Building Shepherd - Catching up, user testing, and genres!
Books build better people. Shepherd.com makes exploring and discovering new books fun while helping authors get their books in front of the most likely readers. Please join us as a founding member if you want to help support us.
Summary: November 1st to December 2nd
How is it December already?
Busy times! I was out last week for a Thanksgiving trip to December. I spent this week catching up on work. And now I am scrambling to prepare for the holidays (I am super excited as my mom and stepdad are coming over for Christmas!).
What happened over the last 2 weeks?
Genre and age integration...
I turned over a massive 25-page spec to our developer. And we spent 4 hours talking on Monday about the details. We aim to start this work in January, and I'll have more details as he finishes analyzing it.
I am also working with the designer to determine how genre pages, age pages, and filters will work on the site. I hope to have that wrapped up before Christmas (I will have something to show in 2 or 4 weeks).
Update on the rollout of the 3 new book pages
Everything went well, and traffic is growing fast. I love seeing readers use the new pages to find books!
We are still missing a chunk of book descriptions, but rolling out a fix over the next five days for those. Book metadata is a mess. I am hoping I can roll out my own ONIX database in 2024.
User testing!
I found a great user testing tool to help me understand any confusion on the current web design. I've already figured out some parts of the UX design I want to improve upon.
What is going on outside of Shepherd?
I had an amazing time last week in Dublin celebrating Thanksgiving with good friends (and the new addition to their family, Evie!!!). I hadn't seen them since 2017 and reuniting was amazing. I had so much fun playing games. I got a bad cold for the first five days, but even that couldn't dampen the joy too much.
What am I reading?
The Prisoner of Paradise by Rob Samborn.
My Name Was Five by Heinz Kohler.
Prentice Ash by Matt Barron
Starting soon -> Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton
I didn't have much time to read these last two weeks. I am hoping I get a lot more time on my trip.