When is Shepherd adding reader reviews?
Plus other reader focused features!
Every 3 weeks, I share my notes on building Shepherd.com.
I believe that books build better people. I am on a mission to help readers explore & discover books in new and unique ways. I want to create the magical feeling you get wandering around your favorite bookstore but for the online world. And I want to do this while helping authors reach readers in fun and authentic ways.
Three hurrahs for our 640 Founding Members who keep us independent and fund new features. My 2024 goal is to reach 1,000 members to fully fund our part-time developer and designer so we can keep building great new features for our community.
Mood check for Friday, March 22nd 🤪
It is Portuguese spring break, and my son is out of school for two weeks! We are headed to France for two weeks of much-needed vacation. I have been pretty stressed with Shepherd and need the break.
Reader Reviews
I just sent out our first survey to get feedback from readers on a review format (feel free to fill it out). This format will evolve as I get data, test, and do reader interviews.
This is not a 5-star Goodreads format…
Books are deeply personal.
Our review format will build a personal profile of why you like the books you read (called your Book DNA). Then, we use your Book DNA to connect you with books you will love and provide a more personal experience. We will match you with readers who share your Book DNA to help you meet new books and determine if they are a good match for you.
The research I am doing right now is trying to figure out how to ask for the least amount of data about a book that still gives us enough data to build a meaningful profile about your book habits.
I don’t want to build another 5-star review format. Goodreads’ review format is largely worthless. Amazon helps determine the overall quality of the book, but not if it is a match for what I love.
This is version 1.0, and I will be testing and playing with options to figure out what works.
As always, send me ideas and feedback → ben@shepherd.com
When will we start adding reader features?
I will have a better ETA this summer.
I just updated our 2024 feature roadmap with what I know we are working on this year. I still have much more to figure out around reader features and when we have the dev capacity to build them.
Our main limitation is money. Right now, everything is built with one part-time developer, and we are not yet covering their costs (hopefully by the end of the year). I want to hire a full-time developer next year if we can afford it and speed things up.
What else am I working on?
Shepherd needs to hit $250,000 a year in gross revenue to be sustainable with 1 full-time developer. The two business models I had hoped would work… are not working. I’ll share more next update, but by the end of April, I will be moving to a new business model that I think will get us to $250k within 24 months. This is why I am very stressed right now.
I am revamping and optimizing all our internal tools over the next 3 months. I am about to kick off many emails so I can focus more on marketing and features.
Working to launch an online store to make it easy for readers to support what we are building (some fun stickers around reading and books).
We are working on designs for the interesting fact page, updated bookshelf expansion, books-like pages, book pages, and others as we tweak things.
I rolled out a big test around author profile pages. I’ll share the results after I have 30 to 60 days’ worth of data (due at the end of April).
We are going to try to improve how we link to audiobooks. We will see if we can make the links smarter so that the “preview audio” only shows up if there is an audiobook for that book. This is hard, but I should know more in 4 to 8 weeks.
I am looking at how I want to expand and improve ads for Founding Members. I got the first batch of data and learned a ton!
What is going on outside of Shepherd?
I am biking a lot now that the weather has improved. It is great to be back outside and getting ready for some long adventure rides in April.
What am I reading?
I just read books 1 to 3 of the fantastic Aggressor series. They are set in 2038 and feel like a Tom Clancy military thriller. China is blockading Tawain and you can imagine what happens next. The AI, drone, and military tech are very believable. Sometimes, I would forget if I was reading the news or a book (I was exhausted). I can’t wait for book #4, which will be out in about a week! I am going to try one of his science fiction books next.
I am about to read Citizen of the Galaxy as part of a book club with my dad and brother. I am very excited that my dad picked this one, and we will discuss it.
M: Son of the Century - About Mussolini. I am ~65% done, digging it, but it is slow going. Italy, you are crazy (and also, the rise of fascism is utterly fascinating). My one takeaway so far? Be wary of any political movements that put skulls on the fashion outfits (red flag).
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World - I started this one, but will rig in after I finish M.
Thanks, Ben
Picture: My son and I climbing rocks between bike rides.
