#65 - Matthew Cobb of Reedsy

08/30/16 • 31 min

Reedsy's ambition extends beyond just being a place where authors can connect with publishing professionals; it's a place for collaborative tools and with an ultimate goal of assisting the publication process right from the first written word of an author's manuscript right through the typesetting, publishing and marketing of the final book.

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, interviews Matthew Cobb, co-founder and lead designer of Reedsy regarding the platform and the amazing online Book Editor tool.

In the interview Mark and Matthew discuss:

What Reedsy is (a marketplace for authors and editors, designers, etc to meet and collaborate as well as an online tool that allows authors to both collaborate in the creation process, but also produce production ready ePub and print on demand files)
How the filters allow an author to find the right professional to provide the right editorial services to them, and the quote request process where you can request a free quote from up to 5 different matching professionals
The curatorial process by which editors and other professionals apply to be within this ecosystem and are vetted and approved by the team at Reedsy
How Reedsy doesn’t only handle the introduction to the publishing professional but also the transaction (ie, payment to the editor), but also the file transfer, as well as customer support and assistance
Details about the online book editor and how it was born out of the frustration inherent when one of the founders wanted to publish a book
The issues inherent with trying to use WORD to typeset and prepare a book for print-readiness along with how an author can simply copy and paste their WORD file document into the editor and it’ll preserve all the formatting, including headings, alignment, etc
The ability for editors and authors to work together collaboratively online using the Reedsy Book Editor
The use of templates that authors select, when they’re ready to export their print ready or ePub format file
Whether or not this free editor is good for other formats such as children’s books, cookbooks, or other fixed layout types of book formats
A bit about the four co-founders of Reedsy and the internal Reedsy family of employees
Matthew’s favourite advice for a beginning writer to get on the right track for success

Mark then talks about the importance of finding the right person for the right job (ie, an author looking for just the right editor) and relates that to both the story of Goldilocks (how she kept trying things until she found the one that was just right), as well as the concept of asking a more detailed question in order to get the most optimum answer for you.

Links of Interest:

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, interviews Matthew Cobb, co-founder and lead designer of Reedsy regarding the platform and the amazing online Book Editor tool.

In the interview Mark and Matthew discuss:

What Reedsy is (a marketplace for authors and editors, designers, etc to meet and collaborate as well as an online tool that allows authors to both collaborate in the creation process, but also produce production ready ePub and print on demand files)
How the filters allow an author to find the right professional to provide the right editorial services to them, and the quote request process where you can request a free quote from up to 5 different matching professionals
The curatorial process by which editors and other professionals apply to be within this ecosystem and are vetted and approved by the team at Reedsy
How Reedsy doesn’t only handle the introduction to the publishing professional but also the transaction (ie, payment to the editor), but also the file transfer, as well as customer support and assistance
Details about the online book editor and how it was born out of the frustration inherent when one of the founders wanted to publish a book
The issues inherent with trying to use WORD to typeset and prepare a book for print-readiness along with how an author can simply copy and paste their WORD file document into the editor and it’ll preserve all the formatting, including headings, alignment, etc
The ability for editors and authors to work together collaboratively online using the Reedsy Book Editor
The use of templates that authors select, when they’re ready to export their print ready or ePub format file
Whether or not this free editor is good for other formats such as children’s books, cookbooks, or other fixed layout types of book formats
A bit about the four co-founders of Reedsy and the internal Reedsy family of employees
Matthew’s favourite advice for a beginning writer to get on the right track for success

Links of Interest:

Previous Episode

#64 - How Alpha Female Robyn Baldwin Healed a Broken Heart with Writing

In Episode 64 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Robyn Baldwin, author of Love Lost, Life Found: 8 Practical Steps to Heal a Broken Heart.

