I've already been assured by multiple people that I'll never coin a better phrase than ho-lee shitreactors, and I think I'm inclined to agree.
But wait a minute. This is LitReactor, dammit! We're all about honing our skills and perfecting the craft of writing! Did Shakespeare call it a day after quilling humdingers like All the world's a stage and To thine own self be true? No, he continued to turn phrase-gems like Shall I compare thee to a summer's day and, uh... Forget not that I am an ass. So in the spirit of LitReactor and the Bard Will.e.be. ... DJ, music!
Let's get LitTarded, ha! Let's get LitTarded in here! Let's get LitTarded, ha! Let's get Lit—
Sorry about that. OFFENSIVE. Even if in this context there's no disrespect, and when I bust my rhyme you break your necks. I...
I got nothin'.
Quick question: Do websites celebrate anniversaries or birthdays? Because last year I was all, It's our one year anniversary!, and most people responded with, Happy birthday, LitReactor! It was a little confusing. In fact, it got more confusing the further it went. Blow out the candles on this cake I made you, LitReactor! Open your presents, LitReactor! Now bend over, it's time for your birthday spankings!
I don't know. What do you guys think? On with the show...
Stats
We've had 12,553,675 pageviews since our inception, 4,437,175 of them from unique visitors. I'd like to think that means almost 4.5 million people have perused our little site. Or, one person from 4.5 million different internet-ready devices. As for the social realms which are so important these days, we are closing in on 14k Facebook likes and 12.5k Twitter followers. (If you're not on that, get on that!) We are also on the Tumblr, so you can check us out there, and I think we even have a Goodreads group, although I don't think it's very active. But if you guys join the group we'll start paying attention to it.
Back on the home front, we have 20,204 registered users who have generated 165,036 comments and earned 16,919 achievements. We still haven't had anyone earn the coveted Official Critic achievement, but R. Moon is closest, with 833 of the necessary 1,000 points. In ye olde shop of work, we've had 1,285 submissions that have been reviewed a total of 6,640 times. So if you're looking for a place to test drive your work, this is it.
Here's all the same info in handy to read bullet points:
- pageviews: 12,553,675
- unique visitors: 4,437,175
- Facebook likes: 13,962
- Twitter followers: 12,424
- registered users: 20,204
- comments: 165,036
- achievements: 16,919
- workshops subs: 1,285
- workshop reviews: 6,640
Now for my favorite part of the Recap: Most Popular Columns!
The magazine section is my baby, and as LitReactor's Managing Editor I've read almost every single word of it. Thankfully, hundreds of thousands of other people are reading it as well. Here are the columns they showed the most lovage:
(For those of you playing along at home, here are last years Top 10 Columns.)
This Year's 10 Most Popular Columns:
- 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes by Jon Gingerich - 481,117 pageviews
- 10 Words You Literally Didn't Know You Were Getting Wrong by Taylor Houston - 122,619 pageviews
- Literature's Ten Most Disturbing Sociopaths by Kimberly Turner - 111,909 pageviews
- Top Ten Best Short Stories Ever by Richard Thomas - 76,764 pageviews
- Top 10 Storytelling Cliches Writers Need To Stop Using by Rob W. Hart - 61,639 pageviews
- 3 Essential Books You Should Read in Every Major Genre by Richard Thomas - 49,792 pageviews
- 5 Video Games That Would Have Made Better Novels by Daniel Hope - 46,062 pageviews
- 12 Unpublished Novels We Wish We Could Read by Joshua Chaplinsky - 37,428 pageviews
- The 10 Best Sci-Fi Books That Should Be Box Office Blockbusters by Meredith Borders - 37,333 pageviews
- 10 Stories We Never Need To See in Workshops Again by Jon Gingerich - 34,322 pageviews
10 Most Popular Columns of All Time (i.e. the last two years):
- 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes by Jon Gingerich - 1,464,293 pageviews
- 10 Words You Literally Didn't Know You Were Getting Wrong by Taylor Houston -122,623 pageviews
- Literature's Ten Most Disturbing Sociopaths by Kimberly Turner - 111,909 pageviews
- The 10 Best Sci-Fi Books That Should Be Box Office Blockbusters by Meredith Borders - 92,636 pageviews
- Top 10 Words That Need To Die, Immediately by Rob W. Hart - 86,703 pageviews
- Top Ten Best Short Stories Ever by Richard Thomas - 76,764 pageviews
- Top 10 Storytelling Cliches Writers Need To Stop Using by Rob W. Hart - 61,639 pageviews
- 3 Essential Books You Should Read in Every Major Genre by Richard Thomas - 49,792 pageviews
- The Top 10 Best Opening Lines Of Novels by Meredith Borders - 48,396 pageviews
- 5 Video Games That Would Have Made Better Novels by Daniel Hope - 46,062 pageviews
Despite being over a year-and-a-half old, Jon Gingerich's 20 Common Grammar Mistakes... takes the top spot once again. It's also our most popular column of all time, with close to 1.5 million views. Let me tell you, that column's got legs, and knows how to use them. It's the column that keeps on giving. It keeps going and going and going...
