Congrats!!!

How can we help you promote your new book?

Format #1: Do a new book recommendation list around a topic, theme, or mood close to your book.

*The only limit is one book per book recommendation list, and we don't usually feature book #2 or higher in a series (some caveats below). 

How does this work?

You share five books you love with readers. The five books are grouped around a unifying topic, theme, or mood. And, at the top of the list, we introduce you and your new book.

Your chosen topic, theme, or mood should pair well with your book. Then, readers who visit your book list will also be interested in your book. By sharing personal book recommendations, you are exposing your voice, personality, and expertise. This increases interest in you and your book because it builds a connection with readers.

This is not a burst of traffic but rather slow and steady traffic from the most likely readers of your book (to help you feed the word-of-mouth engine). 

Full info on this format: https://forauthors.shepherd.com/book-rec-list

Conversion rate data for the author's promoted book: https://support.shepherd.com/hc/en-us/articles/15700828948113-What-type-of-conversion-rate-do-we-see-for-the-author-s-featured-book-on-their-book-list-

Format #2: Share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

I launched this new format in October 2023, and it will run annually. Submissions are accepted from October 1st through August 31st every year. 

This is less targeted but allows you to share your 3 favorite reads of the year with readers in a fun format. It is a perfect fit for sharing with your fan base, getting them engaged, and getting them to share their 3 favorites as well. 

Like all our lists, we use this to pull readers toward you and your book. It goes into all the same internal promotion channels on our website as format #1. 

You can submit your picks here!

Full info on this format: https://forauthors.shepherd.com/sharing-3-favorite-books

How this format helps you sell your book: https://support.shepherd.com/hc/en-us/articles/13857520550162-How-does-the-3-favorite-reads-of-the-year-program-help-me-sell-books-

New -> Our book boost program for Members!

This paid feature is a special perk for our Founding Members.

Every Founding Member gets one new book launch per year.

This smart ad goes across our website based on your book's topics, genres, and more to get in front of readers who would be interested in it. 

It will look like this:

Full info on this program: https://forauthors.shepherd.com/new-book-launch-program

Coming Jan 2025 -> Featured on new book pages. 

This paid feature is a special perk for our Founding Members.

Toward February 2025, we will launch our "new book" pages on all bookshelves in order to help readers find new books that have been recommended on the editorial side of Shepherd.

For Founding Members, we will have a special spot on the page to feature their books for one year as part of the perks for helping us build this indie book platform. 

Q&A & other options!

What if my book is a sequel?

We usually don't allow book #2 or higher in a series to be featured. Why? In user testing, I found that readers will not click it; they only want to be pitched book #1. There are some caveats here, such as if it is a stand-alone or children's given book series often work differently there. Email us if you have any questions here :).  

I am working to add book series data to the website. Once I do that, I will likely have a solution to re-promote book #1 when you have a sequel out. I will share more as I work toward that feature in 2024 in our For Authors monthly newsletter. 

What if I already did a list?

• If you already did a 3-favorite-reads of the year list, I can slide your new book into that existing list. Just email forauthors@shepherd.com with this request and info on your new book (please include a high-definition cover image). 
• If you already did a book recommendation list around a topic, theme, or mood, you can also slide that new book into the promot spot for that list. The only requirement is that it matches the topic, theme, or mood (if it doesn't, nobody will click on it, which would be ineffective). 

What formats am I working to build in 2025?

• Helping authors sell books through interesting facts and stories.
• Helping authors sell books by introducing your characters/villains to readers (like online dating, but for book characters).

I need your financial support to build these formats and other new features. Please join our Founding Members program and help us keep innovating. For $50 a year, you help us create more features like this for authors and readers. 100% of what we raise goes toward new features.