I think I am pretty much done with Fiverr and am going all science fiction. Fiverr has been good to me, although it is getting increasingly annoying, and some recent events have prompted a move. It’s time to go my own way. I’m not slamming the site – I think it is a great place to start – and I probably will still linger there, even if just for nostalgia. But change is afoot, and I thought I would share in case others are feeling similar or are curious about launching a website.
Fiverr and Medium are great places to start
I used to be a print journalist, and I also worked as a writer in an office. Then along came Covid, and suddenly I was cut adrift, unemployed and directionless. Well, I did have contacts, a laptop, experience, and a decent payoff, so I won’t play the martyr. It was actually pretty awesome. The point is, I needed to get my name out there fast and pull in a bit of cash. Medium and Fiverr did well for me. Now though – now so much.
Medium is still kind of fun as I can write about what I want (like weird historical stories). And if approached about an interesting Fiverr article, I might, might, write something else. But I can write about what I want on my own websites, and the last thing I wrote about that interested me on Fiverr was…. I’ll get back to you.
However, if you are just starting out online, then they’re good places to start. When all three of my print magazine clients went out of business, and I got made redundant, Fiverr and Medium were a lifeline. I had a couple of Medium articles that made me about $2000 each, which was nice. Although I also had dozens which made around $20 – so it’s like an exciting lottery. This one about the North Korean Hotel of Doom, for example, made over $2500. So it is worth giving it a go.
Fiverr was more constant, and I have now racked up 200 five-star reviews, and gotten a load of clients from it. These are clients that I still work with today, somewhat ironically freeing me up to do other things.
Like Science Fiction.
Scifiward is your hot new / (fairly) old source for all science fiction news
I started ScifiWard about 12 years ago, and it has gotten a pretty decent readership. So I am not going into this from scratch. I am just going to monetise it and make more of an effort in growing it. And that is where it gets interesting to others. Possibly.
I already use affiliate links, and that will continue. But I will also be inserting Google and Amazon adverts. I was always kind of against them, as I was all about the writing, but now I realise that was erroneous. People go to the site for the content and are generally immune to any annoying ads. I got a lot of free stuff and review requests but have had no new clients from the site. And if the adverts reflect the content – as in anything relating to science fiction – then they can actually be beneficial.
I am also going to write more science fiction, start a Substack, and maybe even launch a YouTube channel. I think it will require more work, but will result in a massive increase in satisfaction and personal enjoyment. Stay tuned, and I will regularly update how it is all going, and what works and what doesn’t.
I will also start an email list, which I will post here soon, so you can follow along and see what works and what doesn’t.
