Hey there!

Feel free to drop me a line

→

What is REAM? How did it come into being? 

...it all starts with a love story.

Michael Evans

CEO and Co-founder

• Author of 12 science fiction novels

• Student at Harvard and lives in the low country of South Carolina

• His fluffy golden doodle named Skye is so smart she can read books

Emilia Rose

Chief Author and Co-Founder

• Best-selling steamy romance author of 25+ novels

• Has had a membership for her readers for 3 years

• Her cats get jealous when she writes without them on her lap

Sean Patnode

CTO and Co-Founder

• Full-stack software developer with a decade of experience

• Loves building his own video games on the nights and weekends

• Has ducks in his backyard that he valiantly defends from wolves and foxes

The Ream Story…

Written by the CEO.

Let us set the scene.

You have been frustrated for years with endless obstacles... one big problem... that just won't go away. In fact, it's threatening to shut down your author business for no other reason than it doesn't agree with the stories you share with your readers.

Then you meet your knight in shining armor.

He promises to make your problems go away. Using magical spells and his raw strength.

And after thousands of hours and an entire year of fighting those monsters... he saves you.

He creates the safe, wonderful place you always dreamt of as your home.

_________

What if I told you that story was true?

That story is Ream's story.

Except, our knight wears t-shirts and jeans and deals in the magic of code. And he didn't just create that home for the love of his life... but for all of you...

Doing this is our dream. Create a place where Storytellers Rule the World. Where we can empower romance authors (never censor them!) and readers. Where we can create a space that my science fiction author self of 6 years always imagined:

One where technology is in partnership with authors and readers... not ruling over us.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... I'm definitely too excited. First, we have to slow down and take a big step back.

It's time to tell you, my book-loving friends, the story of Ream's founding.

And it all begins with one man... and one woman.

I promise this isn't a romance story.

Well, kind of...

Meet Emilia Rose. She's a steamy romance author who has had a membership for her readers for over three years. And she’s a co-founder of Ream.

But before there was Ream, Emilia was in college.

Studying late nights, preparing for graduate school applications, and writing serial fiction online as a hobby.

That hobby soon garnered her millions of reads on serial fiction apps. The comments piled in, the happy readers, and the attention... but there was no way to monetize her stories on the app.

Sean Patnode, her partner at the time (now her husband), told her to start a subscription and have her readers support her. As a long-time indie game developer, he had created subscriptions for fans of his work in the past.

Except, her first subscription flopped.

She started a new penname and started gaining momentum again.

When she started her subscription again, she had zero subscribers.

And then 1 person joined.

For weeks, it was just Emilia and the mysterious lone subscriber keeping her subscription/membership chugging.

Little did she know, that the lone subscriber was actually Sean Patnode.

Months later, that one member turned into many thousands more, and soon Emilia was able to pursue writing full-time.

But of course... Ream's story doesn't end there.

In fact, the genesis of Ream started much later.

After 3 years of running a membership for her readers, Emilia was tired of platforms not built for her needs as an author. A majority of her readers cited bad experiences with the subscription platform she used (it happens to be one that begins with a P) as their reason for unsubscribing.

She had to spend hours each month scheduling content. There was no eReader on-site for her readers to actually enjoy her stories in a pleasurable way.

And worst of all, her stories were regularly being censored on the platform. Her account had been shut down numerous times with the company forcing her to take down stories that involved steamy scenes no more wild than Game of Thrones.

But content fit for the screens of tens of millions of people worldwide wasn't fit for this platform and its white-tied investors.

Storytellers like Emilia, who wanted to have the power to connect with her readers, build a vibrant community of her fans, and get paid a sustainable income from writing her stories didn't belong anywhere.

After all, they never built the platform for fiction authors to begin with.

She was ready to leave.

That's when our hero enters the picture...

Sean Patnode has spent his days building client-side applications for enterprises like banks and hospitals for the last decade. And at night, he has been building fantastic game worlds in Unreal Engine, powered by subscription revenue of his own.

With Emilia needing a new home for her subscription, the thought hit him — why don't I create a platform for you?

So he started, coding a rough prototype in a few months, working nights and weekends to create the site of his wife's dreams.

That's when I met Emilia and Sean.

Emilia and I had both been recruited as partners with the same publishing technology start-up. I had spent the last year founding and working for creator economy start-ups while attending college at Harvard. After writing and publishing 12 sci-fi novels, I was obsessed with building a better future for creative people.

I was done with platforms that exploited my mental health as both an author, YouTuber, and a live streamer of 1000 hours in partnership with a Sean Parker company (first president of Facebook).

I also knew that the very fabric of social media on the internet was changing.

It was the rise of the Creator Economy. A shift in power away from monolithic platforms to small, meaningful digital communities that are owned and led by creators. I even wrote a book about this called Creator Economy for Authors: A Guide to the Future of Publishing.

Seeing this revolution, I knew there also needed to be a change in the infrastructure we have as fiction authors to distribute, monetize, and connect with the readers of our stories.

It felt like Emilia had cracked the code.

She was an author creator of the future. She just needed the tools to make her life easier and her readers happier. And a home that would support and uplift her instead of exploiting her and her readers.

And Sean was the sorcerer of code to create this future.

We had our team. We had our vision.

And we had an undying passion.

So we set off.

Summing up the last year would be impossible. From conferences in London and Vegas to chatting with literally 100 of you in private calls. From day 1, you helped not only to shape this vision but ignite and inspire our creative souls.

We kept working, strategizing, and building.

And after thousands of hours of coding and nearly a year of hard work, Sean (our sole engineer) completed Ream.

Of course, our work is just beginning.

Only book 1 in an epic saga we hope to continue creating for all of you over the coming years.

After devoting the last year of his life to creating Ream, Sean now gets to have the love of his life be the first person to enjoy it.

And it will change her author life and readers' lives forever for the better.

This is Ream's love story.

And it is our love for you, for storytelling, and for each other, that makes sharing this with you one of the greatest privileges of my life.

And the best part... it's just the beginning.

I can't wait to invite you to create this love story with us. To create a space filled with passion and care, rather than negativity and soulless metrics.

We are so grateful for your interest in Ream as the new home for you and your readers.

This was just our prologue.

It's time to write Chapter 1.

Together.