A single home for stories written to last
Smith & Arnold is the shared literary home of Garry Smith and Danny Arnold — two former professors turned award-winning novelists of the American frontier. Over the past fifteen-plus years, they have published more than thirty novels, earned 12+ literary awards, and built a readership exceeding two million. While their stories had captivated readers worldwide, their growing body of work was spread across online retailers and social platforms, leaving no single destination where readers could fully explore their journey.
The challenge was to bring two celebrated voices together under one cohesive digital experience. We created a central platform where readers can discover their complete catalog, learn the story behind the authors, stay updated on new releases, and connect with them directly. The result is a website that not only showcases their legacy but also strengthens the long-term relationship they've built with readers through more than a decade of storytelling.
Garry's literary, character-driven fiction and Danny's frontier adventure series had each built their own following, but nothing online tied the two together as the shared body of work they actually are.
Historical fiction readers want to sample a voice before committing to it. Garry and Danny had thirty novels' worth of proof they could deliver, but no mechanism for a new reader to preview any of it.
With no central catalog, a reader who finished one novel had no clear path to the next, no series structure, no author story, no reason to come back beyond memory and luck.
Twelve-plus literary awards and two million readers is a real track record but with no site, none of it was visible to someone encountering Garry and Danny for the first time.
Give Garry and Danny's shared body of work one home worthy of it.
The goal was to build a site that introduced both authors as people and writers, organized their catalog the way readers actually browse — by series and collection — and closed the gap between discovering a book and owning it. From there, the real opportunity was retention: turning readers into a standing audience that hears from Garry and Danny directly, long before the next release hits shelves.
Individual, story-driven introductions to Garry Smith and Danny Arnold — their backgrounds, their process, and the distinct voice each brings to the shared catalog.
The catalog organized the way readers think about it: ongoing series like the Treasure Series, alongside standalone works like Gracie and the rest of their published library.
A free preview feature offering the opening chapter of select titles, letting readers sample Garry and Danny's voice before they commit to a purchase.
A direct path from browsing to buying, integrated with Amazon Books so a reader can move from a book's page straight to owning it.
Reader and critic testimonials placed alongside the books they speak to, giving new readers social proof at the exact moment they're deciding.
An email subscription built for retention: early access to new chapters, exclusive short stories, and invitations to private virtual readings with Garry & Danny — keeping readers close in the space between releases.
Smith & Arnold moved through a full-lifecycle engagement — from first understanding two writers' shared story to a live site ready to grow with their next release.
We started by getting inside Garry and Danny's catalog and history — their individual voices, their award record, and the story of two professors who became bestselling frontier novelists. We mapped how readers move between discovering a book, an author, and a series, and used that to define the site's core structure.
We developed a visual identity built to hold two writers under one shared name — typography, color, and imagery with real literary weight, evoking the frontier without leaning on cliché.
We mapped the entire website through high-fidelity wireframes, defining the author profiles, collections structure, First Look preview flow, store, and Private Circle sign-up while optimizing every user journey for the shortest path from curiosity to commitment. Once the experience was fully validated, we transformed those wireframes into a polished, production-ready interface supported by a cohesive design system, featuring clean typography, thoughtfully presented cover art, and an elegant visual language that feels as refined and intentional as the writing itself.
We built the website end-to-end on WordPress using the Elementor page builder, faithfully implementing the design system while giving Garry and Danny the flexibility to easily manage and update books, collections, and content as their catalog grows. Behind the scenes, we developed the core functionality powering the collections and catalog structure, First Look free-chapter preview experience, Amazon Books purchase integration, and the Private Circle email subscription pipeline, then deployed the platform on Hostinger for reliable performance and scalability.
Before launch, our QA team tested every page, preview flow, and purchase path across devices and browsers, with particular attention to how covers and preview content render — first impressions on a books site live or die by imagery.
We deployed the site to production on Hostinger, giving Garry and Danny a single, reliable home for their catalog, their story, and their growing readership going forward.
"Writing is not just about telling a story; it's about uncovering the truths we often keep hidden from ourselves."
Garry Smith, Co-Author
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