Ready Chapter 1 helps writers connect with editors

TAMPA, Fla. — A Bay Area startup is helping bridge the gap between aspiring authors and potential publishing deals.

The company is called Ready Chapter 1, and it uses reviews and comments from other authors on its website to determine which story should catch an editor’s attention.

Even as a child, you would probably see Fred Koehler tapping the keys on his laptop, creating worlds from his imagination and life experience.

“There’s nothing really cooler than that,” he said.

Koehler loves writing so much that he says he was one of the youngest reporters at his hometown newspaper in Sebring.

“I started at 16, going to take photos of dogs available for adoption at the SPCA,” he remembers. “I saw my name in print and my ego never deflated.”

Because, for him and fellow writer and partner Sarah McGuire, there’s something so special about writing.

“My first book was published in 2015,” McGuire said. “I have since published another book. I just loved the whole writing process.

Although both are published authors and have had success writing things like children’s books, they say the process for writers to get their work in front of publishers and get it read isn’t easy.

“Think about your favorite talent show on TV and the lines that surround the building,” Koehler said. “This is what it’s like to try to break into the publishing industry. So you have tens of thousands of writers and so few golden tickets.

Part of the reason, Koehler and McGuire say, is that publishers are inundated with manuscripts.

So, these two writers decided to combine their literary talents with algorithms and crowdsourcing.

“We’re actually building bridges to publishing opportunities for these writers,” Koehler said.

They created Ready Chapter 1, a website where authors submit parts of their work to be reviewed by other writers on the site.

These aspiring authors essentially provide reviews and comments and rank articles on a scale of one to five, which allows Koehler and McGuire to know if there is anything worth passing on to editors.

“They create all this data,” Koehler said, “and we just analyze it.”

It has attracted the attention of publishers, such as Bushel and Peck Books in California, because they are able to look at the data compiled on Ready Chapter 1 and find writings that have already enjoyed success on that publishing platform. around two thousand users.

“To be able to provide the opportunity to publish a book, but also to have helpful feedback throughout that process, that’s huge,” McGuire said. “So we get the cream that rises to the top, but we help the people who want to rise to the top. We give them the tools they need to get there.

Community feedback is what helped these two authors become the writers they are today.

By creating this platform, they hope to expand opportunities for people creating their own world.

In mid-May, Ready Chapter 1 plans to hold a six-week competition in which one of the site’s highest-rated works will earn an automatic publishing deal from Bushel and Peck’s.

Right now, it’s free to use the site’s core forums to get more people to sign up and provide more data that will ultimately be more attractive for publishers to use to find better manuscripts.