Summer can be a time for reflection. I, as author and editor of this site, have the luxury of taking stock of where the work is going. This is the fifth summer at perrinlovett.me though the third of real activity (2012 and 2014 were pretty lame, yes). Based on such a short history I can still see trends. For instance, I know summer, for whatever reason, is a slower time for readership. Kids out of school, vacation, too hot – whatever. It’s just slower than the rest of the year.

Yet and still growth is happening. The July ended this past Sunday was my busiest July by far. The attention comes in waves. Lately the peaks of those waves have been reaching higher and higher. By the way, thank you all.

It’s not just July that impresses me. Everything is trending upwards. This post, on August 2nd, will bring my total for 2016 some sixty articles higher than through all of 2015. Positive growth. You are responding too. Sometime this morning I achieved more total viewers for this year than through all of last year (and I thought last year was impressive – for me). All that compressed into seven months, one day, and a few short hours. I’ve also noticed a growing audience outside of North America – much of what I write is about Europe and the rest of the West. It’s entirely likely that by December I will have eclipsed all previous numbers, counted together. Thanks, again.

WANTED for cigar arson and crimes against insanity.

Today, as a reward, I re-posted a popular piece from last fall – Piracy, Counterfeiting and Treason. Those are the three named crimes from the Constitution which the federal government may pursue. Of course, as I point out in the article, today the government commits them rather than prosecutes them. A few weeks ago a friend joked with me: “Perrin’s blog – government is bad.” That’s my theme (punctuated with guns, cigars and cultural befuddlement). Yes. That’s me and that’s not going to change.

What of the future? What will change, if anything?

Progress will continue to be slow and steady. I am akin to the tortoise of Aesop fame. More commentary, certainly. More books offerings. I am (veeeerrrry slooowly) working on an e-course which many of you will find of great utility. Rumor has it The Perrin Lovett Show may return.

There will, some day, be another page upgrade. There are three levels at WordPress. I’m in the middle level right now. Level one is free (for me) and basic. My level is paid and comes with many expanded features for you. The next level costs a little more but offers me near-total control while allowing you a more seamless experience. For one thing, it will eliminate the ads which WP sometimes runs here. I don’t control or benefit from them. I don’t really like them but I can’t, yet, do anything about them. The other day I wrote a short about how bad Hillary Clinton is. When I looked at it through a regular browser it was accompanied by a “I’m With Her” political ad. Ridiculous. That sort of thing will be going away.

I’ve never run ads per se here. Naturally, I promote the site and my published work. Once I had a few links to some businesses owned by friends. They may come back if I so decide. I may also run a few independent and narrowly targeted ads for things that fit with my overall theme. You’ll know them when you see them.

The next level will also feature embedded video. That will be handy should I decide to do a full-time, regular video series or a podcast or something. I also toy with the idea of a paid section – a newsletter or something similar. Nothing mandatory though.

I have been building an email list this summer. Experts say this is critical for promoting a presence and marketing things like e-books. Hint: if you’re reading this, you may very well be on the list. In short order I will do a test mailing. That will allow you the opportunity to stay on the list or to leave (why you would leave is beyond me…). It will also allow me to judge how bad my infrastructure is. Very bad I suspect. Moving forward I will upgrade to a professional mail service; right know it’s just a “group” in Gmail.

The experts also say a list needs 10,000 members to be truly effective but that the list essentially builds itself once it gets going. They say several hundred members is a good start. I’m starting somewhere between a good start and truly effective. I’m counting on you to get me to 10,0000 and beyond.

You can count on me to keep rambling and ranting away. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Thank you, yet again.

Perrin