Founder story
I became the customer first.
Quill & Reed came from my own experience trying to work out how to publish a book properly.
Why was Quill & Reed founded?
Quill & Reed was founded after its founder went through the publishing process with his own work, received multiple offers, turned down four of them and eventually signed a deal. The experience highlighted how difficult it can be for authors to compare publishing options and how much marketing responsibility often remains after publication.
The beginning
I wrote a book because I wanted to write a book.
I did not set out to become involved in publishing. Like most first-time authors, once the manuscript existed I discovered that finishing it was only the beginning of the next problem: what do I actually do with it?
So I did what most people do. I researched publishers. I read about submissions and sent them. I started having conversations, and then trying to compare what different companies were actually offering — which turned out to be harder than I expected.
Rights, costs, distribution and marketing were described in very different ways by different people. Some things that sounded similar were not. Some things that sounded included were optional. I spent a long time trying to work out what each route would really mean for the book, and for me.
The turning point
Four offers turned down.
I received offers. That should have made the decision easier. It did not.
I turned down four of them because the more I looked at the agreements and the services around them, the more questions I had. None of that was necessarily a failing on anyone else’s part. Different publishers suit different authors, and several of those offers may have been right for someone else. They were not clearly right for me, and I could not get to clear answers quickly enough to be sure.
- What am I paying for?
- What am I giving up?
- What marketing is actually included?
- What happens after publication?
- Who owns what?
- What does “distribution” really mean?
- What will I still have to do myself?
Getting an offer did not answer my questions. It made them more urgent.
The deal
Eventually, I signed.
I eventually found a publishing route I was comfortable enough to sign. I am not going to name it, or the companies I turned down — this is not a story about any of them.
By then I had learned something more important than which publisher I personally chose. I had learned how much responsibility still sits with the author.
The realisation
Publishing the book was not the same as building an audience.
Even with a publishing agreement in place, it became clear that I would need to think about a great deal myself.
- A website
- Social media
- A mailing list
- Content
- Reviews
- Launches
- Discoverability
- Interviews
- Reader relationships
- Ongoing visibility
I was likely to spend a great deal of time building the website, content, social presence and marketing around my own book anyway. And I already knew how to do those things. That raised the obvious question: what happens to authors who do not?
Why Quill & Reed
So I built the publisher I wanted to find.
Not a publisher that promises to make every book successful. Not a company that tells every writer they have been “selected”. Not a service that hides the true cost behind vague packages. And not a business that disappears once the files have been uploaded.
I wanted something clearer: professional publishing, appropriate specialist support, transparent pricing, author ownership, and ongoing help building the platform around the book.
Honesty
What I am not pretending to be.
It matters to me that you know where my experience starts and stops. I am not:
- A career literary agent
- A veteran publishing executive
- A bestselling author
- A professional copy editor
- A professional illustrator
- A decades-long book marketer
I have been through the process as an author, I understand commercial growth and digital marketing, and Quill & Reed brings in specialist expertise where specialist expertise is needed.
What I bring
Where my experience is useful
My background is commercial and digital. Those skills do not make me an editor or illustrator. They do make me very interested in what happens after a good book exists.
- Commercial strategy
- Sales
- Websites
- Digital marketing
- SEO
- Audience building
- Positioning
- Content
- Customer journeys
- Business development
Who does what
Me, and the specialists
The division is deliberate. I am responsible for the parts where my experience is relevant, and I bring in specialists for the parts where theirs is.
| I look after | Specialists handle |
|---|---|
| The proposition and customer experience | Developmental and copy editing |
| Commercial direction | Proofreading |
| The author relationship | Illustration |
| Platform and growth strategy | Cover production where specialist design is required |
| Quality oversight | Technical book production |
| Audiobook work, in future |
Talk to me
Thinking about writing a book?
If you have an idea but do not know what to do with it yet, you can book a short Book Idea Conversation with me. It is about fifteen minutes, there is no obligation to publish with us, and you do not need a finished manuscript.
My own books
The series I am writing: The Unread.
I write as Ashton Thomas. The Unread Trilogy is my own series — a near-future thriller about technology, power, memory and the consequences of systems that work too well.
Everything Quill & Reed offers, I am doing on my own books first: the planning, the editing, the cover, the formats, the website and building a reader list before release.
“No one told it to erase them.”
01 · Coming soon
The Unread
Who controls what is true? Truth, memory and erasure.
02 · Forthcoming
The Unchosen
Who decides what is right for us? Choice, consent and AI authority.
03 · Forthcoming
The Last Choice
Who has the right to decide humanity’s future?
