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Finished up 2022 post

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@ -6,35 +6,37 @@ image = "/images/blog-cover-images/winter-atle-mo.jpg"
author = "Dan Brown"
slug = "bookstack-in-2022"
draft = false
date = 2022-12-29T19:30:00Z
date = 2022-01-05T23:00:00Z
+++
Well 2022 is now in the past so in this post we'll look back across the year to note the
significant developments & changes in both the codebase and management of the project.
https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/bookstack-in-2021/#youtube-videos
Well 2022 is now in the past. During the year BookStack had a few milestones which included
[reaching the top of Hacker News](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/9000-stars-and-the-effects-of-hacker-news/),
[becoming 7 years old](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/7-years-of-bookstack/) and
[hitting 10K stars on GitHub](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/10k-stars-and-a-look-back-at-first-sharing/).
In this post we'll look back on how the project has progressed over the year, not just in
terms of the codebase but also elements of the wider project as a whole.
### Project Funding & Support Services
With the year now over I now have experience of spending a complete year
With 2022 over I now have experience of spending a complete year
of not being employed, with BookStack being my main focus instead.
I started the year with some support via GitHub sponsors in addition to
some support from my parents (albeit against my own advisory).
In the past year the following developments have occurred:
some very kind support from my parents (albeit against my own advisory).
In the past year the following developments have occurred in respect to funding:
- I [started offering](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/bookstack-support-services/) official [paid support services](https://www.bookstackapp.com/support/).
- I created a [focused donation page](https://www.bookstackapp.com/donate/) and added KoFi as a donation option.
- My GitHub sponsors continued to grow.
- The GitHub sponsors have continued to grow.
I've shared some more in-depth thoughts and findings in regards to project financial
I've shared some more in-depth thoughts and findings in regards to project finances
in the ["Seven Years of BookStack" post](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/7-years-of-bookstack/#working-on-bookstack-full-time--financial-stability), where I also provided some high-level income details.
Now we're at the end of the year, I can provide a more detailed view of things.
The below chart shows rough high-level monthly revenue, excluding taxes:
Now we're at the end of the year, I can provide a more detailed view of the figures.
The below chart shows rough high-level monthly revenue (excluding taxes and most costs):
![BookStack 2022 Revenue](/images/2023/01/bookstack-2022-funding.png)
GitHub sponsors acts as my primary income. The monthly amount is variable due to multiple factors,
GitHub sponsors acts as my primary income. The monthly amount is variable due to multiple factors.
The May payment was missed and rolled into June hence those anomalies. The very large amount in December
is thanks to a sponsor pre-paying for a year.
Sponsorships have continued to grow, both in the base of small contributors in addition to a few large (>£100) monthly sponsors.
@ -44,8 +46,8 @@ The support services have also had a positive impact, providing about £3k of re
Overall I've seen just over £15k of revenue from these sources over 2022.
While this isn't really anywhere near the expected salary for a full stack lead web developer,
it reflects some significant growth that indicates that soon covering my living costs could be a
possibility. I'm about 75% of the way there, with me continuing to take a hit from my savings
it reflects some significant growth that shows covering my living costs could be a real possibility.
I'm about 75% of the way there, with me continuing to take a hit from my savings
for the time being.
A very big thank-you to everyone that has donated or purchased a support service offering, for your
@ -113,26 +115,58 @@ usually attract great positive feedback to keep me motivated.
{{<yt 9Oz6-YOeiuU>}}
Since BookStack v22.07 I've enjoyed creating release overview videos which I could really viably do thanks to the
Since BookStack v22.07 I've enjoyed creating release-specific overview videos which I could only viably do thanks to the
extra time afforded to working on the project full-time, due to the extra day or so they add to the release process.
These have have a particularly positive reception, and I quite enjoy them as a visual way to show-off or emphasize
work done that would otherwise be difficult to reflect.
These have had a particularly positive reception, and I quite enjoy them as a visual way to show-off or emphasize
work done that would otherwise be difficult to detail via text.
Overall I've published 16 videos across the year and we've gone from 90 to over 850 subscribers throughout the year.
Video views have continued to accelerate as more content is created:
Video views have continued to accelerate as more content is published:
![BookStack 2022 YouTube Channel Growth](/images/2023/01/youtube-2022-growth.png)
While nothing is earnt from videos right now, we'll soon be eligible for monetization which may provide a bonus, yet very minor, revenue source. Growth may also open the door and support other options in the future; for example, sponsored guides in using certain hosting options or integrating with specific third-party services etc...).
The main benefit though is building up this visual community hub to act as a valuable resources in guidance and access to the platform.
The main benefit though is in building up this visual community hub to act as a valuable resource in guidance and access to the platform.
### Website Usage
### Website Usage & Audience Reach
Looking at the [bookstackapp.com](https://analytics.bookstackapp.com/bookstackapp.com) analytics for the year, we started off
with a bang from climbing to the [top of Hacker news back in January](https://www.bookstackapp.com/blog/9000-stars-and-the-effects-of-hacker-news/), which is reflected by the spike in the middle of the chart:
![Website Activity Line Chart, Showing greater 2022 activity](/images/2023/01/bookstack-site-21-22-activity.png)
Since then, activity has been fairly consistently about 45% above last year.
Towards end of 2022 I looked at ways to expand the reach of the platform to new potential audiences.
For the first time, i had a go at writing for an external site which resulted in
[this article on opensource.com](https://opensource.com/article/23/1/bookstack-open-source-documentation).
I'm not really a writer, and therefore was a bit nervous about writing for someone else but the opensource.com team were
great and I was excited to see the article go live. It's too early to see the affects just yet, the article was only
published a couple of days ago relative to me writing this, but hopefully it'll bring BookStack to some new folks.
### Going into 2023
### Kicking off 2023
To kick off 2023 I'm focused on finishing up permission system work for BookStack. I've made a lot of progress on this in December,
but it required a lot more work than expected hence no v22.12 release. I'm hoping to have this wrapped up for the end of this month.
At some point soon, we'll be upgrading the Laravel framework base and dropping PHP 7.4 support in the process.
I may soon dedicate some time to formalizing and building upon the core existing "theme" systems to develop
options that make customizations easier to share, apply & combine. Providing tweaks using these systems is becoming more
common but it can take some time to write and provide the correct guidance so I'd like to make this process easier.
This may also provide some additional routes for revenue generation (via maintenance/updates of unofficial tweaks & customizations).
I recently applied for the [GitHub accelerator program](https://accelerator.github.com/).
If I get in, it would have a massive impact for project funding in 2023.
Additionally I think the structured mentoring with experienced open source maintainers would be a massive help since this
is something I've never really had access to before, and I've found the social elements of open source particularly challenging.
I have no idea on my chances, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sure!
My plan for 2023 is to keep working on BookStack full time instead of getting employed elsewhere.
As I nervously see my savings deplete, I've been toying with the idea of doing some contract/gig work to supplement income.
That said, I'd prefer to explore and develop possible BookStack revenue methods before resorting to other work and hence
I may dedicate some time to this early on in the year.
---
<span style="font-size: 0.8em;opacity:0.8;">Header Image Credits: &nbsp; <span>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@atlemo?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Atle Mo</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/images/nature/winter?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 0.8em;opacity:0.8;">Header Image Credits: &nbsp;<span>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@atlemo?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Atle Mo</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/images/nature/winter?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span></span>

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