Reedsy

Reedsy is a British online author services firm based in London which serves as a bridge uniting authors and publishing freelancers in the self publishing industry.[3][4][5][6] The firm has no physical office location but operates remotely via cloud computing.[7][8] In 2019 the firm has a staff of 25, and has 150,000 authors in its community and 1,500 editors and designers and marketers and ghostwriters.[9] The firm takes a 20% cut of each contract between authors and freelancers (10% from the author, 10% from the editor).[10]

Reedsy offers tools and services to assist both authors and freelancers which include training courses to help authors navigate the self-publishing process,[11][12][13] as well as online software tools to help authors convert their manuscript files to files suitable for publishing e-books, such as EPUB and PDF formats.[14][13] It offers authors a free book editing tool[15][16][13] as well as a web page to help them promote their books on the site.[17][13] The platform offers 30 free online courses to help authors with book development.[13]

The firm vets the credentials of story editors, cover designers, ghost writers,[18] marketers and other freelancers, by verifying their previous work experience for mainstream publishers as well as examining their overall track record in the publishing industry.[14] The firm gets applications from hundreds of freelancers but only accepts a few, and allows "only the publishing world's elite" to list with their service, according to a report in Fast Company magazine.[19] According to one report, 95% of Reedsy's freelancers have worked in the past for one of the Big Five publishers.[20] In addition, the firm verifies the credentials of writing contests to help writers avoid wasting time with fake contests and prizes.[21]

Typically an author can request free quotes from freelancers, and if an agreement is made, subsequent development such as editing and formating can be handled entirely through Reedsy's website, with authors and freelancers collaborating online.[22] According to statistics compiled by the firm, the average cost for copyediting a 60,000 word manuscript was $1020, proofreading was $540, and cover design was $700.[23]

Reedsy began in 2014 after being funded by Seedcamp,[24] founded by Emmanuel Nataf, Richard Fayet, Matthew Cobb and Vincent Durand,[24] with an initial funding of $1.25 million.[9] A competitor to Reedsy is the New York-based firm Bibliocrunch.[25] Self publishing was expanding at a rapid pace, and yet it was difficult for authors to find qualified assistants to help them get their books in good shape, as well as learn what to do; so the firm became an online platform to not only connect authors with freelancers but to help authors learn about self publishing, and to help them promote their self-published books.[13] The firm expanded; in 2016, the Reedsy community included approximately 20,000 authors and 500 freelancers;[26] in 2019, there were approximately 150,000 authors in the community and 1,500 freelancers.[9]

While the firm is headquartered in London,[24] it is a "completely officeless business" such that its staff is physically distributed in different locations, and conducts business via cloud computing.[7]