Field Notes

An independent publisher’s backlist, made browsable.

Year: 2024
Services: Website
E-commerce
Digital design
Client: Field Notes Press

Year: 2024
Services: Website
E-commerce
Digital design
Client: Field Notes Press

(Overview)

Field Notes Press publishes nonfiction about nature, place and work, about eight titles a year. Its backlist was the business, but online it was a single scrolling page of covers that sent buyers to large marketplaces. We built a website that sells the books directly and lets readers find the older titles.

Publishers sell to two audiences at once: readers buying one book, and booksellers, reviewers and festivals looking for information. The site serves both from the same book page, with the trade details kept in a quiet panel at the foot.

The design follows the press’s own books: cream paper, one typeface, generous margins. The covers do the colour.

Field Notes Press homepage shown on a screen — Fig. 01Homepage. New titles first; the backlist is one click away and organised by subject.

(Catalogue)

Every book gets a real page, not a product tile.

Each title has an opening extract, the author’s note, reviews, format and price, and links to the author’s other books. Readers can browse by subject, series or author, and every list can be sorted by publication date.

Editors add new titles in the CMS from the same metadata they already send to distributors, so nothing is typed twice.

Sell the reading, not just the book.

An open book seen from above — Fig. 02 — Extracts are set as text on the page, so they are searchable and accessible, never as scanned images.

A stack of paper seen from the side — Fig. 03 — Proof copies for the subscriber programme

A grid of eight book covers — Fig. 04 — Cover grid, used for subject pages and the newsletter

(Shop)

Checkout is a headless commerce platform styled to match the site, with no redirect to a separate store. Customers can choose a signed copy where one is available, and buy a gift subscription of four books a year.

The subscription is the press’s steadiest income, so it appears on every book page instead of being hidden in the menu.

Outcome: direct sales grew to [X]% of online revenue, up from [Y]% when most orders went through marketplaces.

Our ten-year-old titles are selling again because people can finally find them.

Publisher, Field Notes Press

Credits

Client: Field Notes Press, London
Design & development: Morrow Studio
Stack: Next.js, Sanity, headless commerce
Cover design: [Designer names]
Photography: [Photographer name]

(Overview)

A nonfiction publisher whose backlist was the business, but online it was one scrolling page of covers. We built a site that sells the books directly and makes older titles findable.

Readers and the trade use the same book page; booksellers’ details sit in a quiet panel at the foot.