Community Profile

Indie_Ads is a community for those looking to sell their own creations, from self-published books to self-made music, movies, art, clothes, jewelry, greeting cards, crafts and calendars to name a few.

But the key words here are "home made," "self-made" and "self-published." No products based on already existing products can be advertised. For example, if that self-published book of yours is, in fact, fanfiction or your movie nothing more than a collection of different scenes from different movies (i.e. a fan-made vid) then please don't advertise it here. We're not looking to get sued.

So how does this work?

Simple. If you have a product you're ready to sell and a place where people can make a purchase, make a post to this community. How you wish to design your ad is up to you, and the only real limit is how much you can fit into one post (and only one post). But your ad must include the following.

1. A description of your work. Don't just put your name and a link, you need to tell us what you're selling. If it's a book, give us a synopsis. If it's music, what kind of music? If it's art, is it landscapes, portraits, something else entirely? And so on.

2. Samples of your work. If it's a book, maybe a paragraph or (if it can fit) a whole chapter. A sample of music, a scene from or ad for your movie, a few pictures of your artwork, crafts, jewelry, etc. It'll help to catch a potential customer's attention.

3. And, most important of all, links - specifically links to any websites or blogs you have for your product and links to where someone can buy the product. Needless to say, this is a must above musts if you want to sell anything. And please only links to those site related to your product. This is not a social networking comm, so if it has nothing to do with your product, don't link it.

We do ask that you please keep things as tasteful and work safe as possible. If you're unable to provide samples that do not contain anything explicit then please place the ad under the cut using the following:

The Following Material is not Suitable for Minors

or

The Following Contains Adult Concepts

Anything containing nudity, sexual content, extreme violence and gore would be considered explicit. If your samples are work safe but the product does contain explicit material not suitable for minors, we would appreciate it if you could warn for it - simply something along the lines of "contains, nudity, sexual content, gore, etc." "Is not suitable for Minors" or "product contains adult concepts."

We also have the right to remove ads that we feel is pushing the legal boundaries. For example, a book that contains underage pornography or photos of animals being treated cruelly. Or products that are, in fact, copyrighted material (copied movies, for example). If you know for a fact your product contains material that would create a major legal stir, please don't advertise it here.

What is also allowed (even encouraged)

Recommendation posts. If there's a product you really enjoyed, then please rec it here. We only ask that your recs include more than "I really, really liked this." Tell us what about the product you liked, and don't forget a link to either the ad itself, to the product's main website or blog, or to where the product can be purchased. We also encourage doing reviews and making recs in your own journal or blog. The more you're able to get the word out about a product, the more sales can be made.

What is not permitted:

1. Items not of your creation that you're trying to get rid of. This is not Craig's List or Ebay. And, no, that clay sculpture you did in second grade doesn't count, either. What you sell needs to be a real product made by your hands and your imagination.

2. Pornographic videos and snuff films.

3. Anti-rec posts. If you didn't like the product that's fine. If you wish to rant about it in your journal or blog, that's fine as well. Just please no anti-rec posts on this community. We're trying to help people make a sell, not hinder them.

Optional:

Opening your ad to comments. You can make your post so people can't comment or allow comments, it's up to you. No comments means not having to deal with trolls and people looking to get attention by being annoying. But allowing comments also allows people ask questions they may have about your product. Either way, it's your decision.

Other:

Specials and Sales. Specials and sales is a monthly post that can only be used for the following...

A: if you wish to advertise but don't have an LJ account.

B: As the title says, if you have a special or sale going on (ex. half off on these *items* or free gift with every purchase for a month) but you've already posted your ad, then announce your special here.

They can be found by clicking on the following tag - specials and sales

Finally, the bonus:

Because we're going to get a plethora of ads, that means older ads getting buried. To help you keep making sales, you are permitted to repost your ad after two month's time (and if you can find the old ad and delete it, it would be much appreciated, but it's not a must). You can repost the ad as is or even fix it up. All that we ask is that you wait two months so as to give other ads a chance.

Finally:

We are not responsible should your product not be making any sales. Placing an ad is no guarantee that sales will pick up. There's also a chance that at some point in time some bored jerk with nothing better to do than be a jerk might post an ad with a link to a harmful or pornographic website just because they can. It happens. That, too, is something were not responsible for - monitoring a lot of ads is rather tricky - but should it happen please let us know and we will delete the post with prejudice.

If you have any questions, Please direct them to the Questions Post.