The bookshelf upgrade is 75% done + preview the upcoming reader app!
What are your summer plans?
Every 3 weeks, I share my notes on building Shepherd.com.
Join the rebellion and help me create the indie book platform readers and authors deserve! Three hurrahs for our 700+ members who keep us independent and fund new features. Readers and authors can become members (both get special perks, and more perks are coming as we grow).
I am feeling…
I had a lovely, long mountain weekend with my family. We swam in an icy river, ate delicious Spanish food, and rambled about in nature. I also managed two glorious gravel bike rides (and set a new elevation record).
The new bookshelves are ~75% done!
The frontend work is 90% complete, and Attila will now work on the remaining backend elements (Marcos has done a great job).
That will take a while to finish as we perfect everything. I hope to launch these pages publicly in 3 weeks. I am excited as these pages are what I’ve wanted for a long time (and based on a ton of reader feedback).
Warning 👉 These are early mockups, so the data isn’t accurate yet, and some design elements are still missing.
I’ll share links soon, hoping to launch them in 3 weeks.
Our full app for readers is coming along nicely…
I’ve done a few rounds of reader testing, and we are adding their feedback now. Once we finish revising the mockups, I’ll do more reader testing and see how we stand.
I hope to finalize the mockups in the next 6 to 8 weeks. Then we can start building!
We’ve shifted to a left-side navigation bar for the app. That makes much more sense and gives us more room to experiment.
This will allow for a lot more nuance in folders and how we plan to bring your TBR list to life.
If you are interested in testing and can spare 30 minutes for a Zoom, please email me at ben@shepherd.com. I’ll be doing testing all this summer.
Book series update!
Things are going well with this new feature, and we’ve added 2,400+ book series so far. We’ve got another 4,000 in our backlog that we are working through 😃
Cathy is about 80% done with all the authors who sent us a book series, she will reach out soon if you are still wondering (or email forauthors@shepherd.com).
What is going on outside of Shepherd?
I am getting ready for an action-packed Summer. I plan to do a lot of biking in the Black Forest in Germany. After that, I am headed to the Ardennes forest with family for more biking, nature, and hopefully a fair bit of WW1/WW2 historic sites.
What am I reading now?
I just finished…
Vindolanda by Adrian Goldsworthy. I love Roman historical fiction, and this was a fun read. I am eyeing the sequel now…
I enjoyed books 1 and 2 of the LitRPG Nine Realms series set in a Viking universe. I’ll probably pick up book 3 this summer.
I am reading...
The Buffalo Hunter Hunger by Stephen Graham Jones: I don’t read much horror, so I am trying something outside my wheelhouse. It goes very slowly as nothing happens, but the writing is fantastic (as is the mood/setting).
They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933 - 1945, by Milton Mayer. I am doing a long-running deep dive into the rise of fascism historically. This book examines how Germans view this period.
Have a great weekend,
Ben
P.S. From one of my gravel rides in Spain this weekend…
Sounds like it's all coming together!