Shepherd Roadmap

What is on our roadmap for the next 24 months?

This is not an exhaustive list, but a good sketch of what we are actively working on.

Reader Track

• Personalized book recommendation email - Research stage (paused while we revamp genre/topics, which is a supporting requirement)

• Book DNA review format - Research stage (doing user interviews and testing on readers).

Author Track

• Adding book series pages - Planning stage (Ben is writing the spec so the developer and I can plan implementation).

• Adding interesting facts & stories - Design stage (the designer and I are working on the design for this).

• For Founding Members

  • Book Boost Improvements - I am looking at how to switch the Book Boost program to be persistent exposure to readers every day instead of a 60-day boost. I think I will change the ad to go very narrow instead of how broad it goes now. This is currently in the research stage and I am testing how to do this.

  • New Book Launches - I am looking at how I can help Founding Members with a new book and where I can feature it on the website. I want to break that out into its own thing. This is in the design phase as I work with the designer to mock up ideas.

Shepherd track

• Improving our audiobook preview links - Dev stage (waiting for dev to implement).

• Improving the quality of genres & topics - Testing stage (Ben is testing options and researching some possible solutions).

• Improved Book Recommendation List design - Design stage (the designer and I are working on design improvements).

• Expanding Bookshelves - Design stage (the designer and I are working on the design for this).

• Improving book and books-like design - Design stage (the designer and I are working on design improvements).

• Alternative book format for book listings - Design stage (the designer and I are working on design improvements).

What are we working on in more detail?

Improving our audiobook preview links

We are working to see if we can only make an audiobook link when we know the book has an audiobook. This is weirdly harder than it sounds :). And we will make the link go directly to the audiobook at Amazon.com.

Adding book series & author series pages

We are creating pages where readers can see the entire book series (in order). And also a list of book series by specific authors. We will also have spots where readers can get email notifications when a new book in the series comes out (something I want as Amazon really botched that implementation).

How does this help readers: I get a lot of email requests for this feature from readers. It makes it easy for them to track what to read next and when a new book in their favorite book series is out.

How does this help authors: This is a step toward helping authors build and nurture their fan base. The easiest part of marketing is to market to people who want your book and this is a way to let them know via email when a new book in the series is out. We are looking at if we can do this on the author level as well.

How does this help Shepherd: It creates the concept of “book series” in our systems. This will allow us to use this concept within all our future systems. For example, I want to eventually allow authors to pick their favorite book series instead of us using book #1 in the series as the placeholder.

Adding interesting facts & stories

I want to use interesting facts and stories to engage readers’ curiosity and pull them toward books to satisfy that curiosity further. Plus, with our fantastic author community, we can provide verified facts by experts. This is a great marketing method for authors and will directly feature their book next to facts they give us. Sign up here to take part when this feature launches.

How does this help readers: It feeds their curiosity and helps them learn some fun facts and stories about this crazy world we live in.

How does this help authors: It allows verified experts to share their expertise, engage readers, and pull them toward their book. The goal here is to help authors get in front of the most-likely readers for their book.

Improved book recommendation design

The designer and I are playing with an improved opening header for the book recommendation lists. This would show off the five books picked at the top of the list. The goal is to run a split test and see if this improves reader engagement over the current design (i.e., how many readers click to visit a bookstore, scroll down the page, and other key metrics). I want to keep readers happy and I am worried the current design is not engaging them visually enough.

How does this help readers: We want to show them the 5 books authors picked and pull them into the list visually.

How does this help authors: Higher engagement from readers and thus more interest in the author and their book as well.

Expanding bookshelves

Our current bookshelf feature has a problem. The readers who land on it from search engines are looking for the “best books of all time,” while we are providing a page designed for serendipity with filters to help them hone in on a book they want. This is an intent mismatch, and it is hurting our engagement with these readers (and thus our search rankings).

I plan to expand the bookshelf with a tab design to help readers find what they want while gently nudging them toward serendipity and books they don’t know yet. My mission with Shepherd is to help more authors meet readers and help authors who have a book with a magic spark to get more and more exposure. I believe this will help us accomplish both of those things.

How does this help readers: It gives them more fun ways to find books and we have a lot of cool stuff planned for them :)

How does this help authors: It gives authors more ways to bump into readers.

Improving the quality of genres & topics

This is a huge project, and I will spend a huge chunk of the year on improving and expanding this system.

Currently, our topic engine is using NLP/ML and needs a big upgrade to improve its quality and accuracy. We also need to redesign how it works to better align with readers and help authors with more discovery points (past Wikipedia topics).

For genres, we use the BISAC publishing system, but it is such a mess. The publishers are way behind on what readers are actually looking for, and publishers often assign books nonfiction and fiction topics. I am going to need to use AI at this stage to improve our accuracy and expand generes to more fan favorites.

For a longer breakdown on why this is so hard to do, read this.

How does this help readers: It will improve the accuracy of how they find books, plus add so many more genres that are currently missing.

How does this help authors: It gives authors more ways to bump into readers.

Adding “book reviews” but via Book DNA

I am researching one of our big upcoming features, allowing readers to log and review books.

This is not going to be yet another broken star system but is focused on building a profile of each reader’s Book DNA. The system is designed to help readers find books that are a match for their Book DNA. And it will allow readers to share their reviews but only for books they enjoyed. The entire system is designed to help expose books readers love and increase discovery points for readers.

Current stage: Testing & video interviews.

How does this help readers: It will allow them to log and review the books they read. But the purpose of the system is to help them find books they love. It is centered around positive recommendations and increased discoverability.

How does this help authors: It is focused on helping highlight books readers love, spreading awareness of that book, and connecting that book with other readers who share Book DNA.