Today, I have Ben Shepherd in the interview chair, owner of BenShepherd.com, a website dedicated to book recommendations in all genres of fiction, including the wonderful world of romance.
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1. Hi, Ben. First off, tell us who you are and why you created your site.
Ben: I am a serial entrepreneur who loves to read. I live in Portugal with my wonderful wife and my six-year-old son, Calico Jack (named after my favorite pirate).
I created shepherd.com because I am frustrated with how boring it is to explore and discover books online. The big bookstores sell books like they sell toothpaste or toilet plungers. Something about that is profoundly wrong.
With Shepherd, I want to create an experience that feels like wandering the aisles of your favorite bookstore. Books are one of the best things about humanity, and I want to help more readers find a book they love.
2. Why do you think romance readers will love your site?
Ben: We offer romance readers a fun new way to discover romance books they might not otherwise meet. How does it work?
I’ve asked 8,000+ authors to share five of their favorite books around a theme, topic, or mood and why they love each book. So you get entertaining lists from authors like Tracy Tappan on the best vampire romance books that make you want to get bitten or author Katerina Simms on the best contemporary romance books that are a little bit extra.
Then we take all the books they recommend and create bookshelves romance readers can browse to meet books, new authors, and these unique book lists. Try our romance bookshelf or bookshelves on genres like historical romance, mystery romance, fantasy romance, mafia romance, werewolf romance, vampire romance, paranormal romance, sports romance, billionaire romance, and more.
And from each bookshelf, you can filter to show only specific genres or topics. So from the historical romance bookshelf, you can pick a topic like France or World War 1 and see all the different romance books that touch upon those subjects.
3. How does it differ from Goodreads and other book recommendation/review sites where readers participate?
We are unique in that we are 100% focused on book exploration and discovery. I want to help readers find books in the most magical way possible. There needs to be more serendipity in online book discovery.
A book appears on our website only if an author recommends it as one of their favorites. We don’t have reviews, only positive recommendations.
4. How can readers sign up? And is it free?
It is free, and readers can go to shepherd.com and start browsing. We don’t have any login system or user features yet.
We just turned two years old and are still building many features. Our search feature doesn’t have genes or ages yet, but we will add those in late July.
5. Why choose authors to recommend books instead of readers? Is there a reason you overlooked reader participation?
Ben: Almost every author I’ve ever met is a passionate reader. I think that makes them one of the best audiences to recommend books. And they are usually interesting people who have passion and expertise on fascinating subjects.
I also want to help authors by helping them to meet new readers. That is why you meet the author and one of their books at the top of every book recommendation list. Authors face an immense battle in getting their book into the hands of readers. I want to make their lives easier and help them find their fan base.
Eventually, I will invite readers to participate on the website, but it will be unique and different from other book websites. We will add a user system to the website later this year, and once that is in place, we can play with some ideas that help readers find books in unique ways.
5. How many visitors do you get a day?
Ben: We get around 13,000 visitors every day and are growing fast!
6. How do you market your site to gain new followers?
Ben: It is just me on the marketing side, so I must be laser-focused. For now, I am focused on search engine traffic, and in 2024 I will expand to email with a personalized book recommendation newsletter (based on a reader’s favorite books, genres, topics, and authors). The authors we feature do a lot on social media, and we do everything we can to support them there.
You can read my entire marketing plan and details on our business model if you are interested in the nitty gritty.
7. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Ben: I love feedback, and you can reach me at ben@shepherd.com. If you like what we are building, please support us financially and join us as a Founding Member or make a small donation.
When we launch user accounts next year, Founding Members will receive special perks like ad-free browsing, custom badges, and more!
Maggie Blackbird 