The Trading Post

Indie authors are responsible for every aspect of production. For us, it doesn’t stop with typing “THE END” and sending the manuscript off to some intern.

The cover design, book description, interior formatting, proofing, and editing are our responsibilities as well. We have to either do it ourselves, pay someone to do it for us, or trade services with someone who has an area of expertise we lack.

Many of us operate on shoestring budgets and would like to have a little something left over to put toward marketing. Trading services is a popular and cost-effective means for meeting everyone’s needs.

The challenge is finding an internet watering hole with a gene pool deep enough to give you a good chance of finding what you want and maybe even giving you a few different choices. We think the talent runs pretty deep in the Indies Unlimited community, so we’d like to offer up this spot for indies who would like to connect with each other to exchange services. This is for straight-up trading, not selling services, and not review-swapping.

If you are interested in connecting with others to exchange services, place the following information in the comment section:

1. The services you provide that you would be willing to trade;

2. The services you need in exchange; and

3. ONE of two ways to contact you: either a Facebook address if you want a FB private message, OR a Twitter handle if you want a Twitter direct message. DO NOT put an e-mail address, phone number, street or postal address in the comments (for your own protection against spammers, scammers, and other jackanapes)

DISCLAIMER: This post is provided as a public service. Indies Unlimited does not guarantee or warranty any service or service providers. Any agreement or arrangements made are at the sole liability and discretion of the parties involved. The individual parties to any agreements or exchanges are responsible for performing their own due diligence.

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10 thoughts on “The Trading Post”

  5. I have been a big proponent of this “logrolling” approach to pre-production for a long time.
    Here’s the thing… I created a series of Linked In groups for this… discussion and swapping of skills for videos, publicity, editing, etc. They are all set up, have nice little logos, have cute names like “Ecce Promo” and “Authors Co-op Clinics”.
    Trouble is, when I dropped some things after my heart surgery, they were one of the things I dropped…. just didn’t want to spend time promoting and monitoring them.
    But… could be useful to somebody who wants to establish an identity or stance in such matters.
    Contact me if you want to talk about transferring these groups to you.

  6. One thing that I think may be important to remember is that many trades might have a considerable disparity that people don’t understand at first glance. When you’re a new author in the self-publishing shark tank, everything can seem indomitable and take forever to do.

    Formatting a book, especially an e-book, is not that hard. If I can do it, ANYONE can do it. It just takes a little reading and practice. Once you get the basics down, it really shouldn’t take the average person more than an hour or three to format a book for electronic or print publication. And that’s including the after-format tweaks for the occasional by inevitable Kindlegen, Meatgrinder, Createspace glitch. When you think about it, you don’t even have to actually read the book you’re formatting (unless you get it in a really bad condition, of course), as you’re just looking for errant spaces, extra lines, misplaced margins, and those squiggly red underlines in Word (for format problems).

    Editing a book is a much more complex process that can take days or even weeks. Even simple proofreading can take a few days.

    If you are happy with that kind of trade, more power to you. Just don’t let yourself get screwed by having to do an exorbitant amount of work on your end of the deal. And, ALWAYS check out the person you’re dealing with – ask around to your friends, check their books on Amazon or Smashwords, read the free samples. Know what you’re getting in return for your hard work!

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