A Digital Home for Stories
That Grow Over Time
Designing a platform where books, activities, and community
connect as one living system
Client: K B Osher
Project: Author site, ecommerce and content system
Website: kbosher.com⇗
USA · 2025
Context
When this project started, there was already a website in place.
It existed. But it wasn’t really doing any meaningful work for the business.
Traffic arrived, looked around briefly, and left.
The site lived on a closed platform, chosen mainly because of a lifetime license. While functional on the surface, it introduced quiet limitations that shaped what could and couldn’t be built long term. At the same time, most sales were happening on Amazon, which meant the author’s own site had very little agency.
Before touching any code, the real question was simple:
What should the website actually own?
Reframing the role of the website
Rather than treating the site as a showcase or a bridge to external platforms, I approached it as a space the business could truly own.
About page
The goal wasn’t to replace Amazon, but to stop relying on it as the only meaningful touchpoint. The website needed to support sales, yes, but also positioning, content, trust, and long-term growth.
This meant competing on experience, not scale.
Rather than replicating a marketplace, the website was designed as an author’s space first, with ecommerce introduced gradually and intentionally. Each decision aimed to reduce friction, maintain focus, and support meaningful interaction with the brand.
Building on existing strengths
One important strength already existed:
free downloadable activities connected to the books.
They were valuable, but underutilized. On the old site, they lived in isolation and didn’t contribute to discovery, engagement, or conversion.
Not by reinventing them, but by giving them context, structure, and a clear role in the flow.
Activities became a dedicated section designed to attract organic traffic, introduce the books naturally, and offer value before asking for anything in return. Each activity connects back to its corresponding book through subtle, intentional links.
What used to be dead weight became a living asset.
Designing for growth, not just launch
From the start, the site was structured with growth in mind.
Books, activities, email, ecommerce, and future content were designed as parts of the same system, not separate features. The MVP included ecommerce intentionally, not by default, allowing flexible pricing, bundled purchases, and shipping logic that could compete with Amazon on clarity and calm rather than speed or volume.
Future additions like merchandise and long-form content were accounted for in the structure, without forcing them into the present before they were needed.
The site didn’t need to do everything on day one.
It needed to be ready for what comes next.
The invisible work that makes a system last
A large part of the work happens where visitors never look.
That’s also where long-term success is decided.
I designed a simplified backend that allows the author to manage books, activities, and content through clean, familiar flows. Publishing a new activity, for example, is as simple as filling out a short form. The system handles the rest.
Email infrastructure was set up properly from day one, including deliverability best practices, so newsletters and transactional emails actually reach inboxes. Post-purchase flows were designed to extend the relationship, not end it, inviting readers to explore activities, subscribe, and stay connected.
To support confident ownership, I delivered custom video walkthroughs and reduced the admin interface to only what the client actually needs.
This is the difference between a website that launches and one built to keep flying.
Performance, SEO, and decision-making clarity
Performance and SEO weren’t optimizations added at the end.
They were part of the system from day one.
The site was optimized for speed, accessibility, and on-page SEO from the ground up, reaching near-perfect performance scores and a clean indexing setup. Security, redirects, and search visibility were handled early so they wouldn’t become future problems.
The results speak for themselves.
Self-hosted tracking and real visibility
To support long-term ownership, analytics were treated as part of the system, not an afterthought.
Instead of relying on third-party platforms that trade insight for convenience, I implemented a self-hosted, privacy-first analytics setup. This allows the business to understand how people actually move through the site (what they explore, where they pause, and what leads them to engage) without compromising performance or visitor trust.
Tracking was configured around meaningful actions rather than vanity metrics. Book views, activity downloads, purchases, and key navigation paths were defined as clear events, making the data immediately useful for decision-making.
There are no cookies banners, no dark patterns, and no data leaks.
Just clean signals that belong entirely to the business.
The result is not more data, but better questions, and clearer answers.
The data belongs to the business.
And it’s actually useful.
Outcome
The result isn’t just a website.
It’s a system that knows what it’s for.
A place where content, commerce, email, and future growth work together instead of competing for attention.
This is the kind of work I enjoy most:
not adding features, but aligning moving parts so the website supports the business rather than the other way around.
Quietly, intentionally, and with room to grow.
K B Osher’s Feedback
“I loved working with Sam throughout the whole process!
His insight and ability to break down exactly what was needed and what was most important was so valuable. He helped me understand things I didn’t even know to think about. His creativity, while keeping the essence of what I wanted and who I am, worked out perfectly!
I couldn’t be happier with the results!”
K B Osher
Children’s Book Author
Final Thoughts
This project wasn’t about adding more features or building a louder storefront.
It was about giving the author a space she could truly own. One where stories, activities, and relationships grow together over time, without being dependent on external platforms to exist or evolve.
Every decision, from structure to content to infrastructure, was made to reduce friction, support clarity, and leave room for growth without forcing it.
This is the kind of work I care about most:
designing systems that feel simple on the surface, but are quietly doing meaningful work underneath.
Systems that don’t just launch,
they last.
If you’re thinking about what your website should truly own,
I’d love to explore that question with you.
Let’s rock
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