Reedsy Helps Indie Publishers Get Things Done

Self-publishing authors are the new Beanie Babies: everyone wants to grab them and cuddle with them/make money off of them. But what if you don’t have the editorial chops, design talent, or artistic skills to make a pretty or readable book? Reedsy is there to help.

Created by Emmanuel Nataf and Richard Fayet, the company is, to be fair, another in the long list of DIY publishing outfits. Like Tablo and Softcover, Reedsy offers a one-stop-shop for writers. However, the team has decided to create a services marketplace for authors who are looking for interior and cover designs as well as editing help.

The company received €30,000 from Seedcamp and Scottish publisher DC Thomson. They are raising a €500,000 round now. The company is still in private beta but you can check it out here to see what the fuss is about.

“Our main difference between us and other marketplaces is that we curate the supply side, and provide collaboration tools,” said Fayet. “So we’re also a “project management” platform for our editors, designers and marketers.”

“For all these reasons, we’re not actually targeting amateur authors, we’re targeting serious ones who want to make a living out of it,” he said.

The company aims to launch in two months and has over 1,000 beta users. They are also partnering with known authors.

Reedsy wants to do it all. In additional to editorial work, they also want to help in audiobook creation, translation, marketing, and promotion. While this may seem like a tall order, remember that many major houses outsource these very things in an effort to cut internal costs. By creating a set of tools for authors, Reedsy is aiming to recreate that ecosystem on a smaller scale, enabling the average indie author to gain a bit of leverage in an ever louder publishing world. Here’s hoping they pull it off.