Thanks to information participants provided when they registered, here are some interesting facts about the 2010 WordCount Blogathon:
146 – Percent increase in number of writers and bloggers in this year’s Blogathon. Last year, 45 people signed up. This year 111 signed up by the May 1 cut off to be eligible for giveaways. As of May 2, registrations continued to trick in even though people who sign up now aren’t eligible for prizes.
91 – People participating in the WordCount Blogathon for the first time. For the math challenged, that’s 82 percent.
15 – People participating for the second time.
5 – People participating for the third time. Blogging every day is hard work, but these veterans have figured out it out. All of them – Jane Boursaw, Jackie Dishner, Susan Weiner, Jennifer Willis and me – are full-time professional writers who make their living from some type of writing, blogging included.
18 – Number of guys participating, a Blogathon record. (I owe Bill Lascher cookies from bringing in one of them.)
7 – People using the challenge to start a blog.
25 – People using the challenge to jumpstart a blog they created and abandonned somewhere along the line or as motivation to post more often.
23 – People whose No. 1 goal for the blogathon is to make it to May 31 without collapsing.
6 – People whose No. 1 goal is “to have fun!” including Meredith Resnick, of of The Writer’s [Inner] Journey.
2 – People whose Blogathon goal is increasing their blogging revenue by posting as often as possible, including more than once a day. Film Gecko‘s Jane Boursaw is shooting for three posts a day. Jennie Phipps, a long-time freelance writer and editor, and owner of Freelance Success, started writing for AOL’s WalletPop blog in 2009 and was pleasantly surprised by how much she made. “I’ve decided to make it a bigger (and recognized) part of my income stream,” Phipps wrote when she signed up for this year’s event. “I’ve set a goal and I need the encouragement offered by the blogathon.” Bloggers such as Boursaw and Phipps make a set fee per post from an online publisher, or earn money from click-through advertising shares from either a website they write for or their own site. The more they write, the more they make. As these pros show, it’s possible to make money blogging, but it takes work.
9 – People using blogs to promote a small businesses. Entrepreneurs have figured out blogs are a good way to connect with customers, be part of the community or show they’re an expert by discussing what’s happening in their industry. During the Blogathon, Sheena Brockington is using Greenhouse Advertising to share ideas with prospective small businss customers. Danielle Carter is using Live and Love Life VA to explain the mundane business tasks entrepreneurs can outsource to outside service providers. Romance novelist Carolyn Smith, who writes under the pen name Caroline Clemmons, is using A Writer’s Life to promote her books.
6 – People whose primary goal for the blogathon is boosting traffic to their blogs, including Teresa Mears, who runs MiamiOntheCheap, and Jodi Torpey, who runs Western Gardeners.
Interesting to see the numbers, Michelle. And great post idea! I’m definitely stealing this one sometime in the next 28 days.
Kathy
Steal away. I borrowed this idea from Harper’s Index.
Thanks for the shout-out — I’m happy to be one of your three-time Blogathon participants.
And I think we should all owe Bill Lascher cookies, for being generally awesome.
What a very cool post, Michelle! Good luck to all bloggers…looking forward to reading more from everyone.
-Marla
interesting break down for sure. out of 111 participants, 18 guys. hmmm. i wonder if most bloggers in general are female. either way, however, seems like a renaissance of sorts for the written word in our digital age.
Loved the breakdown by numbers. Here’s another number: I’m trying to visit five new-to-me blogs per day, at least, and leave a comment in the hope of discovering more blogs I enjoy and more partners who are willing to exchange comments.
Alexandra, that’s an admirable goal. Do it often enough and eventually you’ll find like-minded bloggers who will leave comments on your blog because they care about what you write about.
Michelle R.
Fun to read the stats, Michelle. I’m so impressed you’ve grown the blogathon to such a high number. That’s beyond inspiring.
It’s exhilarating or exhausting, depending on the time of day you’re asking me. I think one big different this year is using Twitter to promote it. A number of people found out about it either directly from my tweets or from other people who’d already signed up and tweeted about it. I also think that as media continues to evolve, more writers are realizing how important it is to maintain a blog, and joining a group experiment like a blogathon is good motivation to become a faithful poster.
Michelle Rafter
So is this to say that if we bring more bloggers we get cookies? 😉
Great stats! Really enjoying the challenge so far!
Sorry, that was a one-time offer to Bill L. when it looked like he and Ron Doyle were going to be the only guys in the blogathon. And I missed his housewarming party when he moved to Portland, so I gotta make it up to him.
Michelle
Proud to be one of the 111 bloggers for the blogathon. 111 is an unique number!!
Great numbers for the Blogathon, proud to be one of the guys participating. Three posts down, and many more to go!
I always like reading logistics and number breakdowns.
only 15 repeat participants? I’m a bit surprised.
I really wanted to join in, but we have 2 camping trips this months that are sans computers- so though I’ll be blogging pretty much every day while home, I’d miss over a week…..
at any rate, I hope to find some new blogs to enjoy reading
Glad you’re enjoying it Kimberly. As for blogging over weekend: that’s what WordPress’ (and Bloggers’) pre-write feature is made for. Write it Friday, publish it Saturday. Or Sunday. In my case, I’ve been pre-writing three or four at a time so I have the time I need to handle blogathon admin duties.
Michelle Rafter