In August 2006 the Beanery Writers Group decided to experiment with an online site where we could submit our works for others to view. After some playing around, I was able to set the site up and share information on the process with the other members. To our surprise we attained the number one spot on the www.ProBlogs host site in less than six months. We decided to give the site an official name: The Beanery Online Literary Magazine. In mid-April we won the Blog of the Day Award. At the time we were averaging 275 hits a day, and reaching a number of days with over 300 hits. One day we had an astounding 639 hits. The Beanery Online Literary Magazine posts writings by children, youth and adults. It is a family-style, online, multi-genre publication that invites submissions from writers of all levels of experience. In April I decided to remove much of my writing to an archives site, www.ProBlogs.com/CarolynCHolland. I continue to post on the beanery site, www.ProBlogs.com/beanerywriters but slowly move the pieces to the archives site. This allows the beanery writers site to be filled with writings by numerous other authors. In May the host site experienced problems. In repairing them they had to set everybody’s counter back to zero. At the time our site had 32,466 hits. By the end of the day on August 22 we’d accumulated 14,246 hits. The three shutdowns and the onslaught of summer affected our daily count, however. Although we’ve experienced many days with counts of better than 400, most days it’s under 225---which is still a good number. If the numbers from the archive sites are added in, our total number of hits for our first year is 55,555. The beanerywriters are #1; CarolynCHolland holds the #2 spot. In July I figured how to add photograph capability---I set up accounts with the Flickr photo storage site and post the link on the two sites. Each photograph illustrates an article, which is listed in the description of the picture. This provides an improved magazine quality and is slowly increasing our hits. Why do the numbers count? What do they mean? I did photojournalism for over ten years. I’d write stories, submit them and wonder if they were read. Occasionally someone would comment on them—aha, some were being read. During times I didn’t submit stories I’d be asked if I had quit writing. Aha, I had developed a reading audience. Most of the time, however, I didn’t know if the articles were being read or being set down on the floor to catch doggie puddles. That the paper had a decent circulation was known, but I never knew where or how big my reading audience really was, only that I occasionally received a few encouraging words from my readership. Internet postings are like that. The numbers mean 46,712 visits were made to the beanery site in its first year. Some will click in and click out---others will stay a while, reading the recent posts. Still others will check the INDEX category and wander around the site, perhaps selecting certain writers or subjects as their favorites. Like with newspaper writing, alas, we don’t know! During the year we’ve had discussions on the value of the site. It’s difficult for some persons to understand that readership is unknown, but numbers are solid. The bottom line is that writers want to be read. The numbers indicate that we ARE being read. The occasional comment I hear from residents in my community indicate they click on. I know we’ve had visitors from France, Singapore, Sweden and Italy. Our group has discussed whether their writings posted on the site are considered “published.” My conclusion is yes. I advise some writers that by having their own category on the site allows them to refer potential employers to check the site to “sample” their writing. It also is a repository where they can refer their friends who want to read their writing. On the other hand, if it’s posted, it can no longer be submitted to the print media as a “first” publication. We have long distance members from Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia and Buffalo, N.Y. Local persons who cannot attend meetings contribute or have online membership. The other day, while checking the “referrals” list (visitors referred by search engines) inside the site, I noticed an interesting search request: most popular online literary magazine. Google has placed the Beanery Online Literary Magazine at the top of its list. We have reason to celebrate. We’ve made great strides in our first year. We thank all our loyal readers for helping make us a success. Thank you for visiting our sites. We will reward you with good reading in many genres in the coming year. Add us to your “favs” list and click on us every day! | 
