--- /dev/null
++++
+categories = ["News"]
+tags = ["News"]
+title = "Eight Years of BookStack"
+image = "/images/blog-cover-images/balmoral-valley-martin-bennie.jpg"
+author = "Dan Brown"
+slug = "8-years-of-bookstack"
+draft = false
+date = 2023-07-12T14:25:00Z
++++
+
+As we veer towards the middle of July we hit the 8-year mark for the BookStack project.
+Following the pattern from [previous years](/blog/7-years-of-bookstack/), we'll compare
+the project's various metrics year-on-year, and provide an update on finances.
+
+### Current Financial Stability
+
+I'm coming up to almost two years since leaving my job.
+I've been targeting an overall monthly pre-tax revenue of about £2k per month, or a £24k annual salary.
+With my very minimal business costs, that would just about cover my somewhat frugal living costs.
+I know it's nowhere near the expected salary of a developer, or what I was previously earning as a lead developer,
+but that would cover my current needs.
+
+Here's an update view of my overall monthly income, broken down into the main revenue streams for BookStack:
+
+
+
+As you may notice, 2023 has been fairly healthy so far, with an average monthly revenue of just over £2k.
+The support service revenue appears much more established. This is due to now getting renewing subscriptions from last year,
+in addition to new support subscriptions. Upon that, I've provided a couple of one-off (upgrade assistance) tasks via the
+support service which has contributed.
+Ko-fi as a donation avenue has grown relative to GitHub sponsors, with a few extra generous >£100 donations coming though that channel in
+addition to many smaller & reoccuring donatations.
+
+A massive thanks again to all those donating or using our support services.
+You have helped me get to the point of sustaining myself while working on BookStack and open source,
+in a way that has no negative impact to the project's integrity and openess,
+and I'm amazed at that being possible. With the way things are going I can start to
+recover some of my previous loss of savings, and gain a buffer in my monthly finances.
+
+### BookStack, In Numbers
+
+TODO - Update this text
+Let's once again dive into the numbers to see how BookStack has grown over the past year.
+
+The below figures were collected at the time of writing *(12th July 2022)*, with changes in <strong style="color:red;">red</strong>/<strong style="color:green;">green</strong> reflecting change upon last year's numbers.
+
+#### GitHub Figures
+
+TODO - Update
+- [9,648 GitHub stars](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/stargazers) <strong style="color: green;">+2,794</strong>
+- [1,322 forks on GitHub](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/network/members) <strong style="color: green;">+279</strong>
+- 3,564 GitHub issues and PRs opened <strong style="color: green;">+720</strong>
+- 2,492 GitHub issues closed (<strong style="color: green;">+620</strong>), 408 currently open (<strong style="color: red;">-42</strong>)
+- [147 releases published](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/releases) <strong style="color: green;">+29</strong>
+- 7,119 (<strong style="color: green;">+5,561</strong>) git clones in the last 14 days, 1,050 (<strong style="color: green;">+456</strong>) unique
+
+#### Code Repository Stats
+
+TODO - Update
+- [3,330 commits](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/commits/development) <strong style="color: green;">+672</strong>
+- 148 direct git contributors <strong style="color: green;">+12</strong>
+
+#### Social & Docker
+
+TODO - Update
+TODO - Add Mastodon
+- [2,387 Discord members](https://discord.gg/ztkBqR2) <strong style="color: green;">+812</strong>
+- [549 Subreddit members](https://www.reddit.com/r/BookStack/) <strong style="color: green;">+226</strong>
+- [433 YouTube channel subscribers](https://www.youtube.com/c/BookStackApp) <strong style="color: green;">+433</strong>
+- [311 Twitter Followers](https://twitter.com/bookstack_app) <strong style="color: green;">+311</strong>
+- [> 84,000,000 docker hub pulls](https://hub.docker.com/search?q=bookstack&type=image) <strong style="color: green;">+8m</strong> (Other docker sources now more active)
+
+#### Website Analytics
+
+Main bookstackapp.com site only, Averaged over last 90 days:
+
+TODO - Update
+- 1,077 unique users per day <strong style="color: green;">+323</strong>
+- 2,759 page views per day <strong style="color: green;">+777</strong>
+- Operating system breakdown:
+- 52% Windows
+- 19% Mac
+- 11% Android <strong style="color: green;">+1%</strong>
+- 10% Linux
+- 8% iOS/iPadOS <strong style="color: green;">+1%</strong>
+
+[Our full website analytics can be found here.](https://analytics.bookstackapp.com/bookstackapp.com)
+
+#### CrowdIn (Project Translations) Numbers
+
+TODO - Update
+- 39 languages <strong style="color: green;">+5</strong>
+- 6,211 words to translate <strong style="color: green;">+1,447</strong>
+- 206 <strong style="color: green;">+84</strong>
+
+#### Thoughts on the Numbers
+
+TODO - Update
+
+### Reddit & Project Reach
+
+Something on my mind is how changes in the online social landspace, particular on Reddit, may impact the project.
+The community on Reddit has been a big part of BookStack's growth, with much of the discovery and word-of-mouth
+being via kind and enthusiatic redditors in various communites such as /r/selfhosted, /r/homelab & /r/sysadmin.
+It's been an easy place to monitor and be involved with where required.
+
+I've always hardly touched on marketing, prefering natrual growth, but there is a balance to reaching new audiences
+to grow users, and those that can help fund/contribute to the platform, as we may also lose existing users natrually over time.
+I generally have always had an ever growing velocity, with very gentle acceleration, which works well for managing the project
+and keeping growth sustained & steady, but I do consider how external changes may impact that.
+
+Change is inevitble though, I'll just have to watch the landscape evolve and think how we adapt focus to suit.
+
+I have had a question about why we still exist on Reddit, and why we're not on alternatives.
+While I don't care nor respect the changes Reddit is making, my focus is on helping users.
+I am still getting an active stream of users on the /r/bookstack subreddit requesting support, so I will still serve those users.
+In regards to other platforms, I prefer to move slowly on these things since each extra platform to be on has a cost,
+so I'm stepping back and keeping an eye on how the alternative landscape establishes itself.
+We are [on Mastodon](https://fosstodon.org/@bookstack) so you can usually connect with us or watch for updates
+via there and the connected federated world.
+
+### Further Reading
+
+Here are the non-release, or update, posts that you may have missed over the last year:
+
+- [Seven Years of BookStack](/blog/7-years-of-bookstack/)
+- [Customization Hacks on the BookStack Site](/blog/hacks-on-the-site/)
+- [BookStack in 2022](/blog/bookstack-in-2022/)
+- [Reaching 10k GitHub Stars & A look at first sharing BookStack](/blog/10k-stars-and-a-look-back-at-first-sharing/)
+- [A Look at Some Interesting Documentation Methods](/blog/interesting-methods-of-documentation/)
+
+---
+
+
+<span style="font-size: 0.8em;opacity:0.8;">Header Image Credits: <span>
+ Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@martinbennie?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">martin bennie</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-scenic-view-of-a-valley-with-mountains-in-the-background-iQLHvWMPUe8?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>
+</span></span>
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