Reedsy vs My Stories Matter: Which memoir service is right for you?

If you want to turn your life story into a professionally finished book, both Reedsy and My Stories Matter can help. But they work in very different ways.

Reedsy is a marketplace where authors can find and hire individual publishing professionals, including editors, book designers, ghostwriters, marketers, and production managers.

My Stories Matter is a specialist memoir service designed to help people turn their memories, writing, and photographs into a finished physical memoir.

The short answer

• With Reedsy, you build your publishing team.
• With My Stories Matter, the memoir service is already built around you.

Reedsy may suit you if you want to self-publish commercially and choose individual publishing professionals for different parts of your project. My Stories Matter may suit you if you want a professionally designed hardcover memoir without having to manage the publishing process yourself.

There is some overlap between the two, but the overall experience is quite different.

What is reedsy?

Reedsy is a large publishing marketplace connecting authors with freelance publishing professionals.

Depending on your project, you can hire:

• Editors and proofreaders
• Cover and interior book designers
• Ghostwriters
• Illustrators
• Marketers and publicists
• Translators
• Production managers

You choose the services you need, browse professionals, send project requests, receive quotes, and decide who you want to work with.

Reedsy says clients can request quotes from up to five professionals at a time. Its marketplace also charges clients a service fee, generally 10% on the first $5,000 spent with an individual professional.

This gives you a lot of choice and flexibility. It also means you need to make more decisions yourself.

What is My Stories Matter?

My Stories Matter is specifically designed for people creating personal memoirs and family life story books. Rather than selecting different publishing professionals yourself, you work through one memoir-focused service.

The standard package includes:

• 1:1 human support
• A dedicated personal book designer
• A custom cover and interior
• Unlimited photographs
• A premium scratch-resistant hardcover
• Printing management
• Review of the book before production

The package currently costs $450 as a one-time payment. The aim is to make the publishing side of creating a memoir much easier to manage.

You do not need to know the difference between typesetting, trim sizes, print specifications, or production management before you begin.

The biggest difference: A marketplace vs a memoir service

With Reedsy, you decide which professionals you need and hire them individually. You might use an editor, cover designer, interior designer, or production manager - or do some of that work yourself using tools such as Reedsy Studio.

My Stories Matter takes a more managed approach. The service is already structured around creating a memoir, from organizing your material and designing the book through to printing and delivering the finished hardcover.

Reedsy offers more choice. My Stories Matter requires less project management from you.

There are several ways to get professional help with a memoir. Our guide to memoir writing services and the different options available compares the main approaches

How do the costs compare?

My Stories Matter charges $450 for its standard memoir package, including book design, personal support, photographs, printing management, and the finished hardcover.

Reedsy works differently. You choose and hire the professionals you need separately.

Using Reedsy’s published figures, a $740 memoir cover plus about $800 for interior design comes to roughly $1,540, or around $1,694 after a 10% client fee, before printing.

A cheaper Reedsy route is available: Reedsy Studio can format a simple, mainly text-based book for free. The difference is that My Stories Matter bundles professional design, support, photographs, printing and production into one fixed package, while Reedsy’s cost depends on what you hire professionals to do.

If you want a broader breakdown of editing, design, self-publishing and guided-service costs, see our guide to how much it costs to publish a memoir.

Book design and photographs

Family memoirs often contain many photographs, documents, and other visual material, which can make professional interior design particularly important.

With My Stories Matter, unlimited photographs are included and a dedicated designer works on how your stories and images appear within the book.

Reedsy also has professional designers capable of creating sophisticated, image-heavy layouts. The difference is that you find and hire that designer yourself, while with My Stories Matter the design work is already part of the service.

What happens when the book is ready to print?

Another important difference is where the service ends. Reedsy designers commonly prepare files that are ready for professional printing or upload to a print-on-demand provider. Reedsy's own Studio software similarly creates a print-ready PDF that you can upload to major print-on-demand services.

That approach makes sense for a self-publishing author who wants to control where and how their book is printed and distributed.

My Stories Matter manages the printing process as part of the service. The finished product is a full-color hardcover book, rather than simply a set of print-ready files. Each book is also hand-inspected before being sent to the customer.

What if your memoir also needs editing?

Both services can help, but again the model is different. Reedsy has a large marketplace of professional editors offering different levels of editing, including editorial assessments, developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading.

According to Reedsy's 2026 data, professional editing for an 80,000-word book typically ranges from around $1,920 to $4,560, depending on the type and scope of editing required.

For someone preparing a memoir for commercial publication, that depth of editorial expertise can be extremely valuable. My Stories Matter offers proofreading and editing as optional additions to its standard memoir package, with a typical cost much lower than Reedsy’s average.

The right choice again depends on the project. A memoir intended for sale through bookstores may require a very different level of editorial work from a personal memoir primarily being created for children and grandchildren.

If you already have a manuscript, our guide on what to do after you’ve written your memoir explains the next steps from editing through to book design and printing

Where reedsy has an advantage

Reedsy is a very strong option if you want to approach your memoir as a professional publishing project. It may make more sense if you:

• Plan to commercially self-publish your memoir
• Want to sell through Amazon, bookstores, or other retailers
• Need substantial developmental editing
• Need marketing or publicity
• Want to assemble your own publishing team
• Are comfortable managing different professionals and suppliers

If your aim is to launch and market a commercial book, Reedsy’s wider range of publishing specialists can be a major advantage.

Where My Stories Matter has an advantage

My Stories Matter is more specialized. It is designed around one particular goal: helping ordinary people turn their memories into a professionally finished book.

That makes it particularly suited to someone who:

• Wants to preserve their life story for their family
• Has stories or photographs but does not know what to do next
• Wants personal guidance
• Wants a professional to manage book design and printing
• Wants a premium physical hardcover
• Does not want to coordinate several freelancers
• Wants the whole process kept relatively simple

For a personal or family memoir, that narrower focus can make the whole process much simpler.

If you’re comparing different levels of support, our guide on prompt-based vs guided memoir services explains how the approaches differ.

Reedsy or My Stories Matter: Which should you choose?

Choose Reedsy if your priority is assembling your own professional publishing team, particularly if your memoir is intended for commercial publication.

Choose a specialist memoir service such as My Stories Matter if your priority is preserving your memories in a professionally designed physical book without having to manage the publishing process yourself.

Reedsy gives you more choice over individual publishing professionals. My Stories Matter gives you a simpler route from your memories and photographs to a finished family memoir.