Interview with Ben Fox

06/19/2024

Ben Fox created a website for people who love to read books. It’s called Shepherd. Its primary goal is to help readers discover new books. It also helps authors find new readers. It’s the perfect setting for book lovers across the globe. I interviewed Ben recently to understand how Shepherd works and where it is heading.

For people who don’t know, tell us what Shepherd.com is all about?

Shepherd helps readers discover books in fun ways. I wanted to create something that captured the magical feeling of wandering my local bookstore but reimagined for the online world.

I’ve worked with over 10,000 authors to share five of their favorite books around a topic, theme, or mood and why they love each book. Then, we connect the books and book lists in unique ways so that readers can follow their curiosity until something sparks. It creates an enjoyable browsing experience where you get to meet books through the eyes of someone who loves that book.

How is it beneficial to readers and writers?

We give readers fun ways to meet books while helping them meet a wider array of books.

They might search for a book they love, like Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, and from that page, they can browse book recommendation lists that include his book or browse books like his book that humans picked. Or they can jump to topics and genres in his book.

Or they might go to our science fiction bookshelf and filter to see only the most recommended sci-fi books with AI. These are just a few fun ways we help readers find books. We have a lot more planned!

We also help authors. Authors face a massive battle to get their books in front of interested readers. We want to make that easier. We do that by helping them get their passion, expertise, and book in front of the most likely readers.

Our primary format to do that is we work with authors to share five books they love around a central topic, theme, or mood. That central topic, theme, or mood should attract an audience that will also be interested in the author’s book. Then, we feature the author and their book at the top of the list.

For example, author Spencer Wild shared a fantastic book list on the best science fiction books about survival that even non-sci-fi fans will love. We help readers to meet him and his book. Our format is designed to show off his passion/expertise and get more readers interested in him (which drives interest in his book).

Or, check out this list on the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt by author Clay Risen. Clay wrote the book The Crowded Hour and is an expert on Teddy Roosevelt. It is an excellent way for him to share other books he loves while getting in front of the best readers for his book.

I tell authors I am not Oprah. But we do provide slow and steady exposure from the most likely readers to be interested in your book. And we do that month after month and year after year. We just added a second format for authors and I am working on more as we grow.

Talk about where Shepherd is now and what your goals are for the future.

Shepherd launched in April 2021, and we turn 3 years old this year. We are bootstrapped and we are funded through affiliate revenue, display ads, and our Founding Member program. We are currently meeting about 50% of our costs and by the end of 2024 I will get that to 80%.

As you browse Shepherd, remember that we only have one part-time developer compared to Goodreads, who has 300+ people listed on LinkedIn and has done nothing new for readers or authors since Amazon bought it.

My tactical goal is to make enough money so that we can hire one full-time developer. That would allow us to continue building new features for readers and authors.

Strategically, I want to create a book discovery platform that helps readers find excellent books and widens the range of authors they bump into. The book market has shifted into a winner-takes-all market, and we need to work harder to flatten that trend. I want to help more up-and-coming authors get the exposure they deserve.

How do you attract authors to your site?

We get a lot of referrals from authors who have already taken part. And we email authors who we love or who readers ask us to reach out to.

I also work hard to improve specific categories. So, if I notice that we don’t have any recommendations around “Armenia,” I might find some authors who write about different aspects of that country and reach out to them to see if they want to recommend some books.

How do you attract readers to your site?

We had over 5 million visitors in 2023, and I am working hard to increase that number.

We attract readers through search engines, website mentions, and social media. If authors are curious, I have a big breakdown on our marketing plan here. We are working toward email as a channel now.

Who are some of your favorite authors today?

So many! I shared my favorite 3 reads of 2023 as part of the big event we launched last year, and that is probably a good place to start.

Christian Cameron is one of my favorite authors! I loved his book Killer of Men, and it hit me at a perfect time in my 30s when I needed a bit of a life reboot. His Tom Swan book series was my top read in 2023, and it was extra magical as I read it while biking through Italy on a pilgrimage route (the main character is a 15th-century Indiana Jones wandering the Mediterranean during a very interesting historical period).

Who else? Brian Klingborg for his debut crime series about a small-town Chinese police officer. And I also love Peter F. Hamilton, Michael Connelly, Richard Osman, David Baldacci, Andy Weir, John Connoly, and many more.

What were some of your favorite books growing up?

