Episode 19 • Jay Hartman

Untreed Reads was founded by Jay A. Hartman in 2008 as a way to promote ebooks, with an emphasis on independent authors and publishers. He has been writing about the ebook industry for 15 years and was previously the Content Editor for KnowBetter.com, one of the Internet’s oldest sites reporting on ebooks and epublishing. Jay and his business partner at the time were hired by Random House and Simon & Schuster to provide statistical data when both publishing houses were building their ebook divisions.

In addition to his years of writing material for KnowBetter, Jay graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Literature and has worked in the retail management sector for over 15 years. Early in his career, he was an on-air journalist for WVFS radio in Florida, and writer for the Florida Flambeau newspaper. He was also store manager for Waldenbooks for 4 years.

In his role at Untreed Reads, he has edited over 200 manuscripts and is author of the upcoming mystery series, The Stage Manager Mysteries.

Jay is known as a respected innovator in the ebook industry—constantly ahead of the curve. Because of his expertise and instincts, he is a regular speaker and interviewed expert on ebooks and all things in the ebook industry—at conferences in person and online, including Litquake; the University of Colorado, Boulder as a Keynote Speaker; and multiple writers groups.

With his love of literature and his knowledge of all aspects of the ebook industry, he is an author’s best friend in this industry. Because of his background and his nature, instead of doing what most companies do and building a business on what they “think” a customer wants, he listens to the customer and gives them not only what they want now, but anticipates what the customer will want 10 years from now—and gives it to them now.