Lessons Learned From a Freelance Marketplace Refugee

Andria Kennedy
7 min readJan 20, 2022

And Why Writers Need to STOP Recommending Them

Writer struggling at a laptop
Image by Lukas Bieri from Pixabay

“Become a six-figure writer in under a year.”

“See how I made $50,000 in just three months.”

“I earned $36,000 in one month and you can, too.”

Sound familiar?

The articles surface on Medium with frightening regularity. Chock-full of enough spelling and grammar errors to get your eyelid twitching and make you question the author’s legitimacy. But you can’t deny their popularity (because claps and views don’t lie, right?) — or the fact some manage to gain curation (proving once and for all that robots should NEVER be allowed to take over the world).

And all of them direct you to one — or more — of the freelance marketplaces:

  • Fiverr
  • FlexJobs
  • Freelancer
  • Guru
  • Toptal
  • Peopleperhour
  • Upwork

With incredible success stories, it’s tempting to succumb to the articles’ siren call. The platforms offer the promise of a steadier paycheck than you’ll get here on Medium. After all, you’re guaranteed payment for your writing — no reliance on the whims of readers.

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Andria Kennedy

Freelance writer, fantasy/sci-fi writer, and artist. A tiny demon governs my life (she may be a flerken — we’re still running tests).