THE ZORY STORY

Hi! I’m Kate, and this is my husband, Matthew. Together, we’re two of Zory’s co-founders. And this is the true story of how our romance started, grew, and eventually became our life’s work—a project bigger than either of us could have ever imagined.

MEET CUTE

Back when Tinder was not yet an undisputed hookup app, we both swiped right. Several dates, bookstore visits, deep conversations, and teasing remarks later, I knew he was my person. The lumps in his head fit the holes in mine.
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Fast forward through the next six years.

We moved in together, got engaged, married, bought our first home, had a couple’a babies. Including taking advantage of my frumpy-stage pregnant belly and his bald head for the ultimate HP-Universe Villain couple costume. Living the dream, baby.

By 2020, I’d hit my groove as an editor when I decided to give authorship a go. But once I was deep into my first draft, I couldn’t decide between two ways my character could go next. Both would be well-motivated. Both would achieve the goal. One had more of a cost.
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And the idea that would develop into Zory was born.

THE IDEA

Aaaaand then promptly moved on.

Because, yeah, how cool would it be to be able to write a modern day choose your path romance? But I wasn’t about to actually make that. Not when we had an infant and were expecting a newborn within a month.

Enter Matthew, who came back a week later having done a veritable ton of market research, designed mockups, and convinced me that between his paternity break and the baby “sleeping” (lol), we could totally try to see if the idea had merit.

I blame pregnancy hormones and a lack of sleep on agreeing—it certainly wasn’t the logical part of my brain. And I’m so glad I did.

I called up my long-time mentor, editor Brenda Chin, and asked her if this idea was bonkers. If it had any merit.
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But she said the industry is ripe for something like this. That a new way for authors to monetize and for readers to engage would be awesome. The timing was right for the industry, at least. If not for me personally. We had a newborn and barely-two-year-old at home. Neither of whom slept. (Neither of whom sleep well even now!)

Not to mention, if we were to create a whole new way for people to read, we needed money to fund this thing. Which meant we’d have to sell our house, use the profit we made from it, quit our jobs, and move to a different state to move in with my parents to do this thing.

We’d have to be bonkers to ever even consider it.

LEAVING THE SHIRE

GOING FOR IT

I blame the hormones, really. That, coupled with being a Capricorn (for all you astrology geeks out there—I’ve got it bad. It’s a Cap stellium. Sun and Rising included).

Next issue? How to raise the money needed to see it through.

Matthew already had an answer. Kickstarter. We’d use some of the profit from the sale of our house to make a video—a real one. With a production company and everything.

But. There was a minor (well, major) problem. Despite launching our Kickstarter and gaining hundreds of orders, raising over $18,000 in just a few days, our ad accounts were capped at $25 max-spend per day. It was a rookie mistake. Because we were rookies.

There was no way we’d hit our target without being able to spend more on ads to reach more readers.

Unsure what to do, we paused the campaign, planning to relaunch after we settled the ads-issue with Facebook (and hoping our backers would come back).

A lot of hopes. But the odds were stacked against us.

Then, the biggest plot twist of my life landed in my inbox.

THE PLOT TWIST

WAIT. WHAT??

Matt Hall, a game developer with massive success (most notably for building Crossy Road, among many other successful games), had seen our Kickstarter—an app idea he’d been wanting to work on for years, too! He saw an opportunity, and he and Clara Reeves reached out to us. AND THEY WANTED TO PARTNER WITH US.
They had all the technical skills to build the app, and we had the skills to develop the content.

It was a perfect match.

Our team had just leveled up big time.

It turns out, making interactive romance books was a passion project of both Matt and Clara’s, but they needed a path into the romance books industry.

So, we got to work. And we’ve been working day (and night) seven days a week for the past almost-four years. Our team is small, and we don’t move as fast as other startups (the ones with Silicon-Valley-sized investments). But, even though it’s been harder, it’s by design.

We’re self-funded because we want to be able to keep Zory’s focus on our readers and our authors—not on corporate profits.

THE LONG ROAD

I’d be lying if I said the past three years have been easy. Much the opposite.

This project has taken every ounce of our hearts, our time, and our personal finances (I haven’t taken a salary the entire time we’ve worked on this, and Matthew’s been working full time elsewhere and full time on Zory so we could afford expenses, daycare, etc.). 



Similarly, Matt Hall has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into Zory to build out the app, has spent two and a half years working full time to code it, etc. 


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We’ve all taken so much time and poured so much into Zory because we’re passionate about the next generation of reading. Bringing new opportunities to authors to better control their IP and empower them plus giving readers entirely new plot lines, endings, even love interests and stories keeps us going.

We believe in the big picture Zory is developing. And we are so thrilled to be at the stage of flipping the lights of this dark room on—of finally seeing the result of this labor of love. 

We’ve met so many incredible people along the way, many who have become friends we’ll cherish for life.

Being able to be surrounded by so many talented, creative, and inspiring people, all while playing a part in the future of the publishing industry, is a dream come true.

We brought Zory to the market the grassroots way, and now we need your help. Largely, the success of books has always been by word-of-mouth recommendations—and Zory is no different. We hope that you’re as excited about interactive reading as we are—and we hope you’ll share that excitement with your friends and reader groups.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

Our launch is the beginning of a whole new chapter. For Matthew and me. For Zory. And with your help, for the publishing industry as we know it.

And I can’t wait to see how you become a part of our story, too.

Are interactive books a way you’ll be reading in the years to come?

Just like our stories, you decide how the fate of Zory unfolds. The choice to help us be a success is yours. And we sincerely hope you will.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

-Kate