The only other Year-Oner to make a return appearance is Meredith Borders' Top 10 Sci-Fi Books That Should Be Box Office Blockbusters. We posted that column on DAY ONE. That's TWO YEARS AGO, folks. It was the second column we ever posted. Even though Meredith left us for greener pastures this year, her shit's still drawing flies and we love her.
Another point of interest: Kimberly Turner's Ten Most Disturbing Sociopaths column became our faster mover ever when it rocketed to not only third most viewed column of the year, but third most viewed column of all time. Way to go, Kim!
And finally, a big F YOU to Daniel Hope, whose 5 Video Games... column knocked my 12 Unpublished Novels... column out of the All Time Top 10 just days before the cutoff. (Just kidding, Dan. Keep up the good work!)
Events
All the best wars get sequels, which is why WAR, the tournament-style short story battle that took place in the lawless shanty town that is our forum, was resurrected and appropriately titled, WAR2. Something like 75 men enter, and as you know, only one man leaves: TomorrowHill, AKA Chris Carter, the creator of the much loved X-Files, the lesser loved Millennium, and the much maligned Lone Gunmen. Only one man runner-up, woman leah_beth, AKA Leah Rhyne, who has created no TV shows, but has recently begun writing for LitReactor. Congratulations to you both.
Speaking of sequels, we had a West Coast Meetup, a follow-up to our successful East Coast Meetup, which took place at the kick-ass literary festival Wordstock (this time last year). Life-long friends were made, as were promises to return this year, which were ultimately broken, because none of us returned this year. Pouty face. There was also a live Books and Booze event in St. Louis this past June, which served as an unofficial Mid Coast Meetup, and there are one or two pictures to prove it.
Another sequel for our sequel year, we followed up our wildly successful horror writing challenge (SCARE US) with the wittily titled TELEPORT US, a science fiction writing challenge. Dare I say it was out of this world? No I dare not, because that would get me booed off the page. Needless to say, stories were written, feedback was given, and accolades were bestowed. Anals were possibly probed. A good time was had by all.
New Shit
But we're not just living in the past here at LitReactor. We've recently unveiled some fancy new features in our MAGAZINE SECTION. I'm sure many of you noticed the dearth of reviews on the site and said, Hey! What gives? This is supposed to be a literary website. Where are the book reviews? Well, consider the dearth unearthed (?), because the almighty review has been reanimated and reinstated via our spunky new review format, BOOKSHOTS. Bookshots is pumping new life into the corpse of the book review, so you'd better pay attention, otherwise said corpse will try and eat your brain while you aren't looking. Because reading is brain food. And, uh... zombies eat brains.
We've also got two new features highlighting the members of the LitReactor community, because where would we be without them? Certainly not tattooed permanent for life on Dakota Taylor's forearm, that's for sure. (I still can't believe he did that.) COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT, which spotlights a member of the LitReactor community; and FEATURED WORKSHOP STORY, which features a story from our writer's workshop. (I guess those are pretty self explanatory, huh?) Seriously, our members are doing some amazing creative things, and we are super proud of them. These features are basically the internet versions of those "My kid is an honor student" bumper stickers.
So What's Next?
Some super top secret shit, that's what. So secret the higher-ups won't even tell ME about it. So you'll have to stay tuned. We'll also continue to bring you your daily dose of classes, columns, and workshop, now with more classes, columns, and workshop (seriously, how do we fit it all?).
But enough about us. What do you guys want to see? Comments? Critiques? Suggestions? Sound off in the comments. Because you're the reason we're here. We can't thank you guys enough for making this community what it is. Truly.
And to the LitReactor staff—past, present, and future—we thank you. You're doing a kick ass job. And you know I'm not just saying that because I'm a part of the LitReactor staff, and I KNOW I'm doing a kick ass job.
Stay gold, you guys.
About the author
Joshua Chaplinsky is the Managing Editor of LitReactor. He is the author of The Paradox Twins (CLASH Books), the story collection Whispers in the Ear of A Dreaming Ape, and the parody Kanye West—Reanimator. His short fiction has been published by Vice, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Thuglit, Severed Press, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, Broken River Books, and more. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @jaceycockrobin. More info at joshuachaplinsky.com and unravelingtheparadox.com.
