Literary Hub was launched ten years ago today. It’s hard, now, to metabolize all that has happened in America—and in the world—since April 8, 2015, but I feel remarkably lucky to have spent the intervening years working with so many brilliant people on something I have been—and continue to be—truly proud of.
Lit Hub has grown from one full-time employee (hi!), to a full-time staff of 13, having launched two more sites: Book Marks and CrimeReads. Remarkably, given the state of digital media, we’re having our best year yet, and we hope to be around for another ten years and beyond.
Here’s a quick glance at the last decade of Lit Hub, by the numbers (an index, if you will):
Stories published: 36,108
Comments posted: 136,886
Comments I have read: 47
Comments I have replied to: 3
Total readers: 157,406,670
Total pageviews: 273,069,934
Office furniture I have assembled: all of it
Average number of words published, per year: 5.6 million
Average number of perfect, positively sublime sentences published per year: 1,533
Open bars we have hosted: 13
Lunches bought for writers: 366
Books featured at Book Marks: 16,000
Stories published at CrimeReads: 8,094
Books covered by Lit Hub (approx.): 35,000
Books I have been able to finish while working at Lit Hub: 7
Lovable reply-guys who always comment: 3
Hateful trolls who always comment: 3
Bona fide celebrities spotted with a Lit Hub tote bag: 4
Value, in dollars, of unsolicited handwritten checks received from little old ladies: 1,400
It seems like an increasingly uncommon thing to get paid to do something you love, and for that I am grateful—just as I am grateful to everyone who has contributed to the success of Lit Hub, especially our millions of readers. That we’ve made it to ten years is an achievement beyond our wildest expectations. That we’re the most popular editorial book site in the world*, after Amazon’s Goodreads, is frankly bonkers. But as I wrote three years ago on our birthday:
More important than numbers, though, is the work we put out on a consistent basis. I feel safe in saying that my colleagues and I believe deeply in making our small corner of the internet a better place, publishing work that elevates, interrogates, and inspires—and if we don’t always succeed in raising the level of discourse, I can say in very good faith that we are trying.
The world seems a particularly fraught place at the moment (without much sign of getting better), so it’s hard to imagine what another seven [ed. ten] years looks like, but I truly hope we can all get together for a big, rollicking, in-person party when we hit double digits.** Until then, thank you for reading.
*Monthly visits, via Similarweb
**Some drinks will be had.
