When Reedsy founder and CEO Emmanuel Nataf reached out to me recently on LinkedIn, I was intrigued. A platform that integrates editing, design, and publication? No more worry about version control? Easily find creatives to help make your book happen?

 No way, I thought. But it’s true: it exists.

 While I’m new to the site, I don’t want that to stop me from sharing it with you. I asked Emmanuel to tell me a little more about what Reedsy is and how authors can use it to publish their books. I even started my own Reedsy profile. Below is his guest post.

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Reedsy is a home for top creative professionals working in publishing. We help you produce the perfect book, and try and make the whole process fun, easy, and enjoyable.

At the heart of it, we are a marketplace for literary talent: from editors and proofreaders, to cover designers and marketers, we have the very best working with us. Recently, we released a book production tool that allows you to easily craft a beautiful book.

We’ve helped create hundreds of books with successful collaborations, and we have more than 10,000 authors signed up. Self-publishing can be challenging, so we decided to explain how you can use our resources to solve some of the most commonly faced problems by self-published authors.

There is so much conflicting advice out there about what to do with my book. Proofreading, cover design, query letter review . . . what exactly do I need help with? How do I find the right person for the job?

Choosing a collaborator is a big decision. Without the resources of traditional publishers, you have an equal chance of finding either a great match or a terrible one.

Reedsy makes the process as easy for you as possible. Our services are divided into three main categories: editing, design, and marketing. In four easy steps, you can start collaborating:

From there, selecting a genre or entering a keyword will help you narrow down what you need and fast-forward straight to profiles that are most suited to what you’re looking for. You can also browse through the profiles of some of our professionals, which detail their past experience, who they’ve worked with, and what their strengths are. This will familiarize you with industry jargon and give you a clearer idea of the many specific services that form our collective expertise.

If you find it hard to make up your mind, you can depend on our super-friendly support team to recommend the best professionals for your project.

My uncle is an English professor and he liked my book. Do I really need to spend money on a professional editor?

Investing expert and best-selling author James Altucher has this to say about writing today: “The distinction now is no longer between ‘traditional publishing’ versus ‘self-publishing.’ It’s between professional versus unprofessional publishing.”

If you want to take yourself and your book seriously, we highly recommend getting a second opinion. Take a look at Reedsy’s guide to finding the perfect editor if you’re unsure about what you’re looking for.

Our interface makes searching for an editor simple. We ask for basic information about your book and let you contact up to five professionals of your choice with a request for a sample of work and price quote. We invested in a tech-heavy platform so you can share files, send messages, and make financial transactions—all within Reedsy.

 

I’m a writer, and I have no idea how to begin marketing my book. What does “building a platform” even mean?

Selling a self-published book is hard work. Building a platform refers to creating a social media presence, managing a blog, starting a newsletter, and more. You’re building your own brand. If you see all that through with the help of our experts, then the benefits of self-publishing often outweigh the costs.

What helps your journey get coveted press coverage? As with all questions worth asking, the answer is “it depends.” It could be an anecdote about how your book came to be, or something unique and inspirational about your personal life story.

Whatever the approach, you can depend on our experts to help you get to the spotlight. Our services are adapted to have maximum impact in a digital world. For instance, the traditional book tour is replaced with an innovative approach, the “blog tour.”

From first draft to book launch, Reedsy allows you to find help with securing coverage. We have handpicked the top 1 percent of the industry to work with you.

I typed my whole book in Word, but are professional manuscripts supposed to look a certain way? What should I do if I want to print physical copies?

Releasing the Reedsy Book Editor was an important milestone for us. No formatting issues, no outdated tracking systems, and you can create a professionally typeset book in a matter of seconds. Margins, spacing, font size— everything is taken care of automatically. Either type straight into the software, or copy and paste your existing document, and then export an ePub or even a print ready file.

The blogging platform Medium uses an interface where you start writing at the click of a button. Our book editor can be described as the Medium for writing books. Leave it to us to create an aesthetically pleasing book so you can get down to what you’re meant to do in the first place: write.

I need inspiration/I have writer’s block/I’m really struggling to finish my book.

Turning your draft into a finished product takes time, and you may get stuck along the way. Fortunately, there are many ways to unlock the situation. We encourage you to subscribe to our mailing list and check out our blog to find new ways of unwrapping your creativity and learn to add a bit of polish to your current work. Our intention is to build valuable resources for authors at every step of the way.

On our blog, we share tips on improving your craft, understanding the industry, and successfully selling your book. You’ll be the first to know about cool new product features, and be connected to one of the largest communities of readers and writers online. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Reedsy seems awesome, right? I’d love to hear your experience with the software. Thanks for joining this week, Emmanuel!

 

 

Emmanuel Nataf is the founder of Reedsy, a marketplace where authors work with the best editors, designers, and marketers to create beautiful books. Reedsy won the Bookseller award of the best publishing startup of 2015 and over 10,000 authors have already joined its community.