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I've just hit 500 Reviews


english_voice

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… and it got me thinking about the buyers who’ve come and gone over the years.

Compared to some of the horror stories we read on the forum, I would say that 99 percent of my buyers have been good or else truly excellent to work with.

I will never forget the nightmare buyer who gave me a one star rating after I completed one of the most difficult jobs I’ve faced on Fiverr (customer support had my back on this one). And I remember feeling annoyed when a new buyer rated me 4.7 on their first order, but they went on to become one of my most loyal buyers over three years. Sadly they went out of business during the pandemic last year.

Apart from those two less than perfect reviews, I can’t recall receiving anything less than 5 star reviews over the past 8 or so years. It just goes to show that if you’re good at what you do, you care about what you do and you can offer decent communication with buyers - then you can succeed.

I’m not saying that to brag, but to demonstrate to new sellers that you don’t need to worry about clicks and impressions, or posting gigs to social media - just be good at the basics.

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Congratz on your big milestone! You’ve had better luck in regards to reviews over 8 years than I have had in one! 😄

And absolutely true, if one’s fundamentals are flawed, then that will result in far more problems than worrying over impressions, clicks, and gig visibility.

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Congratz on your big milestone! You’ve had better luck in regards to reviews over 8 years than I have had in one! 😄

And absolutely true, if one’s fundamentals are flawed, then that will result in far more problems than worrying over impressions, clicks, and gig visibility.

My service (proofreading) is a very factual one - grammar is either right or wrong, so it’s tough for people to argue lol. However, I can imagine that with more creative based services there is a scope for disagreements and more harsh reviews!

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My service (proofreading) is a very factual one - grammar is either right or wrong, so it’s tough for people to argue lol. However, I can imagine that with more creative based services there is a scope for disagreements and more harsh reviews!

Quite true! Similarly, any plans on ever returning to focusing more on VO work, or are you more than satisfied with your current service offerings?

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Congratulations on your awesome achievement! That is truly impressive and something to be proud of!

Your reviews are just spectacular. They show that it is not just your forum posts that are of the highest quality! 😃

They show that it is not just your forum posts that are of the highest quality!

Ha ha, and thank you! I have backed away from posting in the forum a little bit in recent months - but there are still some interesting posts to read and respond to. And yours are excellent too!

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Quite true! Similarly, any plans on ever returning to focusing more on VO work, or are you more than satisfied with your current service offerings?

any plans on ever returning to focusing more on VO work, or are you more than satisfied with your current service offerings?

Thanks for asking. I did voiceovers in my early days on Fiverr, but I eventually got annoyed with the poor quality of some scripts (words that literally made no sense) and people not being able to clearly express what they wanted (so I’d record and then they’d ask for it to be a bit slower / faster, more upbeat / less upbeat, etc). I quickly worked out that I wasn’t the best voiceover out there (although I had some decent reviews), and that it was for me a time-consuming way to earn on Fiverr. There seemed to be a lot of messaging involved and retakes that added a lot of time to far too many orders. As I say, it was in my early days on Fiverr and I could probably handle things a lot more efficiently now. But we live and learn!

Thankfully, Fiverr is just part of my work mix. I have other more creative and fun outlets too - so, I’m actually quite happy just offering a very factual service on Fiverr. Proofreading is quite low maintenance. As I often write, grammar is either right or wrong - it’s difficult to dispute!

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any plans on ever returning to focusing more on VO work, or are you more than satisfied with your current service offerings?

Thanks for asking. I did voiceovers in my early days on Fiverr, but I eventually got annoyed with the poor quality of some scripts (words that literally made no sense) and people not being able to clearly express what they wanted (so I’d record and then they’d ask for it to be a bit slower / faster, more upbeat / less upbeat, etc). I quickly worked out that I wasn’t the best voiceover out there (although I had some decent reviews), and that it was for me a time-consuming way to earn on Fiverr. There seemed to be a lot of messaging involved and retakes that added a lot of time to far too many orders. As I say, it was in my early days on Fiverr and I could probably handle things a lot more efficiently now. But we live and learn!

Thankfully, Fiverr is just part of my work mix. I have other more creative and fun outlets too - so, I’m actually quite happy just offering a very factual service on Fiverr. Proofreading is quite low maintenance. As I often write, grammar is either right or wrong - it’s difficult to dispute!

Proofreading is quite low maintenance. As I often write, grammar is either right or wrong - it’s difficult to dispute!

As a translator who regularly got and gets asked to proofread texts in language Y that were Google-translated from language X into English into language Y, and not a small amount of which would require you to “proofread” = heavily edit every single sentence and take you just as much time as to translate from scratch if not more, plus to not only wade through the language Y abomination of text but also through the English middle layer in order to make some sense or at least wager a guess … I’d dispute the first sentence though! LOL (I actually think that while some people just aren’t aware how bad their text really is, some try on purpose to hire a proofreader instead of a translator, because proofreading rates tend to be lower, and they think they’ll get the same result for less money) … but I guess it’s true enough for people offering English proofreading.

In any case, even though I paused my proofreading gig long ago and didn’t reactivate it again, it’s an awesome job that needs a lot of focus and dedication, and, as I clearly see all the time in source texts I get, many people skimp on it, which they shouldn’t. If even “regular” printed and conventionally published books after several rounds of proofreading and editing still have the odd typo or grammar errors, and they do, what do people expect if they don’t proofread their texts, or let someone proofread them …

I count proofreaders among the Unsung Heroes. 😉

Congratulations to your 500 reviews, and to the next 500!

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Proofreading is quite low maintenance. As I often write, grammar is either right or wrong - it’s difficult to dispute!

As a translator who regularly got and gets asked to proofread texts in language Y that were Google-translated from language X into English into language Y, and not a small amount of which would require you to “proofread” = heavily edit every single sentence and take you just as much time as to translate from scratch if not more, plus to not only wade through the language Y abomination of text but also through the English middle layer in order to make some sense or at least wager a guess … I’d dispute the first sentence though! LOL (I actually think that while some people just aren’t aware how bad their text really is, some try on purpose to hire a proofreader instead of a translator, because proofreading rates tend to be lower, and they think they’ll get the same result for less money) … but I guess it’s true enough for people offering English proofreading.

In any case, even though I paused my proofreading gig long ago and didn’t reactivate it again, it’s an awesome job that needs a lot of focus and dedication, and, as I clearly see all the time in source texts I get, many people skimp on it, which they shouldn’t. If even “regular” printed and conventionally published books after several rounds of proofreading and editing still have the odd typo or grammar errors, and they do, what do people expect if they don’t proofread their texts, or let someone proofread them …

I count proofreaders among the Unsung Heroes. 😉

Congratulations to your 500 reviews, and to the next 500!

I actually think that while some people just aren’t aware how bad their text really is, some try on purpose to hire a proofreader instead of a translator, because proofreading rates tend to be lower, and they think they’ll get the same result for less money) … but I guess it’s true enough for people offering English proofreading.

I guess I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve only ever had a couple of obvious Google translate jobs come my way. I make it clear in my gig description that I don’t offer a rewriting service (to try and dissuade cheap buyers who have used Google translate), although in reality proofreading does involve a little rewriting.

I count proofreaders among the Unsung Heroes. 😉

Well, thank you. I’ve completed 600+ proofreading jobs and I can only recall one short text that was 100% perfect. When ordering, I often have clients tell me something like “I’ve gone through my text a few times, and I’m sure it’s good - but I just need a second pair of eyes to double check”. They’re often surprised - and grateful - when I find something.

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