Become A Founding Author
Support a better book website for authors.
100% of your membership goes toward new features.
What is our goal?
Reach 1,500 founding members!
As of April 2nd, 2025: 893 founding members š„³
Reaching 1,500 founding members would allow us to fully pay our two part-time developers and part-time designer. Right now, I am covering part of that cost from my savings (I work full-time for free).
I appreciate your support, and together, we can build something awesome for readers and authors!
Thanks, Ben Fox
Why should I support this project?
Invest in an independent book platform designed to help authors.
Your support helps us stay independent, allows us to keep improving the platform, and allows us to create new features for authors. Your membership is building a platform that is constantly working to solve questions like:
- How can we pitch books to readers in better ways?
- How do help readers meet authors they haven't heard about? How can we help authors bump into the most likely readers for their book?
- How can we help authors launch new books?
- How can we highlight books that have that magic spark with readers so they get more and more free exposure?
We canāt do this without your support! We have a lot planned!
Help me build a better book website designed for authors and readers.
All too often, authors are left out of the conversation. Shepherd is designed for authors and readers. We help authors like you meet the most likely readers for your book. And we, do this in a way that delights readers.
Special perks for authors like you!
We have special perks for authors who support Shepherd and make this website possible. This is our way of saying thank you for supporting us!
What perks come with the annual membership?
Exclusive access to our Book Boost perk.
Want some extra attention for your book?
Our members get a special advertising spot that matches their book with readers based on similar books, similar authors, and genres. The ad runs every day as long as you are a member.
Learn more about our Book Boost ads here (with a video walkthrough).
Your lists are featured on the frontpage
We feature our memberās book recommendation lists on the front page of Shepherd, and we randomize it to make sure everyone gets an even share of the spotlight.
You get first access to all the new features for authors!
Our Founding Members get first access to all the new features we launch!
Things like:
- Our annual 3 Favorite Reads of the Year feature (first access).
- Our upcoming feature that will help authors meet readers through interesting facts, stories, and quizzes.
- Our upcoming feature that will help authors meet readers with āonline datingā but for book characters.
- Once we launch user accounts, ad-free browsing + special badge on the website.
Help shape our roadmap + special access
Founding Members get access to me, can suggest features, and help influence our feature roadmap.
I have a monthly email where I get input from Founding Members, share updates, and more. I also try to do live Zoom events often to do Q&A and video walk throughs of Shepherd for Founding Members.
More perks are coming soon!
I am working on additional perks in place and will share more details soon.
Ben will work incredibly hard for you š
I will work incredibly hard to help you and other authors.
I know how hard it is to market your book and while I am not Oprah, I hope to give authors more and more ways to bump into the most likely readers for their books. Learn about my long-term strategy to help authors here.
I love books, and I want to build something that helps readers discover and explore books in fun and unique ways. Learn more about me and why I am creating this website here.
How is Shepherd Funded?
We are bootstrapped & donāt waste money.
To start Shepherd, I funded it using my savings and sweat equity (more about me and why I started Shepherd). To achieve sustainability, I need support from authors and readers through our membership programs.
Everything you see at Shepherd was built with one part-time developer and one part-time designer. Goodreads has 347 employees listed on LinkedIn; imagine what we could do if we had enough money to hire one full-time developer (or two).
My goal is to break even on our costs this year and make enough to hire a full-time developer next year.
What are our costs?
- 20% - Servers, software, and book licensing costs.
- 30% - Our small team that runs the day-to-day operations.
- 50% - The cost of our fantastic part-time developer and part-time designer.
Join Shepherd's Membership Program ($50 per year)
I have questions!
Feel free to email me any questions you have! Here are answers to some of the most common questions I get:
- Who are you and why are you doing this?
- What is your business model?
- Every month I share traffic stats and how many visitors click bookstore links (plus demographics).
- What is your marketing plan?
- What is my long term strategy to help authors?
And answers to lots more questions on our FAQ.
I also write a Substack post every 2 to 3 weeks with an update on the behind-the-scenes process of building Shepherd.
Is it easy to cancel (for whatever reason)?
Yes! I hate when it is hard to cancel a subscription. So, I made it super easy to cancel your membership. You can cancel by:
- Login to our billing panel here and click cancel (if you paid via credit card or bank transfer).
- Or login to Paypal to cancel there.
- If you have any trouble, email me at forauthors@shepherd.com, and I can turn off auto-renew or cancel it.