Uniting People in Commerce Quality Filter for fair and efficient buying and selling
What about the money?
We view revenue as necessary to continue to serve you better, not as a source of personal wealth and power. We earn revenue when you sell something through us, a small percentage rather than a fixed expense or monthly charge. Our aim is to reduce your overhead costs while providing you more service and income.
Percentages and profits will be regulated by you, our community, as part of our democratic and transparent design. Profits which aren’t reinvested are distributed to our members (assuming we form a cooperative for our legal structure as we are currently working toward).
We will generate revenue either when a product is bought (a direct sale or an affiliate fee from other merchants) or a service is provided to a paying client (a percentage as low as 2%). Our goal is to reduce hype and noise so no paid advertising or marketing of any kind is anticipated.
We expect to never charge monthly or annual fees, although you may buy a service through us that is based on such charges. If we do form a cooperative, you can remain a “user” at no charge or decide to pay a one-time membership fee (to be determined). Membership will provide you Board of Directors voting rights and a share of distributed profits. Users will still have a voice. If we form a benefit corporation, there will be no membership fees and all users will have a say in monetary and other matters.
The exception being considered is nuisance fees to protect the time of our initial raters. For example, books/manuscripts submitted for rating which receive a low score, might have a variable fee/penalty to discourage submitting poor quality. The fee structure could look something like this using our 10 pt. scale overall rating:
6+ = No fee
4–6 = $1–2
3–4 = $5
1–2 = $10.
How would I be paid for my services?
You only pay a small percentage when you are paid for a job you received through the system, no monthly expenses. Once we have the functionality ready, your client would be invoiced and pay through our system, and the say 2-5% (estimate at this point) would be deducted and the balance placed in your system account automatically. You can have your business account set up to transfer funds immediately to your bank account. By going through a system account, your services can be rated to increase your exposure to other clients who are a good match for you. And you can rate your client so they have an incentive to be professional in working with you. In addition, your bookkeeping is done automatically, tracking your income and transactions. The goal is to free you from the mundane record keeping and promotion so you can focus on what you do best.
How does your system assure rating accuracy?
The key to rating is control. One of the problems with current rating and review systems is bias. Sometimes these result in undeserved glowing or attacking reviews. By controlling who is rating—a controlled target audience group or someone who has purchased a product/service—and combining results to create an average, potential buyers get a true picture of quality.
Are you stuck with a rating? How can an author use the rating to their advantage?
An author’s preliminary ratings provide private audience feedback on a full spectrum, from story to line editing, while allowing for direct comment from individual raters. The collective ratings, not the comments, become public when an author chooses to proceed to market with the book without making further revisions.
The Author/Publisher is not required to make a rated title for sale through the system. Individual quality standards and career objectives dictate if and when a work is ready for market. Ratings do not become official until the title is offered for sale.
Our direct system is a simple way to reach self-selected readers once the quality is verified by the controlled ratings it receives. Readers specify a minimum rating to be notified of titles meeting their specific interests. Search also considers minimum rating levels. They can purchase direct from us or their preferred vendor, place titles on a future buy list or remove from consideration.
Speaking and other events are also rated and may be created by member demand. Quality dictates results.
How do I earn system points to spend like cash by rating books?
Points are awarded based on your time commitment and quality feedback. While they don’t compensate you fully for your time, they are a nice bonus in addition to free books and helping authors, readers, and all of us find what we want easily.
Initial Raters earn more points in general than Secondary Raters. Points awards will be determined by our users' input, and take several variables into consideration (example point range for each):
-
Time: longer and “slow read” books earn more points (2–20 points)
-
Quality: Initial Raters will receive a “bonus” since, at times, they receive lower quality material [NOTE: Raters are not required to finish low-quality work] (1–10)
-
Rating: Complete ratings receive more points. Quality rating, accuracy, is also rewarded per title and over time [expertise/“Great Rate” status] (1–10)
-
Timing: Completing reading and rating on schedule (0–5)
Rating a book after purchase issues 1–5 points based primarily on the rating (# 3).
Please see our Book Rating Guidelines for additional details.
FAQs
Don't see your question here? Submit a question.
You can also see our manifesto, an interview with Paul Burt, book rating guidelines, or our cooperative principles.
Money
How would I be paid for my services?
Book Rating
How does your system assure rating accuracy?
Are you stuck with a rating? How can an author use the rating to their benefit?
How do I earn system points to spend like cash by rating books?