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the
client
In 2007, Tom Grundner and his wife, Mary Lou, founded Fireship Press, a publisher dedicated to publishing Nautical and Historical Fiction and Nonfiction works. Before he entered into the publishing industry, Tom spent 20 years as a college professor and entrepreneur. Tom’s best selling series of golf equipment books provided him with the opportunity to part ways with academia for good in 2007 and started Fireship Press. Soon after, he added a subsidiary of Fireship, Cortero Imprint, that focuses on publishing contemporary, Fantasy, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Sports, and Instructional works. After Tom died in 2011, Mary left her positions as an operations manager and an associate professor to take over the company and maintain Tom’s legacy. Mary has continued to grow the company showcasing new and experienced authors’ works with a passion for the sea and history.
the
goal
Fireship Press came to Hive Media Studio because their website was outdated, hard to navigate, and didn’t allow for purchasing. They wanted to make it more brand centered and more accessible for visitors to their site to purchase their authors works. Additionally, they wanted the website to do a better job of showcasing their authors. Finally, Friendship Press asked that Hive Media Studio distinguish between their main publishing line, Fireship Press, and their subsidiary line, Cortero Imprint.
the
solution
In total, there were 105 pages on the backend of the site, making the process of organizing and improving the navigability of the site a challenge. To do this, we created pages for the site that focused on the main categories under the Fireship Press brand nautical, historical,, and War/Military. We also created a page dedicated to the Cortero Imprint subsidiary. It was essential to create a different look and feel for the Cortero Imprint pages to differentiate between the two publishers. They wanted to utilize a different logo and color scheme for all of the content stemming from Cortero Imprint. We then divided the works for Fireship Press into pages that reflected their genre. Additionally, we created a section on the home page that Fireship Press can swap out depending on their promotional needs for the month, whether that be virtual book tours or upcoming releases. The biggest hurdle came from our client’s desire to have each of the works on their site link to Amazon, Booksamillion, and other booksellers allowing visitors to immediately purchase any title in the Fireship Press and Cortero Imprint Library. We tested three separate plugins, and eventually, we were able to find one that met the client’s needs. Finally, we developed a more extensive section of bios for each of the website’s featured authors linking their books to the respective author’s bio page, giving a second opportunity for purchasing from a favorite author.