Intense 3 weeks: How do we get readers to share their 3 favorite reads of the year?
The Best Books of 2024 launch was intense, but slowly getting smoother.
Every 3 weeks, I share my notes on building Shepherd.com.
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I am worn out 🤪
It has been a busy 3 weeks.
I am taking off for a week tomorrow. We are heading up to the mountains as my son has a school break. I am looking forward to some rest. I plan to read, bike, hike, and get into some mayhem with him.
Best Books of 2024 Update
The Best Books of 2024 program is running smoothly (after a few rough weeks). The launch was a week late, a bit chaotic, and we had some nasty bugs, but we got there. We still have a few minor bugs and design tweaks to work on. After that, we will look at our stretch goals and what we have time to do.
Big Traffic Bursts
We also got featured in two big email newsletters. Unfortunately, they featured a beta feature called My Book DNA (100% personalized book recommendation email). This feature is not optimized as it is in beta, and a massive number of users crashed the server. We still received a ton of new signups and are working to optimize this feature so this doesn’t happen again.
How do we get readers to share their 3 favorite reads of the year?
Now that our user system is launched, we’ve opened the 3 favorite reads program to readers. They can share their 3 favorite reads of 2024 and get a beautiful page like this.
However, I haven’t started marketing it heavily to readers. I’ve started with just authors to help me test the system and ensure it works. Plus, they get an extra boost from it, and I want to ensure their submissions are in before the book-buying season starts.
When will I start marketing to readers?
We need to finish the design tweaks (aiming to finish those this weekend).
We need to fix a few minor bugs (aiming to finish that by the end of next week).
So, starting in late October, I’ll start marketing to readers more heavily.
How will you convince readers to share their 3 favorite reads?
#1 - Remind them on the website
Currently, we have prompts asking them to take part on the following pages:
All of our Best Books pages encourage readers to share their favorites.
All our Favorite 3 reads pages encourage readers to share their favorites.
Soon, the front page and the rest of the website will get a widget like this to encourage them to share their 3 favorite reads of the year (in a week or two).
We want to ensure that when readers land on the website, they know they can share their 3 favorite reads.
#2 - Make it easy
We’ve done a lot of work to simplify the Favorite 3 Reads Submission. I think we can still do more there, and I am doing user interviews with readers to tweak it further.
What am I looking at?
I am considering having readers pick their favorite read first and then asking them for their email to create an account. I am worried that the current flow might lose some people who don’t feel invested and are asked to create an account first.
I'm tweaking the form to make it easier to understand (so far so good). I’ve got a bunch of video interviews scheduled around that.
#3 - Outreach directly to readers
I’ll be doing a ton of outreach to readers starting in November.
What types of outreach?
Reaching out to the many thousands of readers on our mailing lists
Reaching out to readers in partnership with groups on Facebook, Reddit, Newsletters, Forums, and other social media locations.
Plus, our considerable publicity pushes 😀
I will learn a lot this year to do even better next year.
What is going on outside of Shepherd?
I crashed my new bike 😞 . I made a bad mistake and hit another biker. I was so angry with myself (he was very kind about it). Luckily, we are both ok, and only my bike was hurt (I’ll need to replace the shifter as it snapped).
I am super disappointed with Amazon’s new Kindles. I want one with buttons. I am thinking of switching to Kobo, but I am not sure that will work since Amazon has locked me into its monopoly system (until the FTC breaks it apart and allows any ebook to read a book you buy on Amazon). I am trying to find a new one on eBay or similar, but I have had no luck so far…
What am I reading?
I just finished...
Wild Abandon by Jen Barclay - A fantastic book about exploring the Greek islands. It was a relaxing read as I plan a summer 2025 trip to Greece.
I am reading...
The Waiting by Michael Connelly - Connelly is one of my favorite authors, and I look forward to the newest installment.
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World is about the history of nomads and a group we know little about. I don’t often read paperback books, so this one has taken a while as I forget to pick it up.
Thanks, Ben
P.S. Picture from a recent bike ride and a long lunch.
