Storynory's mp3 downloads in February 2010 were 376,778, as collated by our audio host, Libsyn, according to strict counting standards. This would represent 403,000 downloads during a 30 day month. Our downloads are split fairly evenly between the website and iTunes.
According to Google Analytics, Storynory.com received 149,468 visits, with 602,261 page views.
Our traffic followed an familiar pattern, with a surge before the half term holiday as people filled up with stories to take away with them. The week of half term was quieter, and then traffic picked up again as people returned.
Feedback suggests our Astropup series has been a hit. One mum on Twitter tells us that her son has played an episode twenty times. We've received a colouring-in of Astropup's portrait, and loads of encouraging comments.
Not everyone is a fan of our poetry - as in Orpheus - but experience tells us the more grown-up episodes get appreciation which comes in later via emails and other contact. Our aim is to have a "rich mixture" of content - from the edifying to the entertaining.
We don't have up-to-date figures for sales of our new App (by Wizzard) but we know that we've sold a few hundred. We receive a dollar for each sale, and we need every cent we can get to pay actors first and foremost, and increasingly to employ illustrators and musicians. We are working hard to add weekly bonus content to the app in the form of factual background talks. We got into this paid-for model by accident. Wizzard made the app for us, and we only later woke up to the fact that people expect extras when they've paid for something. We are interested to see how this works out.
The stories for our story-writing competition are steadily coming in, but not quite as many as the noise in the comments section would suggest. There are still a few weeks to go.
It's clear from the comments that our followers are missing Natasha, but Richard has been brilliant and is building his own fan base. We have recently heard a little word from the ever-illusive Natasha, but no firm news yet about her return. We have loads of plans, including some tentative ideas about stand-alone audio books, perhaps sold at a small price in the Apple store, so when she does finally turn up at the pond there will be plenty of work for her to do ! We also will be introducing a new voice to Storynory soon - so keep listening.
To everyone, thank you for listening to us. We do these stories for you.
