How Reedsy Can Help You Realise Your Publishing Dreams - Guest Post by Desiree Villena

Publishing independently doesn’t have to be stressful. Many aspiring authors rely on networks of fellow writers like Authors Electric to grow their knowledge of the publishing world and its multiple facets. Because we all know the labours of self-publishing don’t stop at writing — they also involve editing, designing, and marketing your book. 

But not everyone has a support network at their fingertips. Many talented writers have no idea where to start with self-publishing (or even traditional publishing) and need information on some of the more technical aspects of making your book available to the public. For anyone looking to learn about publishing, I’m here to tell you a bit about Reedsy’s marketplace and free educational resources. 

What is Reedsy? 

Reedsy is a digital marketplace connecting authors with publishing professionals (editors, designers, illustrators, marketers, and even ghostwriters). You can browse the handpicked profiles of some of the most experienced experts in publishing by looking through their portfolios, previous clients and projects, and find the person most relevant to your genre, niche, and specific writing project. 

To make the most of the marketplace, start your search by filtering for collaborators with a track record in your genre. Prestigious job titles and accolades are lovely, but I assure you they won't matter as much as experience in the type of book you want to publish. 

Instead, look for someone well-versed in the needs of your genre, and with whom you’ll be temperamentally compatible. If you’re writing a centaur romance with dialogue inspired by Jane Austen, for example, you’ll benefit from any editor with experience in romance/fantasy cross-genre fiction or Regency historical fiction/romance. With that in mind, feel free to get creative with your searches!

You can often tell from a professional's profile whether you'll be a creative fit, but you can also contact them and ask for additional samples or ideas to help you make a fully informed decision. This way, you’ll be able to assemble a publishing team perfectly customized to you. Reedsy can be your one-stop-shop for everything your book requires. 

What about Reedsy’s free resources? 

Aside from helping authors find talented professionals to help fulfill their writerly dreams, we’re also firmly committed to providing all writers with free educational resources and helpful tools. We believe that knowledge is power and that self-publishing information should be freely available to anyone, not hidden behind prohibitive fees, in line with the spirit of independent publishing. For that reason, I want to quickly share some of our most popular resources with you. 

1. The Reedsy Book Editor 

The Reedsy Book Editor is our free tool for writing and typesetting your book. It automatically formats your book so that it’s ready to print or publish as an ebook, without looking like it was typeset by an amateur on MS Word. There’s no catch, either — no limited trial period or paid premium version. It’s entirely free because we think all authors deserve to have their books appear as sleek and professional as possible, without breaking the bank — definitely the resource I’m personally proudest of! 

2. Guides to essential publishing subjects 

From 101 guides for total beginners to walkthroughs on honing your craft and promoting your book, our blog is the place to go if you’re looking for free, detailed, and friendly advice. We’ve worked with hundreds of authors (many of whom have been debut authors), so we use our blog to share insights on a great range of topics, much like Authors Electric. Here are some examples of our guide posts: 

● How to Plan a Novel: From Idea to First Draft in 7 Tips 

● How to Write a Nonfiction Book in 6 Steps: Finally Finish That Manuscript! 

● How to Start Writing a Book Today: Goodbye, Procrastination! 

3. Live webinars with industry experts 

If you head to our YouTube channel, you’ll find not only videos on the subjects covered on our blog, but also a large number of free live webinars with industry experts. Two popular recurring series are First Line Frenzy, in which a professional editor critiques the opening lines of viewers’ stories, and my personal favourite,
Cover Critique, where — you guessed it — a professional cover designer evaluates covers submitted by indie authors. 

Again, these are completely free, and intended to educate viewers, whether or not their own submissions are selected. (You can sign up for our newsletter if you want to get notified whenever a new webinar is announced, and for a chance to submit your own work.) 

4. Free learning courses on all things publishing 

As well as those webinars, we also have a number of free courses on various publishing subjects ranging from marketing a children’s book and book design to using Amazon Ads as an author. These expert-taught courses last 10 days each and take the form of short email lessons, delivered to you each morning so you can read them while you sip your coffee. There’s also a quiz at the end of each course, in case you love to test your own knowledge, like me. 

5. Weekly writing contest based on set of prompts 

Finally, we run a weekly short story contest with a new set of prompts every week. It’s free to enter and offers a prize of $50 — and you can check out our treasure trove of creative writing prompts past and present regardless of whether you feel like entering the contest. That said, all submitted stories are published on our platform, where they can reach thousands of eager readers every week, so I really think it’s worth a try! 

So what does Reedsy not do? 

It might sound like we do lots of different things, but we’re actually pretty focused on just one mission: equipping authors for their publishing journeys. We don’t publish books, we don’t print them, and we certainly don’t distribute them. We also don’t charge for any of our educational materials. I hope this introduction to Reedsy is helpful to Authors Electric readers — best of luck with all your publishing endeavours!

Desiree Villena is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the world's best publishing professionals. In her spare time, Desiree enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. She's very passionate about indie publishing and hopes to help as many authors as possible achieve their dreams!