Fable

Overview

Fable had three things: an ebook reader, bookstore, and social book clubs—but the 3 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. The challenge was figuring out where to actually start.

Strategic Frame

Once I mapped it out, the same issue kept coming up: nothing was reinforcing anything else

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

Project 1—Homefeed 2.0

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

I started by mapping 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 button.

Ebook sales were becoming more important to the business, but the bookstore felt like an afterthought.

The fixes I suggested were pretty straightforward: increased # of books per row, horizontal carousels, and a detail page consolidated around a single purchase column. None of it was anything crazy, but the work was seeing what the experience needed to be and doing what it took to get there.

Project 3—Reader Integration with Clubs

Most users didn't know the reader existed. That was the highest leverage problem we could address.

If the reader experience 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 if we did the inverse of that, and had the book lead to points of discussion 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—turning engagement into a possible upsell.

Impact

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

Reflection

The Fable product had good bones and I realized that none of it really required starting over. The features just weren't connected or easy to find. The work was figuring out where small changes would meaningfully move the needle.