Three products with no throughline. I made the connections and 57% more users found the reader.

Overview

Fable had three products: an ebook reader, bookstore, and social book clubs—but the three barely connected. Users weren't finding the reader, sample downloads were low, and the home feed wasn't increasing engagement.

I came on as a contract Senior Product Designer over a four month period, working on iOS, Android, and web. The brief was fairly loose: improve engagement, improve discovery. But I needed to figure out where to actually start.

My redesign resulted in 57% more sample downloads from one change.

Strategic Frame

Once I mapped everything out, the same issue kept coming up: there was an opportunity to strengthen the connections between the products.

The bookstore dropped you off. The clubs existed on their own. The feed didn't take into account what you were into. We had reading, discovery, and discussion, but they just weren't connected.

Project 1—Homefeed 2.0

The feed was showing you what was happening, but it wasn't giving a reason to pull you in.

I started by laying out how the needs of a Fable user change over time. Initially it's about getting oriented, then we want to build reading momentum, and finally it becomes about finding your next thing. I used that to propose how the feed's content mix should evolve with a person. The For You feed Fable shipped after my engagement was built on that thinking.

Project 2—Web Bookstore Redesign

The bookstore was designed like a library. Sparse cards, small cover art and a detail page that buried the buy CTA.

Ebook sales were becoming more important to the business, but the bookstore did not feel considered.

The fixes I suggested were pretty straightforward: increased # of books per row, horizontal carousels, and a detail page consolidated around a single purchase column.

Project 3—Reader Integration with Clubs

The highest leverage problem to address? Making more users aware of the reader.

If reader discovery could be improved, Fable would become more than just a book discussion app—it could become an entire reading platform. I broke it down across three levels of effort.

Low-Lift — Ratio change

Users were not even aware there was a reader, and I surmised the best way for them to get exposed to the reader is by downloading a sample book. The club page's 1:1 cover pushed the Sample CTA below the fold. Changing the crop to 3:2 fixed that. When combined with a larger CTA, those changes led to a 57% lift in sample downloads within two weeks.

Medium-Lift — Tappable quotes

I saw an opportunity to have quotes shared in club discussions double as entry points into the reader: tap a passage, land inside the book at the passage of reference. This way, conversation and reading are connected.

Vision — Reader preview HUD

The primary means of navigation is via discussion → passage of the book. However, I wondered what the inverse of that would look like—using the book to navigate discussion points within a club. So I played around with having a reader preview embedded inside the club discussion itself. For users who hadn't bought the book, it appeared as partially locked, which turns engagement into an upsell opportunity.

Impact

57% more sample downloads from one ratio change. A personalization framework that shaped the feed. Improved bookstore experience and a vision for connecting the reader to the club.