Meet readers by…

Recommending five books you love around a topic, theme, or mood close to your book.

How does this format help me?

We help you meet readers who don’t know about you.

Why is this so dang hard?

The hardest type of book marketing is reaching readers who don’t know you and convincing them to take a chance on a book and author they just met. How can we make this process easier? How can we help readers connect with a broader range of authors? I am trying to figure this out.

This type of marketing is crucial in growing an author’s fan base to make future books easier and easier to sell. If you are curious about why I think book marketing is so hard and how it can be improved, read this.

How does this format work?

It puts you in front of your most likely readers for your book.

We ask you to recommend five books you love around a topic, theme, or mood that is close to your book. The goal is to get you and your book in front of the most likely readers for it. And we do this while giving those readers something of value, recommendations for books you love.

Here is a short case study and a breakdown of how many readers click the bookstore links for the author’s featured book. This doesn’t work for all authors. If you don’t read close to your book, it won’t help you since you can’t recommend similar books.

It gets readers interested in you and your book.

We are a little sneaky here because our short book recommendation format is entirely focused on why you love each book. By exposing your personality, passion, and expertise, we get the reader more interested in you and your book.

It promotes you and your book year after year.

We feature you and your book at the top of the list forever. And we promote your list throughout our website and marketing channels forever. This isn’t like a blog or magazine with a short time period; it is timeless.

Here is a breakdown of all the ways we get the most likely readers to your list. We are constantly working to add new ways for readers to find books externally and internally.

Want to create a book recommendation list?

Email us to get the Word doc template (or ask questions).

Why does this format work so well?

It puts you in front of the most likely readers for your book.

We ask authors to share five books they love around a topic, theme, or mood close to their book. This puts you in front of the most likely readers for your book, and we feature you and your book at the top of the list.

Can you give me an example?

Imagine an author named Sam wrote a historical fiction book about a group of soldiers’ experiencing the aftermath of the D-Day landings. If Sam writes a book list on "the best historical fiction books about WW2", he knows that the readers who visit that list will be interested in his book.

Sam could also go broader and write about “the best historical fiction books about soldiers life in war.” That is not as close a match, but it is good at getting him in front of the most likely readers for his book.

If Sam wrote a list of "the best fantasy books about elves," that is useless as the chance someone interested in looking for fantasy books about elves instead wants a WW2 historical fiction book is zero.

What about real-world examples?

If you want an excellent real-world example, author S.B. Divya did a perfect job sharing her favorite books for realistic, near-future science fiction. This list puts her in front of the most likely readers for her science fiction book, Machinhood. She drives interest in herself and her book by exposing her personality and passion with each book recommendation.

Here are some other examples:

Or browse Shepherd.com and see what you find!

We are slow & steady exposure, not a burst.

I am not Oprah 😀.

We do not provide a massive burst of exposure. Shepherd is designed for slow and steady exposure month after month and year after year. But that exposure is to the most likely readers for your book (if you do this right). 

I like to tell authors that Shepherd is 1 of the 100 things they should do online to market their book. And I hope to be 4 of the 100 things they do to market their book within a few years.

As we grow, I will help authors get more and more exposure if their book has that “magic spark” with readers. Our new Best Books of 2023 feature was our first step in this direction, and we are trying to highlight a more diverse set of books with additional publicity. We have a lot more planned as we grow.

If you are curious about my long-term strategies for helping authors, I break down my strategies here.

Does this format work for all authors?

It doesn't work if you don't read within your book's genres or topics. If you are a science-fiction author who doesn't read science fiction, this format will not work for you. We are working on other formats as we grow, and there are some creative approaches that can work well.

This format also allows hard-to-market books to hone in on a specific niche. Email forauthors@shepherd.com for help; we are happy to help you figure out the best topic, theme, or mood for your book.

Your personality, expertise, and passiondrives interest in you.

We use a specific book recommendation format that is designed to show your personality, passion, and expertise; this increases reader interest in you and your book.

What is this based on? Data.

A quick case study…

Lawrence Goldstone created an amazing book list on the best books for white people to learn (just a little) about Black people.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. (the famous TV host and renowned Harvard professor) shared the list on Twitter and Facebook. This resulted in over 7,400 unique visitors to the list in July. How did sales breakdown?

How did sales break down?

Lawrence’s book sold at a ratio of 1:1 against the five other books on his list. That means that if 500 books were sold, 250 of those books were Lawrence’s book, and 250 of those books were the other five recommended books.

This shows the power of this format as a way to connect with readers and show your passion/expertise. This was a really good result, and his book was perfectly positioned for a new audience (read the full breakdown here).

How many readers click a bookstore link for a promoted book?

The average conversion rate for users who view a book list and click the author's featured book is 7.5%. That means if 1,000 visitors visit your book list, 75 click to check your book out on a bookstore (or preview it at Amazon). 

We have many lists hitting 10% to 20% conversion rates for the author's own books because those authors are speaking to the right audience and nailed their list. Plus, everything else about their book is set up correctly (blurb, bio, cover image, author image). 

Two of our most popular book lists are hitting a 33% and 41% conversion rate to the author's own book. They nailed their list, their book recommendations are deeply personal, and their books are well presented.

Here is a longer breakdown in our FAQ.

Want to create a book recommendation list?

Please fill out the form and we will send you more info, instructions, and a Word doc template to fill out. Feel feel to ask any question as I am happy to answer anything.

Or, email forauthors@shepherd.com if you want to contact us directly.

Thanks, Ben Fox