It's a way for new or unknown authors to authentically connect with readers by sharing five books they love on a topic, theme, or mood they are passionate about or experts in. Readers get fantastic personalized picks by super readers, and authors get to bump into some readers who might be more interested in them and their books.
Authors face an immense battle to get noticed, and unless something is done, we will only have big brand-name authors who can afford to write full-time. The internet has really consolidated books into a winner-takes-all market, and I want to do what I can to help widen that so new authors have a chance.
I work with authors daily and know how hard they work to create a story for us. Most will never earn back the time they put into creating that book. Some books and writing are not a match for what we personally like. I just hope we can say, "It wasn't a match for what I like," rather than accusing an author of using an LLM. I loose my cool sometimes as well, and trying to remind myself to stick to this code (as I know I create plenty of bad writing that I inflict on readers of my blogs).
Authors face an immense battle to get noticed, and unless something is done, we will only have big brand-name authors who can afford to write full-time. The internet has really consolidated books into a winner-takes-all market, and I want to do what I can to help widen that so new authors have a chance.
If you are curious, here are my goals for readers: https://build.shepherd.com/p/what-is-shepherds-mission-for-r...
Here are my goals for authors: https://support.shepherd.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406508361617...
And here is why I am building Shepherd for myself and others: https://build.shepherd.com/p/why-am-i-building-shepherd-ie-w...
Hope that helps; happy to answer questions :)