What's new for September?

1. What is Shepherd's mission for readers? 

2. Update on the ad program questions for authors & publishers (from July). 

3. September roadmap & traffic updates

4. Ben's updates and reading list 

Funsize:

• Earlier this month, I did a live Zoom event to discuss the upcoming 2024 Best Books Of The Year program, explain what we are building over the next six months, and answer questions from authors. You can watch the recording here if you are curious!

What is Shepherd's mission for readers?

I talk a lot about what we are doing for authors, but today, I want to discuss my goals for readers. 

Shepherd has 3 goals when it comes to readers: 

1. We want to help readers find books they will LOVE (not just like).

2. We want to create fun and unique ways for readers to explore and discover books.

3. We want to create a strong reader community around sharing what you LOVE to read.

Everything we create is done with one of these goals in mind.

Why do I think these goals are worth pursuing?

Helping readers find books they will LOVE (not just like).

Reading a book is a big time commitment for most people. If you only read 10 to 15 books a year, you will do a lot of analysis before buying an unknown author or book. This is one of the reasons that readers tend to read the most popular authors and books (thus making it hard for newer authors to gain traction). The internet and social media have further amplified this effect. 

If we can help readers find books they will love (and not just like), we give those readers a greater joy of reading (and increase book buying) and introduce them to a wider range of authors and books.

Personally, I want to find books I will LOVE (and not just like) with a higher degree of accuracy. This mission won't be easy, but I think it is worth doing. If you feel similar, please join our crazy quest here. 

What are we working on over the next 12 months within this goal?

• Rolling out our Book DNA review format that focuses on why you enjoyed a book. As we gather more data, the goal is to match you with readers who have similar Book DNA and thus produce a greater chance you will love the books we recommend. We will learn and evolve as we put this into place. 

Creating fun and unique ways for readers to explore and discover books. 

On the internet, books are sold the same way as toothpaste or beans. Given the magic of books, this might be a crime against humanity 🤯. 

When you walk into a bookstore, you feel something magical as you stare at all those books. That physical space is full of ideas, history, knowledge, and the wild imaginations of thousands of weird humans floating together in the blackness of space on a big blue ball. 

Carl Sagan said it best in Cosmos:

You can't pick up a book in the online world, so we must invent new ways to help readers explore and discover them. The online medium also allows us to do things we can't do in the physical world, and I want to explore more of those as we pursue this goal. 

We've started with the basics like genre and topic, and now it is time to start exploring the fun/unique ways that we can help readers bump into a book. 

What are we working on over the next 12 months within this goal?

• We are significantly improving our bookshelves so that they can be explored visually and highlight the most recommended books (while still allowing a much deeper view than Amazon), trending books (to help drive increasing publicity to books sparking more interest), and new books. 

• Improving the accuracy of our genre/topic system this winter. 

• We are working to add tropes and themes to our discovery system and examine more difficult ideas, such as time periods and characters. 

• Adding interesting facts & stories as a way, authors can bump into readers and vice versa. 

What questions am I thinking about as I work on this?

• How can we give readers, experts, museums, and others the ability to create "book exhibits" that spark our curiosity and mix books, ideas, knowledge, and imagination in unique ways?

• How do we imbue the search for a book online with meaning? How do we go from a 2d search screen to something that feels more personal or riveting?

• How does Disney instill a sense of magic in their theme parks with a visual line of sight?

• How can we help readers find the right book at the right time in their lives?

Creating a strong reader community around sharing what you LOVE to read.

I want to give readers a place to share and celebrate books and authors they love. I love helping my friends and family find books they will love, and I want to build a place where readers can share book suggestions with other readers. 

We will start this with our "3 favorite reads of 2024" and expand now that we have user accounts in place (coming October 1st). I'll share more about our work in this area early next year.

Wanted: Courageous and scrappy authors who want to build an indie book website that helps your fellow authors sell books. Join Shepherd's membership program on this hazardous and long journey, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success. 

Update on the ad program questions for authors & publishers

Background: In July, I sent a big email asking for feedback on switching the ugly display ads on the website over to book ads and if authors/publishers would be willing to pay $2,000 a year to take over all those spots. The revenue from display ads pays for most of our server/software bills, so I need to ensure we can replace them. 

A huge thank you to everyone for their feedback.

I still have a few more calls with publishers as I gather advice. 

What did I hear from authors?

• The $2,000 a year mark was too high, and I needed to lower the entry point and offer it monthly. That was helpful to hear, and I can do that. 

• Many authors and publishers were interested in very targeted campaigns across a few similar authors or books. For example, if I have a book about traveling through Greece, I might want to have that only show up alongside other Greek travel books on the website. 

• Everyone is very focused on new book launches, so doing something specific for book launches would be helpful. They think about the back catalog, but they are more interested in very targeted offers for those (whereas with new books, they are more interested in going wider).

What am I going to do? 

