What’s Working At Debutiful? -- A Very Special Report
Who reads? Who listens? Who tells your story?
I’ve made an effort to be more transparent with publicists and authors about why I do less of the podcast and more website content.
When Debutiful started in 2019, it was supposed to be one interview and one book round-up a month. Maybe it would have been better served as a newsletter, but I really wanted to make a site that could be in conversation with sites like Electric Literature, Literary Hub, and the Millions. Their baby brother, so to speak.
I never imagined hosting a podcast; however, publicists were asking if I had plans for one by the end of 2019, and I decided to spin off the website.
The podcast has helped me grow an audience. Monthly traffic is now greater than all of 2019’s traffic.
The dirty little secret? The podcast accounted for only 17.18% of total traffic in 2025. It’s down to 10.42% this year. Episodes still do great, but here’s what people are clicking on, reading, and listening to.
So, What Are People Reading and Listening To?
Here are the types of content I do most frequently, along with the percentage of traffic they account for. I took the top 100 most trafficked articles and podcast episodes from 2026, which include those published in pre-2026 and still getting traffic. (Note: I am terrible at math, data, and analytics. But I think I got all of this correct!)
% of Total Top 100 Most-Trafficked
Most Anticipated… 15.7% (only 2x/year)
Best Of… 12.9% (only 2x/year)
Monthly Roundups… 12.1% (2x/month)
Podcast Episodes… 11.2% (~3x/month)
My Reading Life Q&As… 9.7%
Website Interviews… 9.4%
Author Recommendation Lists… 8.7%
Cover Reveals… 6.3%
What Exactly is the Most-Read?
The Internet loves discovering books via lists. They dominate the most-read articles. Here are the most-read articles from January 1 to June 9, 2026. Some of the articles listed throughout the rest of the email were published before the new year, and it only takes into consideration data from this year. I did not account for any traffic pre-2026.
The Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2026, Part One (Dec. 16, 2025)
The Best Debut Books of 2025 (Nov. 17, 2025)
13 Works of Sapphic Asian Historical Fiction by Wen-yi Lee (Oct. 24, 2025)
The Best Debut Poetry Collections of 2025 (Nov. 23, 2025)
12 noteworthy debut books to read in March 2026 (Mar. 2, 2026)
See the cover for Appetite by P. Paramita (Feb. 19, 2026)
12 noteworthy debut books to read in January 2026 (Jan. 5, 2026)
The Best Debut Books of 2025 (So Far) (June 16, 2025)
Murder Bimbo author Rebecca Novack is always looking for a perfect Michael Crichton smell-alike (Feb. 11, 2026)
12 noteworthy debut books to read in February 2026 (Feb. 2, 2026)
Only three of those weren’t roundups. Wen-yi Lee’s themed recommendations, P. Paramita’s cover reveal, and Rebecca Novack’s My Reading Life Q&A truly cracked through the noise.
That’s A Lot of Lists… Any Interviews?
While lists are Debutiful’s bread-and-butter (and why I take them so seriously, often losing sleep over the Best Of and Most Anticipated), interviews on the site are surging. These are the top 10 from both the website and podcast, including the aforementioned Novack Q&A.
Murder Bimbo author Rebecca Novack is always looking for a perfect Michael Crichton smell-alike (Feb. 10, 2026)
Imani Thompson on Writing Honey, Misogyny, and the Lovable Psychopath (May 7. 2026)
My Reading Life: The Compound author Aisling Rawle’s first book love was The Wind in the Willows (July 17, 2025)
Inside The Body Builders: Albertine Clarke on Dreams, Identity, and the Psychology of Writing (Mar. 5, 2026)
Debut Author Tara Menon Explores Friendship and Grief in Under Water, Spanning Tsunami to Hurricane Sandy (Mar. 19, 2026)
My Reading Life: The Hounding author Xenobe Purvis admires the toughness of Jane Eyre (Aug. 19, 2025)
Harmless by Miranda Shulman - How To Write Four First Drafts And Still Love Your Novel (Apr. 8, 2026)
Take It From Me by Alia Hanna Habib: Let’s Talk About Nonfiction Careers (Jan. 22, 2026)
She Made Herself a Monster by Anna Kovatcheva - Surprising Yourself With Every Draft (Feb. 12, 2026)
The Fountain by Casey Scieszka: The Ever-Evolving Journey to Writing a Book (Mar. 18, 2026)
Of the top interviews, three are My Reading Life Q&As (two from last year), four are podcasts, and three are conversations conducted by guest interviewers, something new I am trying this year to free up more time.
But Isn’t Debutiful a Podcast?
Because Debutiful has been listed as a Best Book Podcast by various outlets, it’s easy to think of Debutiful as a podcast. So, here’s the data for those who only listen and miss out on 80% of what we do!
Overall, the most-listened to episodes hover between the 30th and 50th most-trafficked of the year, including all lists, cover reveals^, and other articles.
Harmless by Miranda Shulman - How To Write Four First Drafts And Still Love Your Novel (Apr. 8, 2026)
Take It From Me by Alia Hanna Habib: Let’s Talk About Nonfiction Careers (Jan. 22, 2026)
She Made Herself a Monster by Anna Kovatcheva - Surprising Yourself With Every Draft (Feb. 12, 2026)
The Fountain by Casey Scieszka: The Ever-Evolving Journey to Writing a Book (Mar. 18, 2026)
Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran: Queer Academia and Gothic Horror (Mar. 25, 2026)
Squirming by Monika Ostrowska - Writers Should Be Readers (Apr. 23, 2026)
Escape! by Stephen Fishbach - Behind-the-Scenes of the Great American Reality TV Novel (Jan. 29, 2026)
Scavengers by Kathleen Boland: How the American West Inspires Her Writing (Jan. 14, 2026)
Debuti-Vault: Brandon Taylor Discusses Real Life (2020) (Mar. 11, 2026)
Salvation by C. William Langsfeld - Dispatches from the Western Slope (Feb. 5, 2026)
^Outside of Paramita’s cover reveal catching fire, both reveals for Women in Marigold by Mansi Dahal and Voyagers by Meg Charlton received more traffic than the any of podcasts listed above!
So… What’s Next?
The website will continue to expand the types of coverage we do. The podcast will continue to be hand-selected guests (please, you don’t need to pitch a “guest” — pitch the book, and the rest will follow).
Debutiful started as a side-project. I was hustling, begging for copies of books and access to debut writers. Now, I have over 2,000 pitches for 2026 titles ranging from Big 5’s lead titles to university and indie presses to self-published writers. I get dozens of galleys and PDFs sent to me a week. It’s become a major part of my life. Some say it’s become an unhealthy identity. (Sometimes my therapist hears me question if it is worth it because there are outlets and podcasts doing way bigger numbers and bookstagram accounts posting photos and getting countless likes.)
I want to keep helping readers discover debut books and provide a place for writers to share their voices.
If you’re still reading this, thank you.
woah!!