This article is for authors to help them understand how we get readers to your book lists (so they can meet you and your book).

If you want the bigger picture of how we drive traffic to Shepherd, go here.

Our recommendations are forever (key point)

Once your book recommendation list is in our system, we will promote you and your book list forever.

This is unlike a magazine where you are only featured in the November issue. Shepherd is timeless, and we are constantly creating new ways to help readers discover you, your book, and your book list.  

How does Shepherd get readers to my book list?

External Channels To Your Book List

This is how we drive readers directly to your book list from outside our website. 

Search Engines

If your list is a good fit for it, we work to rank your book recommendation list for what people are searching for on search engines. For example, if someone searches for "best children's books about elephants" and your list is "the best children's books about the world of elephants," we will work to rank you in search engines. This usually takes 6 to 36 months to achieve but delivers interested readers daily from search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo.  

• • From a reader's POV: I search for "best elephant book for kids" on Google and click on a book list at Shepherd. 

Author Social Media

We give authors the tools to share their book lists on social media. Not only does this help authors engage their audience and sell their book, but it also helps readers find our website and our entire author community. This is a virtuous circle as we help people to find better ways to find books. And you can share your content multiple times a year to engage your communities (especially if you do it in a way that causes discussion). 

• • • From a reader's POV: I am browsing Twitter and see a tweet a friend retweeted about a book list on "nonfiction that will make you hopeful." I click it and land on a book list at Shepherd. 

Email (Coming 2024)

In 2024, we will take our first steps toward building email channels for readers. This will become another channel we use to get readers to your book list. I'll share more details as we test this and look at what the first iteration will be. 

• • I run a small author newsletter now, but it is mainly for testing and not automated.

Internal Channels To Your Book List

We want to help readers follow their curiosity and browse books more like walking through a bookstore. So, all our systems are designed for book browsing with a healthy dose of serendipity. 

How do readers find my book list once they are on Shepherd? 

Bookshelves

Bookshelves are collections of books around topics, genres, or age groups (or combinations). These are things like World War 2, dragons, science fiction, or middle school books. On these pages, we feature books that authors have recommended, and the book lists those books come from (as well as the author of that list and their book). One of our goals here is to entice readers from here to your book list. 

• • From a reader's POV: I am on a Shepherd bookshelf about science fiction; I filter to see only sci-fi books with detectives. I click on a book list I find through that filtered result about "the best mystery books that happen to take place in outer space."

So, on the bookshelves, we feature your book recommendations and use those to pull people toward your book list (where they can meet you and your book). 

Recommendation Engine

We use our recommendation engine to help readers find your book list from different parts of Shepherd. We use this system to recommend related book lists throughout our website based on topics (and soon genre and age as we integrate that in 2024).

• • From a reader's POV: I am an author's book list about "funny cats." At the bottom, I see a list of recommended book list and click on one called "the best nonfiction books to understand cats and what makes them tick." 

Here are two examples:

Internal Search

Our search feature allows readers to search for Wikipedia topics they are interested in, a favorite book, or a favorite author. We then point them to bookshelves and book lists they would be interested in. This drives traffic to your book list and helps them discover you, your book, and your book list.

• • From a reader's POV: I search for "Stephen King" and click on a book list for "The scariest books about going crazy."
  • In January 2024, we will add genres and ages to search, plus vastly improve how search works. 

Here are two examples:

"Books Like" pages

These pages will help readers who love a specific book find more books like that one. And it also helps authors by connecting them with the book list that the recommendation came from. You can try this example with books like Kitchen Confidential. This helps readers find your book list and connect with you. 

• • From a reader's POV: I search Google for "books like Six of Crows," and on the results, I find a book list that sounds perfect for me called "The best books if you want to go on a magical adventure."

Individual book pages

This page will show readers why they should read that specific book is recommended within Shepherd. This helps them find lists they are interested in as well. Try Kitchen Confidential or Dune. We also added a page so you can easily see the book list where the book appears. 

• • From a reader's POV: I am on a Shepherd book page for the book Six of Crows. I loved this book, and I see that J.L. also loves it. I click to read JL's favorite 3 reads of 2023. 

Frontpage

The front page helps readers find the best place to start browsing for books (mostly through search in its current form). 

• • From a reader's POV: I am on Shepherd.com and click on a new book list that sounds interesting about "The best books to understand the global economic system and why it prevents wars."
  • In January 2024, the front page will get a significant cosmetic upgrade. 

Best Books Of 2023

We asked thousands of authors for their favorite 3 reads in 2023 and then tabulated the results. Readers can browse this page to see what books everyone loved more than everything they read that year. 

• • From a reader's POV: I am looking at the best biographies of 2023. The book cover for "I'm Glad My Mom Died" grabs me. I click on that and then on why the authors picked it. That takes me to the book's page, where I click on Mary's list of her favorite 3 reads in 2023. 

What will Shepherd add in 2024?

Our roadmap is here if you want to see this in detail. 

You can also find more information on our overall marketing plan here. 

P.S. Would you like to help us build features faster?

I launched a membership program for founding members at the urging of authors and readers. 100% of the money goes toward developing new fea,tures and my is to hire a full-time developer in 2024 (currently, we only have one part-time developer).