I remember the specific moment when I started reading. I was learning to read and going word by word through The Snow Baby by Margaret Hillert. There was this magical moment when the words came alive and everything just clicked. I could read.

I loved the Hardy Boys, Boxcar children, My Side Of The Mountain, King Arthur, and Greek myth when I was little. My dream is to one day buy an old box car to fix up if I ever have the space.

As I got older some of the most powerful books that shaped my youth were Native Son, The Jungle, the Dragonlance universe, Harry Potter, Wheel of Time, Breaking Open The Head, From The Holy Mountain, Down and Out in Paris and London, Snow Crash, Catch 22, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, the the Dirk Pitt series.

I am playing with a feature that lets readers share their “Book DNA” so I’ve been thinking a lot about the books that redirected my life or shaped large aspects of my worldview.

Talk about your background, family, education. Where did you grow up?

I was born in Texas but my family moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas when I was pretty little. I had a fantastic childhood full of friends, tree forts, hole digging, and wild independence. There were some tough spots as well but I managed to get through them with only small dings due to the support of my family. Plus, my family got a lot bigger as my parents divorced and remarried. So I get twice as much as love and support!

I went to school at the University of Arkansas. I ended up with a BA in history, political science, and international relations. Plus minors in anthropology and religoius studies. I probably enjoyed taking the interesting classes with amazing professors a bit too much. Luckily it wasn’t an expensive “mistake” back then.

Where are you living now? What is the book community like there?

I live in Northern Portugal along with my wife and 7-year-old son. I am pretty introverted and with my focus being almost 100% on building Shepherd and my family I haven’t built a community. My book community is mostly just a few friends who love sci-fi and trade book recommendations via Whatsapp (plus all the amazing authors at Shepherd who consistently destroy my book budget).

How many books do you read in a year?

I read over 100 books a year, my highest was 193. I’ve been able to read really fast ever since I was a kid.

Can bookstores participate in Shepherd?

They can! I haven’t emailed any, but if they wanted to take part I can adapt the format to feature their bookstore. I’ve done similar with a few non-profits, companies, podcasters, Youtubers, and others to create really fun unique lists.

Are you interested in writing yourself – fiction, poetry, nonfiction?

I’d love to write a book one day and I jot down ideas I get from time to time. I’d want to do a middle-grade chapter book that is a bit weird, heavy on adventure, and has a lot of laughs.

Were you parents, or anyone in your family, readers and/or writers?

My parents were both huge readers and I grew up with walls of books in our house. My mom would read us books every night. My dad made a lot of great book recommendations as I grew up that heavily influenced my reading.

My brother is an amazing writer and writes movie/tv scripts right now. He is working on a nonfiction book and I am looking forward to seeing that published.

Is there a way for readers to comment or interact with authors on the site?

No, to keep our costs low we don’t even have any type of user-account setup. It is something I am starting to look at and see what the first steps in that direction might be.

How many books are on the site now? How many authors?

We have 40,000 recommended books on the website. And so far 10,000 authors have taken part.

Is advertising space available on your site?

We just added a book launch program as a perk for our Founding Members. It allows them to advertise one of their books for 60 days on the website to the most likely readers for it.

It is one of our ways we give thanks to our financial supporters. 100% of what we raise from Founding Members goes directly to new features (and improving existing ones).

What books are you looking forward to reading this year?

Treason of Sparta by Christian Cameron. It is the 7th book in the Long War series which I love! The series is historical adventure and set in Ancient Greece.

Do you collect books? If so, what are some of your most prized acquisitions?

I don’t although I have a fascination with James Bruce of Kinnaird and have a very old set of his books on “Travels to discover the source of the Nile.” He was a really interesting character and when I got my first job I saved up enough to buy the set. And I have ended up with several old maps he made.

How do comic books and graphic novels, or small independent writers and publishers, fit in with Shepherd?

We welcome all authors to take part. I think authors make great readers and I think our recommendations shows that. We have sections for comic books and graphic novels.

We do work with a few small and large publishers. They send their authors to us if they are interested in taking part in Shepherd. I have talked to a number of small and large publishers about ideas on how we could help them in other ways. But most are not comfortable in the digital world and seem stuck with the old models.

What’s the best advice you can give to new writers?

Decide if you are writing because you want to get your story into the world or if you want to be a professional author. That might not sound different, but there is a world of nuance in those two approaches. Both are equally fantastic approaches.