, but I do quote you sometimes (with attribution, of course!).
Many thanks, James. BTW, do you know we actually shared a ToC this year? It was “Mother Revenge” [I write under a different byline -Russell Hemmell] I have to say I love your stories 🙂
Steph, thanks for the compliment. It looks like I never received an author’s copy of MOTHER’S REVENGE, but then I looked up the contract and it says one copy but not until 6 months after publication, which wouldn’t be until about now. Weird. I’ll have to check it out when (if) it comes though!
Hello James, I have actually contacted them and they replied. If you want, I can send you a copy of what they said by private email.
Congratulations! Is there any cake to be had? 😀 😀
Sure, if you happen to be in Edinburgh at some moment, just pop in 😉
Ahh, I missed this post. Congratulations and here’s to many more years of blogging. I’m a bit like Tammy, a silent lurker 😀
Lynn
Many thanks Lynn!