Yes, that’s right, Indies Unlimited is the finely tuned machine you think it is. Run by snarky yet lovable volunteers, we toil all day, every day, to bring you important, helpful, innovative, and original material – and to publicize your work – all for free.
What does all this benevolent goodness mean? Well, it means, of course, that you are at our mercy. We have your book, and if you ever want to see it again, go to the PayPal button at the right… Oh, wait, sorry…was that my out loud typing? Never mind. As I was saying, that means that things don’t always get done chop-chop here – well, not necessarily to everyone’s standards.
Lead-times on free features can run anywhere from two to four weeks. We don’t make a practice of acknowledging receipt of materials because honestly, we’re very busy. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that our audience doesn’t know about. Since it is the mission of Indies Unlimited to benefit the Indie Community, we actually take the time to review how each submitted book is presented, including the book’s description, the “Look Inside” preview, and even by checking the reviews if there are any. If a book or description has issues, we let the author know. All this takes a lot of time. If we’ve informed an author of a problem which needs to be corrected, once we’ve been notified of that correction, that query goes back into the mix in the order in which it was received – not back to the top of the list.
If a book makes it through the vetting process and materials for a feature are accepted, incomplete submissions throw a cog in the works. Cuss word in your Sneak Peek? Book description doesn’t follow guidelines? Forgot a purchase link? All those are going to put a submission down to the bottom of the list. The more work that needs to be done on a feature, the less likely our slaves…I mean, volunteers are going to want to do it.
So, please be patient and cooperative. Don’t want to wait for a free feature? Well, you are certainly welcome to pay for a ridiculously inexpensive advertisement. We hold two slots open each week for those. Don’t want to pay? That’s okay, too. But that means you’ll have to wait your turn. I’m sorry, we do not have music during your hold time, but how about using that time to look at all the cool staff articles, tutorials, and the other great stuff we have here? How about entering the weekly flash fiction challenge? There’s so much more to IU than just free promotional features.
Still confused? Perhaps this article will Help Us Help You better. We’ve also got an FAQ page just loaded with answers to the questions we know you have based on our powers of clairvoyance.
So grab a cup of coffee, make yourself comfortable, and stay a while. We think you’ll like what you find.
Well said. I hope this clarifies things and makes life easier for you. Thank you.
Indies Unlimited – absolutely the author’s friend and mentor! Thanks for being there for us 🙂
“Snarky and lovable”. Can I write that on my CV?
Absolutely the best, the friendliest, the coolest literary bunch around. Would I lie to you?… Well… maybe, in a pinch, but definitely not in regard to Indies Unlimited, and you can take that to the bank! Only, it might be better if you gave the cheque a couple of weeks to clear.
Been there, done that, and LOVED it. 🙂
You do a great job! Thank you.
Excellent site and a wealth of information. Friendly and fun! Thanks to all!