A Sign of the Times
November 16th, 2010 | Published in Featured, Marketing | 3 Comments
Before Craigslist and Fiverr, unemployed workers used hand-made signs and pounded the pavement.
You may notice that I don’t write a lot of articles in the “Marketing” category, here on Digital Image Magazine. There’s a reason for that: it’s hard to come up with good, solid ways to earn money as an artist. I don’t want to recommend something to my readers if it’s not worthwhile. But it’s not always easy to tell when something is a good idea, and when it’s a terrible one. For instance, just this morning, I learned about a website called Fiverr. Fiverr has only been around since March 2010, but it’s already ranked in the top 300 websites in the world! That’s pretty amazing. Apparently, Fiverr’s got something a lot of people are interested in. What could it be?
Fiverr is a site that allows you to buy or sell services and products for five dollars. Payment is via PayPal, and Fiverr takes a small amount out of the five bucks, as does PayPal. What you’re left with is three dollars and change. And for that not-quite-four-dollars, people are offering all kinds of things. Need someone to sing Happy Birthday in Chinese? Write a blog post mentioning you? Draw your ad on their face and take a picture? Fiverr is where you can hire someone for five bucks to do these and many, many more things even more bizarre and strange.
At first, this just seemed sort of odd and funny. But then I started noticing that people were willing to do artwork for not-quite-four-dollars. Photo retouching. Poster design. Digital painting. Web graphics. CD cover design.
For five bucks.
I checked out blogs and such to see what the buzz was about Fiverr, and surprisingly, most see it as a positive thing. Some artists and writers claim that it’s a good way to build a portfolio, to get your foot in the door, and so forth. But to see artists offering their services for next to nothing does not sit well with me. I can’t help but think it’s a sign of the times, the bad economy, and the scarcity of good-paying jobs. It seems innocent enough, perhaps. While you’re waiting for the economy to pick up, why not pick up a few bucks on Fivver? But perhaps this state of affairs is actually contributing to the employment problem. After all, why should employers hire well-paid professionals when they can get a logo designed for five bucks?
For artists and other creative professionals, Fiverr is the end result of a process begun by Elance, Guru and others which have freelancers racing each other to the bottom, in hope of snagging a gig. According to MSN’s Money column,
Since the start of the recession, the number of freelancers listing their services through online contracting site Elance tripled to 700,000; CrowdSpring has more than 61,000 graphic artists and writers competing for work by submitting finished projects on spec. Yes, thanks to today’s fantastically abundant labor supply and technology that has American freelancers competing directly with their Third World counterparts, anyone can hire decent talent for less than the minimum wage.
Catch that last part? “Less than the minimum wage.” In other words, the Internet now makes it possible for professionals to compete against each other, fighting tooth and nail, for the dubious honor of making less per hour than a greeter at Walmart. Personally, I believe we are in for a long, hard economic recovery, from what many are calling the Second Great Depression. Unemployed workers aren’t out on the streets, as they were in the 1930’s, so the true situation is not as visible as it was then. Instead, the unemployed are at home, in front of their computers, bidding against each other for every dime.
Okay, that was not the sort of article you’ve come to expect on this site. But I thought it was an issue worth raising. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts and stories. Have you had experiences trying to get work online? What’s your opinion of Fiverr and it’s many clones (there are many copycat sites like Fiverr)?
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November 18th, 2010 at 9:21 am (#)
Hi Bob,
Great article! I looked for work in the past on sites like Elance and decided it was nuts to try to compete with workers in places like India who can afford to work for so much less because of a lower cost of living. And had the thought, isn’t it bad enough so many of our physical jobs have gone overseas, now here go our on-line jobs as well? Don’t hear the politicians talking about that, either.
I am coming to agree that if you don’t value your work, no one else will either. Giving it away, isn’t valuing it. And while the pay might not be the greatest either, for on-line income, I think artists would be better off posting their work on sites like Cafe Press, Fine Art America, Etsey, etc. as a way to earn a few dollars but with some respect.
And I’m also starting to believe in not buying into the scarcity mindset that is out there – hard, I know, but there are still people out there making money and spending that money – better to find where they are and try to sell to them.
November 20th, 2010 at 12:04 am (#)
Jan -
Great comment, thanks for that. When everything else we buy in this country is made in China, why are we surprised that art has been outsourced? The online world is both blessing and curse. The blessing is that, for those with talent and a unique vision, the internet allows you to reach interested buyers anywhere in the world.
To your point about Cafe Press, et al, I agree, and that’s why I’ve focused on them and online portfolio sites. I recently moved my personal website (www.bobnolin.com) to Krop.com, which I reviewed a while back. It’s ten bucks a month, and your work is seen by a lot of prospective customers, who pay to advertise on Krop’s job board.
It’s a new world, and maybe a harder one. But think of it this way: if you succeed selling your work online, you’re one of the best artists in the world! How cool is that?
Thanks again –
Bob
November 20th, 2010 at 12:27 pm (#)
Well-thought-out article. You could substitute the word “writer” for “artist” and you would find the same sentiment expressed elsewhere on the web. Some freelance writers are similarly dismayed.
I have several thoughts on the Fiverr phenomenon, having hired lots of Fiverr workers to do various things, including artwork and prose.
1) I doubt very many artists or writers are doing it for the money. The most successful Fiverr sellers are those who package an inviting product, such as an original ebook, for downloading. Here, of course, the trick is to market the product in such a way as to make it practically irresistible.
2) As a seller, you do get exposure on one of the top sites on the Internet. How worthwhile that exposure is to you is something only you can determine. I hired a Fiverr artist recently to create a small icon for my website, bestoffiverr.com, then I wrote a feature article about him and his work. He may feel the total reward (a few dollars plus a feature plus link juice) is well worth his effort. And he gets to keep and resell the work if he wants — I just wanted the rights to publish it on my site.
I think it’s great that both artists and writers can weigh the tangible benefits along with the intangible and make choices.
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