Note from Elizabeth: Several years ago, when I took the self-publishing plunge, the scariest part of the process for me was making an investment in my writing without the promise of a payout. What's more, at the time, it was a sort of wild west of providers. Connecting with a cover designer or a freelance editor or a solid formatter was a word-of-mouth process…and if someone had good word-of-mouth, they were totally booked.

Ricardo Fayet reached out to me last July about what he called a “curated self-publishing marketplace” and wanted to know if I'd chat with him on the phone about his start-up and a little on my thoughts of what self-publishing authors would find useful.

Reedsy is now available to authors as a tool to find professionals for our books. What's more, it's currently free for authors. (And, as a note, I'm not associated with Reedsy in any way aside from a beta view of the marketplace.)

Presenting Reedsy: where authors meet the best publishing professionals

by Ricardo Fayet, @RicardoFayet, @ReedsyHQ

“The fast-growing self-publishing environment is attracting all kinds of start-ups and companies that intend to serve authors. However, most of them seem to aim at the periphery of what authors really need, which in my opinion, is primarily editors and cover designers.” — Joanna Penn

Joanna absolutely hit the nail on the head, and I started Reedsy to properly and completely address this gap in today’s self-publishing marketplace.

The seismic shift in our industry toward indie book production means that some of the best editors and designers around are now working freelance. These professionals are approaching the business of books with sky-high standards and, in some cases, industry experience that first-time authors will find invaluable. The best editors and designers out there do not struggle to find work, and they certainly don’t dignify bargain-basement bidding marketplaces like Elance or Odesk with their presence.

In so many ways, these professionals are the unsung heroes of the self-publishing revolution. They’re the ones who transform “this thing you’ve kinda been working on” into a bona fide novel. And now that indies are “running with the big dogs”, this kind of work is practically invaluable.

So how is an indie author meant to find the kind of high-level freelancers she needs to make her book spectacular?

Enter Reedsy.

We’ve assembled a tightly curated marketplace of the best editors, proofreaders, illustrators and designers in the world. From over 3000 applications received since last year, we have hand-picked about 200 of them to create a Reedsy profile, where they list their genre specialisation, work experience, portfolio, etc. Authors can browse the marketplace according to their needs and genre, then select up to 5 freelancers to ask for a sample (for editing) and a quote.

We at Reedsy like to think of ourselves as much more than a marketplace or intermediary. We are a technology company at heart (take a look at our gorgeous interface, and you’ll see what I mean). We’re using our tech resources to make authors’ and freelancers’ lives easier. We’re adding value to collaborations through a built-in a set of cloud-based project management tools that range in purpose from the aforementioned quoting/sampling system to messaging, file-sharing and versioning, and multi-currency payment capacities. All of that in one place, designed with intuitive use in mind.

As vetted freelancers keep joining our network on a daily basis, we’re preparing some nice surprises for the next few months: we’ll be adding publicists, and vetting them incredibly carefully. We’ll also be releasing some exciting author profiles (aggregating Amazon, Goodreads and blogging platform information). Finally, we’re working on a brand new writing and editing tool that we’re confident will dramatically improve the way authors and editors work together.

So that’s Reedsy–quite simply, the best place for authors to meet freelance publishing professionals. Oh, and one last thing: for now, Reedsy is 100% free to authors.

Check us out here and let us know if you have any questions here.