Shepherding

Historically, the definition of a shepherd is one who guards and cares for sheep. Metaphorically a shepherd can also describe someone who gives guidance. And in a sense, the word “Shepherd” brilliantly describes the innovations being born within the publishing world by a young entrepreneur named Ben Fox. Bear with me as I share a few hopeful thoughts on his new multidimensional business model for bookselling at Shepherd.com .

I have always believed that there is room for everyone in the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world of publishing… for readers and authors and booksellers. For centuries, institutional publishing houses have been shaping the way readers find their books. But the landscape for finding great reads is changing.

Between the time of Johannes Gutenberg’s creation of the printing press in 1436 and the advent of the ‘Print-on-Demand” industry of the early 2000’s, behemoth publishing houses held dominion over all aspects of publishing. For centuries, their institutional dominion over literature shaped society in ways we can only understand in retrospect. Somewhere in the early 2000’s industrialized publishers were faced with the inevitability of a new form of industrialization, brought on by the internet, printing technologies, and online shopping platforms.

Then, during the pandemic, “Literary Egalitarianism” grew by quantum leaps, literally shifting responsibility for discernment and fact checking to the shoulders of every reader. And with the explosion of new books coming available online, readers need trusted alternatives to the algorithm driven marketing. Where numbers and feedback loops for created ‘best sellers’ and then left many readers and authors in the dust.

But like I said before, there is room for everyone in this new interconnected literary ecosystem. ENTER SHEPHERD.COM, an online bookseller community platform with an innovative approach to bringing readers, authors and sellers together, through qualitative points in common instead of AI driven engines. This new website is being organically grown with loving attention and dignity of authentic offerings by authors. And like all good things, the platform is growing over time. So, with patience of all involved, a new paradigm/grid of interconnecting points in common between authors, readers and booksellers has the potential of laying the foundation of A GRAND VISION INDEED.

I just love the notion of humanizing and empowering conversations of what makes an interesting read. I also find the business model to be both refreshing and feasible.

As to my contribution to Shepherd’s content, I chose to review books surrounding the topic of “The Best Books for Navigating Ancient Wisdom Traditions & the Cosmos.’ And of course, my latest book, “Voyage of the Templar Guardians” finds a place within this group! I chose these books because they share common elements, albeit subtle, I guess.

Finally, here’s a link to an interview with Ben Fox, founder of Shepherd.com with a deeper dive into his new vision in discovering your next read!