Eight years ago, we delivered the first issue of Shelf Awareness. On our anniversary issue date, we usually write about how we started, our journey and new developments in our business. But this time we're going to do something different, and we'll do it with numbers instead of our beloved words. We've always been big fans of the Harper's magazine index, and so today we borrow this idea and have a bit of fun with it. We're amazed by the numbers, and hope you will be, too.
The Shelf Awareness Year Eight Index
- Number of subscribers for our first issue, eight years ago today: 587
- Estimated number of subscribers who will view this issue of Shelf Awareness Pro: 31,120
- Number of subscribers for our consumer publication, Shelf Awareness for Readers: 212,000
- Estimated number of consumer subscribers by end of July 2013: more than 250,000.
- Percentage of consumer subscribers who have subscribed through their local independent bookstore: 73%
- Number of mornings that John Mutter has risen at 5 a.m. to send out the Shelf: more often than not.
- Number of nights Jenn Risko somehow thought it best to not sleep, but to stay up and worry: 167
- Number of employees and freelancers in the first year, aside from John and Jenn: 0
- Number of employees and freelancers, including book reviewers, today: 70
- Total number of e-mails Shelf Awareness has sent over eight years: 64 million.
- Number of issues published, including Pro, Readers, Maximum and Dedicated issues: 2,035
- Number of individual ads over total life span of the Shelf: 13,736
- Number of times we screwed an ad up: 17.
- Estimated number of bottles of wine drank: Okay. We just did the math. Maybe a bit more than we want to reveal.
- Number of mornings we sent the issue on auto-pilot because of aforementioned wine: Classified.
- Number of mornings we woke to send out the Shelf to no power or no Internet: 7
- Number of times the Shelf didn't go out: 0
- Number of times the issue went out twice by mistake: 1 (our first issue)
- Average number of folks every year who are fooled by our April Fool's issue: 10
- Most cited "favorite first line of a novel" in our Book Brahmin feature: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." --Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
- Number of times we've heard how much our colleagues love and appreciate what we do: Countless.
- Number of times we get sick of hearing this: 0
- Percentage of time we feel we can't thank our readers, advertisers, and employees nearly enough: Pretty much all the time.
- Number of years we want to keep doing this: Many, many more.
Please send congratulations or Bronx cheers here.