Tampa Bay publishing startup partners with Barnes & Noble Press

Ready Chapter 1 (RC1), a startup platform for independent authors with a presence at Catapult in Lakeland and Embarc Collective in Tampa, recently joined forces with Barnes & Noble Press, the publishing arm of national bookseller Barnes & Noble.

RC1 was founded by authors for authors. Those seeking to be published can receive peer reviews and data-driven feedback to hone a story with the goal of making it a bestseller. Similarly, RC1 provides targeted information to publishers looking for specific kinds of stories. 

“As a start, RC1 will be actively promoted to the B&N Press community of writers through their regular newsletters, website, and other channels. The big opportunity is to use RC1's feedback exchange to help B&N identify which writers in their ecosystem are 'rising stars,' so to speak,” RC1 founder Fred Koehler says in a statement. “How does the community react to B&N Press stories? Which authors consistently get 5-star reviews? Once identified, B&N Press can promote high-potential writers to their entire ecosystem including their online store. For us, it means more writers swapping critiques on the platform, which helps drive our ecosystem.”

B&N Press is a digital and print self-publishing platform that provides authors tools to create, publish and distribute their books. It allows authors to retain ownership and control over their work while leveraging Barnes & Noble's distribution network.