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Creative Writing Gig: Any critique from the writers out there?


jamesbulls

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One of the gigs I’m considering listing is creative writing personalized with the buyer’s personal details.



I’m curious what you folks think about the listing - do you find that the title and the gig description catch your interest? I’m limited to 1,200 characters, and what you see below is 1,198 characters.



I’m still deciding if I want to do this, and my primary motivation is to find a way to get paid to do a hobby I already enjoy. I’m setting my delivery time as 2 days, and I’m adding options for more words and additional characters, but yeah - the base gig is $5 for 500 words. And really, What greater motivation is there to write than to see the clock counting down before the order is marked as late and I lose the money? 😛



Of course, I do have an ulterior motive beyond just getting paid to do something I enjoy. Ultimately, I’d like to collate all these stories into an anthology or even knit them together into a novel, and then I can market it to a publisher. We’ll see what comes of it.



But yeah - What you think about this gig title and description? I’m especially interested in feedback from people already working in the Creative Writing community since that’s unknown territory for me. Thanks for the help :)

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Gig Title

I will write your personalized Urban Fantasy Story for $5

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Gig Description



Click the ❤️ at the top of the page to favorite my gig and I’ll love you forever!



If you love to read, or you want a unique gift for somebody who does, you’ve found it: for just $5, I’ll write a short story of up to 500 words featuring yourself or somebody else as the lead character. You pick the star of the story, but the content, narrative, and direction of the story is up to me. I don’t write erotic fiction, so don’t ask for it.



IMPORTANT: Please read the two PDF files in the preview area above to see samples of my writing.



I write in the genre of Urban Fantasy, which means a present-day setting that contains standard fantasy elements such as elves, vampires, ghosts, strange monsters, magic, sorcery, and so on. My stories tend to be fast-paced, action-oriented, and marked by a dark sense of humor.



My stories are set in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a northern oddity on the border of Michigan between the Great Lakes where you can find everything from Canadian drug dealers and American con-men to Asian freighter ships, midnight trains, and more… if you know where to look.



Satisfaction Guarantee: I’m a nice guy! If you think my writing stinks, just let me know and I’ll refund your order.

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I like it. If I was into that kind of thing, your description would definitely persuade me to buy from you.



You may want to touch on intellectual rights though, especially if you plan on possibly publishing your work in future.

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I agree about the copyright issue, that was the first thing I thought of when you said you had alterior motives.



When you do work here on Fiverr, the buyer owns the rights to whatever work you produce, therefore you would not be able to put them into a collection to sell for profit without their permission.



So I think in all honesty it would be a tough sell from the getgo, because you would need to ask their permission upfront before they bought a gig, and I know for myself if I was buying a personalized story, I wouldn’t want anyone else to use it for profit. In fact I bet many people may want to use your writing for their own profit.


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I think the gig idea is unique and interesting. I don’t know if it will sell but I’m all about trying new things on Fiverr. You never know which will take off.



I like your gig description overall. If I was buying, I would understand the need for creative license in the plot. I think there would be opportunity for you if you offered the locale mentioned in the base gig but perhaps some options in the extras. One thing that I personally dislike in gig descriptions though I see it a lot is the little promo about loving people forever who favorite your gig. I might be alone in that but it turns me off.



I agree with the others about rights. I think it could be done if you gave incentive. For example, you could offer an additional 100 words or a second character named by the buyer if the buyer agrees to let you keep your name associated with the work and to have some sort of reprint rights. Buyers should have the option to refuse and retain all rights, though and I don’t think they should have to pay extra to have rights. Hope the feedback helps a little!

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Thanks everybody for the feedback 🙂



Yes, I should be more specific about ownership in the gig description, and I should include a gig extra to remove my ownership. Kudos for remembering that, lol



If I take out the bit about favoriting my gig, that should give me enough room to mention property rights.

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Reply to @jamesbulls: Using a gig extra to remove your portion of the rights might work so I don’t see any reason not to try that first. I’ve seen other people do it and some seem to have happy buyers while others don’t. It could be a matter of good wording and clarity and you seem to have good writing skills so it might work great.



If you try it for awhile and sales are poor using the gig extra, you might try the incentive idea instead. Depending on what the buyer wants, some will be more motivated by getting something extra rather than giving something up. If you charge them an extra $5 to have sole rights and it isn’t working, that’s why I’d suggesting giving theme sole rights in the base $5 gig and offering a special deal/extra or faster service or another incentive if they agree to give up their sole rights. Either way, good luck!

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