What is Shepherd?

We add magic and serendipity to book discovery.

Discovering a new book should be a magical experience where the search is part of the fun. That is what we are creating. We give readers fun and innovative ways to discover books.

And we want to help authors sell books. Authors face a massive battle to get their books in front of readers who don’t know them. We want to make that easier.

We launched on April 19th, 2021, and this is why I am building Shepherd for readers and authors.

Our Story

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Ben Fox

Hi 🤪,

My name is Ben and I am an entrepreneur who LOVES to read. I can remember the exact moment when I learned to read. I was trying to read "The Snow Baby" and I was jumping from word to word. There was this magical moment where the words came alive and it all clicked. It was one of the most amazing feelings in my life. I started Shepherd in celebration of reading, books, and the authors who make it all possible.

What is the idea based on and why are you doing this?

I love walking around the bookstore and browsing until something grabs my attention. I want to bring that experience online. I want to help readers bump into books they would otherwise not find and give them ways to follow their curiosity between topics and concepts.

I want to help authors meet more readers. Authors illuminate our world, take us on faraway journeys, and entertain us. Yet, authors face an immense battle to get their book in the hands of interested readers. I want to make it easier for authors to get their book in front of the right readers.

As a reader, I am incredibly frustrated with online book discovery. Goodreads does almost nothing to help readers find amazing books or to help authors to meet readers (what are they doing with that huge team???). At the same time, Amazon sells books the same way they sell toothpaste (hint - neither is very exciting). A book is an experience and it should be marketed as such, my goal is to create new ways to achieve this. Here is a longer breakdown of my motivations if you are interested.

Here is more info about me and the project on our FAQ:

If you want to follow me as I build Shepherd subscribe here (I send an email every two weeks to update subscribers on the project). Or, we have a monthly newsletter for authors that shares data, traffic stats, and other great stuff.

Thanks, Ben