Nearing a MAJOR milestone!

by Rick Blechta

Sometime in the next week (possibly even today if a gazillion people show up to read this post), our little mystery writing blog, Type M for Murder will welcome its 500,000th visitor. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty darned amazing. There aren’t too many writing blogs that last long enough or have a loyal following to allow it to reach that kind of number.

We first appeared on the Interweb in late June of 2006, so this milestone did not happen quickly. During our first few years our posts often didn’t attract many readers. For instance, my first post got 10. One early post had (has) only two readers! As time passed, though, word got out and our readership began increasing steadily. We now often have more than 10,000 pageviews a month and that never ceases to amaze me.

Why did Type M get to where it is? The first place to look is our bloggers. There have been a lot of them over the years. We started with five: Vicki Delany (who first set the page up after a bunch of us decided at a Bloody Words conference that a mystery blog would be a Good Thing to Try), me, Alex Brett, Michael Blair and the august Charles Benoit who, even though from the US, had Canadian forebears (how can you not with a name like that?). We had a lot of fun even if we didn’t have a lot of readers.

We decided that our blog needed more of an international flavor, so as bloggers departed, we cast our nets wider. Of our current members, Barbara showed up briefly in early 2007, then returned to stay permanently in August 2010. (Okay, she’s Canadian, but she’s also a damned good writer and blogger.) Donis first appeared in July 2007. In May 2009, John Corrigan arrived on our (virtual) doorstep and was heartily welcomed. Speaking of 2009, we also began inviting guest bloggers on the weekends and that brought us some really amazing posts over time. Frankie’s byline first appeared in February 2011, closely followed by Aline a month later, and Charlotte a month after that. Mario has been with us since March of 2012, then Vicki returned (Huzzah!) after a few year’s away. Our most recent arrival is Sybil who came on board in August of last year.

Other long-time members who should not be left off the list are Deborah Atkinson, Hannah Dennison, and Tom Curran. Peter May was here for a couple of years and we had someone named Pip early on for a few months (I don’t remember the details of that.) I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone along the way, and if it’s you, first, please accept my apology, and then, wave your hand so we can call out your name!

Next June 26th will be our 10th anniversary. Of the original members, only Vicki and I remain, but that’s not a bad thing. I’m sure I can speak for her, too, when I say that a lot of firm friendships have been made over the years. We’ve always had a great crew here at Type M.

But while all this back-patting has been going on, don’t think that you, our loyal readers, have been forgotten. Type M for Murder wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for you, and for that you deserve a special salute and our heartfelt gratitude. And thanks for the great comments over the years. Keep ’em coming. They’ve given us some great discussions.

I wish there was some way to identify the person who keys typem4murder.blogspot.com for the half millionth time. Alas, it’s not possible. But to all of you who show up week after week to read our salient thoughts and deathless prose, thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts. We really appreciate it!

See you on the other side when we start on the quest for our 1,000,000th pageview!