In the interview, Mark and Robyn discuss:

Robyn’s past work as a Senior Integrated Marketing Manager
How the book itself has been three years in the making – first and foremost as a journaling experience; and then, later, in response to others, who, in reading her journal, thanked her for sharing it as it helped them
The specific identification of the target audience for this book: someone who has called off a wedding, gone through a divorce or left a toxic relationship
The additional target for this book might be younger women for whom this book might help them to identify what a difficult relationship looks like so they never have to put themselves in that situation
How the book might also be targeted at a “13 year old Robyn” as something that she wished she could have had
The underlying message of the book that there is a life to be found after all the “broken bits”
The role of social media in both her demise as well as in her healing: Such as the “false picture” that she was actively portraying even while in the midst of the dark depths of the toxic relationship and then how
The role of Pinterest in the time leading up to the wedding, and then, later, the more important role of how she used Pinterest to find motivational quotes
The significance of the release date for this book, August 25th, and how a comment from her mother led her to wanting to change, or take control of that date as a positive thing
Robyn’s identification as an Alpha Female and the inspiring Alpha Female Podcast that she hosts
Her definition of an Alpha Female: An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony
How Robyn’s background in marketing helped her with the aspect of planning out the book and the book launch path
The timeline, schedule and check-lists that Robyn managed within Asana for the both the self-publishing steps as well as the marketing efforts leading up to the launch of the book
Robyn’s advice for other first-time authors for where and how they should consider starting
How a lot of the promotional efforts Robyn is participating in aren’t about promoting the book, but about sharing valuable pieces from the book with various online sources: such as the “calling off a wedding check-list”
An interesting revelation of how, when Robyn reached out to literary agents regarding the book, she was told her platform reach (which was in the realm of 20,000 people), wasn’t large enough and that she should consider self-publishing it
The authentic and organic way that the book itself was woven into Robyn’s personal and social media presence
Robyn’s use of Gary Vaynerchuk’s concept of “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook” - from his book of the same name

Next Episode

#66 - How Authors can get an Agent with Literary Agent Sarah Heller

Recorded at Kobo's headquarters, this episode features Toronto-based literary agent Sarah Heller, from the Helen Heller Agency. Why did Sarah become an agent? What are some benefits to being an agent in Toronto? What are some key tips for authors planning to query an agent? Tune in as Sarah and US Manager Christine Munroe discuss all of this and more.

Sarah has a background is in fine arts, but her mother (Helen) started the agency in 1988 so she grew up with publishing in the background. Sarah joined the agency 11 years ago.
Growing up she always loved reading, was surrounded by books, and all of that fell into place when she started agenting.
Why Sarah loves working in Toronto; it offers the benefit of being easily accessible to other international publishing centres, New York, and London, but is separate enough that there’s a vibrant Toronto/Canadian writing and publishing community.
Why she loves being an agent. She can wear many hats – introduce people and projects to one another, dig into the creative process with edits, negotiate contracts.
“With the advent of being able to publish quickly online...it’s a very viable way of publishing your book and doing well with it financially and critically.”
She helps her authors make best use of all of their work. Many authors have projects stowed away that haven’t been published, or have gone out of print, so there’s great new potential in digital publication.
Their agency manages a KWL account and helps authors publish digitally to Kobo. “The landscape is so fluid that you can publish a book online...that can then retroactively be picked up by a publisher if that’s ultimately what an author wants... There are also cases of certain territories not having access to a book that now they do.”
They want to take advantage of all opportunities to help their authors advance their careers.
How to stand out when querying an agent:
Get the name of the person you’re addressing your query to. Never, “Dear Sir or Madam” (no “sirs” at their agency, for example!).
Research what kind of books the agency handles – and does not handle.
Brief and to the point query letter, synopsis and your background.
No gimmicks necessary.

Sarah Heller has developed an internationally and New York Times bestselling list. She specializes in establishing new authors with a focus on front list commercial YA and adult fiction. Sarah received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University, and is a graduate of the Advertising Design program of the Ontario College of Art and Design.