I am going to try to make this work. I will launch it this Fall/Winter, and it is the next project that the part-time developer and I will be working on (after we finish the BBOY 2024 work).

• I am figuring out how to price this at a lower entry point and on a monthly basis to make it accessible. This is a tricky balance as I must ensure it also delivers enough readers. Many authors new to advertising do not realize that paying $10 a month will not move the needle much. So, I need to figure out where the price point starts and how to communicate the impact of the ads you buy clearly. 

• I am playing with where these ads will go on the website, as I have a lot more creative control over them than over the ugly display ads. 

• We are fine-tuning the ad designs we will start with. 

I'll reach out to everyone who responded as I get further on this.

September Roadmap Update

What are we building now?

• User accounts for Shepherd.com (90% done)

• We are working to switch the "favorite reads of 2024" to the new user system. This will make it easier for us to handle the big end-of-year burst and allow us to open the awards to readers. It will also be the first feature using our new Book DNA review format. (70% done)

• Add book series pages to Shepherd. (50% done)

What are we building after that?

• Switching the Book Boost program for Founding Members to provide persistent exposure for their books as a perk to thank them for their continued support. And expanding our overall author advertising program so that we can get rid of the ugly display ads on Shepherd. 

• Expanding our bookshelves to improve discoverability and how they work.

And then?

• A big update for our genre and topic system. It needs a big revamp to improve genre/topic accuracy and a lot more. This is a monster project. 

• Adding interesting facts & stories to help authors bump into readers in fun ways. 

• Improving our book sections from a UX standpoint. 

After that? 🤪

• Expanding to allow readers to use our new Book DNA review format with any book. As part of this, we will also look to include all books in our database and what that might look like. 

Traffic, bookstore clicks, and sales

For last month:

• We had 195,000+ visitors.

• We had 16,000+ clicks to bookstore partners this month 🥳. 

For a big-picture perspective:

• In 2023, we had 5 million visitors! Woohoo! 

• In 2022, we had 1.8 million visitors.

• In 2021, we had 266,000 thousand visitors (launched in April). 

Detailed stats on our traffic, clicks, and sales stats page.

What else is going on?

We had a great trip visiting friends & family in the USA. 

And it also feels great to be back home in France. We are still unpacking and getting settled in our new house. Within a month, I hope to have a living room with more than lawn chairs! 

What am I reading?

I just finished...

• Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway – A fantastic sci-fi noir about a detective in an era where drugs have emerged that allow you to live effectively forever but grow your physical size. It is a great book, and I am looking forward to reading the next one. 

• Book 5 in the Aggressor series by FX Holden—This finished the series and was a fantastic ending. It is the closest to Tom Clandy I've found, and I found myself forgetting if I was reading a book or the news at times. It is a truly amazing portrayal of warfare in the future and how China and the USA might end up in WW3 (I hope not).

• I am reading...

• Cities in Flight by James Blish—I am reading this as part of my book club with my dad and brother. I am struggling with it but slowly getting more into it as I progress. 

• Off Midway Station by Marc Alan Edelheit - I liked his Stiger's Tiger series (Roman history mixed with fantasy), so I am trying his new science fiction book. 

• Wild Abandon by Jennifer Barclay - My son and I had a cafe brunch morning this weekend, and I brought this along to explore Greece. It is a lovely book about exploring quiet islands. I can't wait to explore some of these places! 

• Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World is a fascinating account of a group that is part of our DNA. Yet we know little about them because they left little physical evidence. I am still about 50% done with this.

• A Pilgrimage to Eternity - I love books about pilgrimage routes, and this one has been lovely so far. I did part of this route on my bike a few years ago.

Thanks, Ben

P.S. Walking my son to his first day of school in France :)

Do you like what we are doing?

I need your help. Will you join our Founding Member program for $50 a year to help me create a better book website for readers and authors?

How do we help authors like you?

In 2023, Shepherd has helped 5 million visitors find new books and connect with authors like you. I want to do more!

We have a two-pronged strategy to help authors in the coming years. 

1. Shepherd will create features to help authors get their books in front of the most likely readers for their book (and do so in a way that delights readers). 

2. Shepherd will create a platform for authors and book lovers to build a fan base around book recommendations. This is great for readers and will create thousands of book recommendation channels for authors to reach different segments of readers. 

• Here are my longer thoughts on how I plan to do this.

• And why I am using a big chunk of my savings to get this started. 

• And a timeline showing our history toward this goal!

What are some of the perks of joining?

Founding Members get things like:

• A special area on the front page promotes them and their book lists. 

• A special Book Boost ad to promote one of their books (soon, this will be persistent instead of the current 60-day burst once a year). 

I am working to build out a dedicated spot to promote Founding Member's new books and more!

I am aiming to launch two new formats in 2024.

Meet readers by...

1. Sharing interesting facts and selling more books.

2. Introducing your character and selling more books. 

You can sign up here to take part.