Shepherd - I need some help.

Author

Ben Fox
July 24, 2024

Hi dear author, 

I want to replace Shepherd.com's ugly display ads with book ads from authors and publishers who want to support what we are building. 

(This is entirely separate from the special Book Boost ad that our Founding Members receive.)

Can you please help me with two things?

#1 - For authors with traditional publishers. 

If you have a traditional publisher, can you introduce me to them? 

I'd really appreciate an intro to [email protected] so I can chat with them and see if they would be interested in partnering with Shepherd.

I would like to attract 20 to 40 publishers who are willing to pay $500 to $1,000 a month and would split all ad spots on the website (for any number of books) and all the future ads on our website as we grow in the coming years. 

i.e., I would form a partnership with a max of 20 to 40 publishers. In return, they would get all of our ad spots for books of their choice now and in the future (plus other perks as we develop our email marketing channel). 

#2 - For indie authors.

Would you like to own 1% of all ad spots on Shepherd.com for your books for $2,000 a year? If so, reply and let me know.

There would be a max of 100 spots for indie authors. These authors would split all ads on the website and all future ads on our website as we grow in the coming years (plus other perks as we grow and develop them). 

Last year, we received 5 million visitors and generated around 1.1 to 2.5 million ad impressions per month. 

What would those ads look like?

Example of a text ad

Interactive ad (animated gif)

Why is this so important?

Shepherd is currently covering about 45% of its costs through affiliate ads, display ads, and our Founding Member program. I am covering the difference from my savings, and I can't do that forever. A few publishers and authors have suggested this model, so I want to see if it is feasible with your help.

Most of our costs are in building new features like:

  • Launching our Book DNA review format for readers.

  • Expanding our book database to cover all books. 

  • Adding book series pages.

  • We are adding a lot more engagement points for readers, such as participating in their own favorite reads of the year and other formats.

  • Expanding formats for authors like the interesting facts and "meet the characters" pages. 

  • And a lot more!

I've been working for free since December 2020 to build Shepherd. I am incredibly passionate about books, and I've invested considerable savings into this project. So please don't yell at me like some authors do 🙃; a small number of authors think that I can't roll over at night without bumping into a giant bag of money that Shepherd is supposedly making. 

Let me know what you think. 

Thanks, Ben