fbpx

My First Year as a Freelancer

Can you believe it’s been a year since I began selling my writing, editing and proofreading services on Fiverr? I can’t. Even more, I can’t believe I’ve earned as much doing it as I have.

But where is all that negativity coming from? What happened to the positive attitude I learned with my year of gratitude?

This post will give you a glimpse into my year at Fiverr. If you’re interested in learning more about this unique platform, comment with questions. I’m always happy to write another post or two about it.

My Gigs

I finally have my own gig. Four of them actually.

Fiverr calls the freelance services offered on their site “gigs.” And I have a gig for proofreading, writing short documents, editing first chapters and critiquing.


As much as I’ve dreamed of being an author, I’ve been realistic about the earning potential of that career. That’s why I have my substitute teacher’s license. But I do love words. What if I could supplement being an author with writing-related jobs?

That’s what Fiverr is all about: my attempt to become a freelance writer and editor. While I do some extensive editing under the guise of proofreading, I only have one editing gig.

Yes, those blue words mean I’ve linked you to my Fiver gigs. Just in case you want to learn more about them. Or you need a bit of proofreading done.

Yes, I’ve mentioned proofreading the most frequently because that’s where I’ve been earning most of my money on Fiverr in recent weeks and months.

My Earnings

They call it Fiverr because a basic gig is $5. From that, Fiverr gets $1 and the seller (that’s me!) gets $4.

It takes three weeks for the funds to “clear” so this isn’t a path to instant cash. In fact, I’ve only made four withdrawals in the year I’ve been working there. I generally wait until I have about $400 in earnings before I request a transfer to my PayPal account.

According to the earnings chart on Fiverr, I’ve earned nearly $2,400 from freelancing on their platform.

Of course, one of the reasons I started selling there was to fund my buying habits. What have I purchased on Fiverr?

  • Book covers (two for Bible studies, four for my Reflections series)
  • Bookmarks
  • Promotional graphics
  • Proofreading

In fact, I’ve spent $170 of my earnings to purchase things directly related to the production of Reflections. That’s the main reason I started selling there: to fund my indie publishing expenses.

If I used all my earnings from Fiverr toward that three-book series, I would almost have my editor’s services paid for.
Indie publishing is not cheap, people. Not if you want quality covers, formatting and editing.

Working as a Freelancer

It hasn’t been my dream to be an entrepreneur or a freelancer. I like having a schedule, and you don’t get that with Fiverr.

Case in point: most of my orders come in on Sunday. I’m not even online on Sunday. I hardly open my email or look at social media on Sunday.

Freelancing without a platform like Fiverr to make you searchable and to handle the bookkeeping aspects would be stressful. Probably more stressful than I would want to tackle.

I started out doing mainly critiques for a few writers and writing sales email or newsletters. The more I wrote, the more positive reviews circulated the more emails and such I started writing.

Then The Agile Group found me. I’ve been proofreading their monthly company newsletters for eight months. They are generous beyond belief, and once I set up a proofreading gig for them, more orders for proofreading started rolling in.

Originally, I was hoping to write newsletters for a dozen clients. I figured if I could get those for $20 each, that would give me the same as a couple days of sub teaching every month. And I wouldn’t have to put on clothes, makeup or shoes!

Instead, I have a regular client who has me edit her newsletter who also hired me to write an eBook for her. She uses it as a freebie for people who sign up for her business’ newsletter.

I’ve proofed several eBooks, Master’s theses and more newsletters than I can recall. My favorite job has been the ONE first chapter of a book I edited.

In fact, if I could build a clientele of helping other writers by critiquing their opening chapters and outlines, I would do it! Who knows? If enough people see this and sign up for my services, I might gain the traction I need in Fiverr’s algorithm to do it.

What other things would you like to know about Fiverr? I’m not an expert, but I’ve been working there for a year. I also have experience from the buyer side of things.

1 thought on “My First Year as a Freelancer”

  1. Pingback: If not an Author Maybe I’ll be a Freelance Writer – Sharon Hughson, Author

What do you think? Add to the discussion here.