A Cooperative Press for Indie Authors discussion

A member has asked if we could have a page to advertise editing and other for pay services on the IACP webpage. I am not sure what the legal ramifications would be. It would be necessary to state that IACP members do not endorse any such ads, nor carry any legal obligation for the quality of the services or the satisfaction of contracts. Please share your thoughts.

A.

Surely you must make this disclaimer. I would go one step further. I would advise members offering services that ethical conduct would be expected, and if valid complaints were lodged, their names would be removed. It should be that if anyone approaches IACP, that they are in a safe place and not victims of so many hustlers we see trying to get the indie author's buck.

Morris wrote: "Surely you must make this disclaimer. I would go one step further. I would advise members offering services that ethical conduct would be expected, and if valid complaints were lodged, their names ..."

Exactly! There are a myriad of supposed indie collectives that in the end are just hustles to sell editing, marketing, and artwork services, often of questionable quality. The purpose of IACP is something entirely different. The purpose here is to create a quality "brand" with an internet presence through which member authors can improve and promote their work. The website itself is not intended to "make money".

Right, exactly. How many times have we seen threads and indie authors say, "is this legit or a hustle?" I have received thousands of emails from anyone and everyone I have never met asking if I want to subscribe to a service, editing, marketing, cover creation, you name it. I even had someone from India email me that my book cover sucks and they can get me in Amazon's top 100 in my genre, for some money. As soon as I copyrighted my book, vanity publisher Dorrance bothered me for months.

What is good, is that IACP has a presence on goodreads, which is an Amazon affiliate. We can get to know one another through posts on the forum, and through each person's dealings with others, and therefore build a reputation and trust.

Maybe we can have a feature where an editor, beta reader or artist as well as their client, makes an good faith agreement and posts on IACP. Once the work is complete, the customer rates the service provided, and IACP can award a provider rating, similar to Angie's list. This way, you are not getting involved with the moneymaking end, simply holding providers to a standard of excellence and helping the legitimate ones build a reputation in the indie community.