The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries logo

The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries

Subscribe
Archives
September 26, 2022

#129 - Worldwide prizes!

The launch of our Giveaways platform, an emergency wake-up call, improving recommendations, and an upcoming conference talk!

View this email in your browser
#129 | 26 September 2022

Worldwide prizes! 


Something exciting happened on The StoryGraph last week...
 
Screenshot of the new Giveaways page on the StoryGraph mobile app. By the green "Giveaways" heading is a yellow badge labelled "Beta". Underneath is a section titled "For You" Displaying three book covers lined up side-by-side. Underneath that is a collapsed filter menu and the first listed Giveaway pane, showing a book cover, book title, giveaway host, moods, pace, genres, and that the prize is "50 audio copies, available in 176 countries".

That’s right, giveaways are now live! 🎉
 
Based on feedback from authors, publishers, and readers, we had a few key goals for our beta launch:
  • The ability for hosts to offer multiple formats within one giveaway
  • Having a selection of prizes that were available internationally
  • Developing a smarter way for publishers and authors to find their audience
We’ve managed to make all of these a reality! 🙌🏾

You can find out more about how on our roadmap!
 
If you're an author or a publisher and would like to sign up to host a giveaway for one of your books in our second round, please fill out this short survey:  https://forms.gle/3rae7sSi5AFGWTDb6
 

Since last time...
 

It was September 14th. The early hours. I was fast asleep.

And then the phone rang.

Rob was calling.

I immediately knew there was a problem. He wouldn't call otherwise.

"100% of Goodreads imports are failing right now," he said.

Uh oh... What was going on??

I hurried out of bed!
Screenshot from the Import Goodreads page on StoryGraph. The text reads: "Import your Goodreads data?" and then there are two links underneath: "Yes, please" and "no, thanks".

Turns out Goodreads had changed the file structure of the CSV they give to users exporting their data! 

Phew — an easy one! Kinda... 😅

In other news, the Giveaways launch has been going really well! 😁

Users particularly enjoy the comprehensive filter menu, including the ability to filter down to their location and the format of prizes that they're interested in:
 
Screenshot of the bottom of the new Giveaways filter menu. Three checkboxes are at the top of the screen labelled Print, Digital, and Audio. Digital is checked. Then there's a dropdown of countries labelled "I live in..." and "Canada" is selected. Finally there's a checkbox labelled "Only show me...Featured giveaways" and this is unchecked. There's a green filter button underneath that and the first two results are visible.

Rob and I have also started work on users being able to specify topics, themes, and tropes they don’t like and types of content they never want to read about!
 
Screenshot of a user's reading preferences survey in StoryGraph. There's a new heading: "Topics, themes, and tropes you don't like" and underneath the text reads: "Coming soon!".

We're excited to take our recommendations to the next level.

Look out for the beta launch of that soon!
 

Next two weeks


Outside of product work, I'll be reviving my speaking career!

I'll be opening a conference in LA next week and here's what my title slide is currently looking like... 👀
 

Wish me luck! 🤞🏾

The last time I gave a talk was in Japan in November 2019! Can't imagine being back on stage!
 

What I'm reading


Last night I finished the next book in my slow chronological King read: Roadwork!
Book pane for Stephen King's Roadwork. There is a book cover to the left, which is orange in colour and features a man's hand facing downwards with a gun. To the right is the book pane, featuring the tags: fiction, thriller, dark, tense, slow-paced. It shows the book has 417 pages and was first published in 1981. It's marked as "read" and has a custom tag of "sep-tbr" on it. There's a link at the top for me to "Add review".

Have a great week,

Nadia

P.S. Know somebody who's an avid reader or would enjoy following along with this journey? Please do forward this email to them! Thank you. :-)
 
Haven't tried The StoryGraph yet? Check it out today!
Love the app? Consider upgrading to our Plus plan!

Want to volunteer? Apply to be a Librarian!
Author or publisher? Sign up to run a giveaway next month!
Were you forwarded this email?
If you liked what you read, you can subscribe for future updates and catch up on past ones.
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Copyright © 2024 The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries, All rights reserved.

Subscribe for a behind-the-scenes look at my StoryGraph founder journey and beyond.



Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries:
Bluesky Threads X Bookshop.org LinkedIn Instagram Personal Website
Powered by Buttondown, the easiest way to start and grow your newsletter.