I'm a new author and I use Canva for my books

[Guest]

... The only company I have worked with so far is "Fiverr"... I made 5 books with them so far... Only 2 books have actually came on time... The other 2 books came a day or 2 late... My 5th book was supposed to be done 2 days ago... I wrote the format person he said "pretty soon"... The "customer service" asked me what do I want to do... I said I'll wait another day I've already waited a week...

My question is, "Is this a normal thing on these type of platforms?

I don't want to be the bad guy here...

How do you guys handle these situations?

[Johnandkathy]

I tried using Fiverr for a couple of projects that were "backlogged" and my results were terrible. I had 5 different projects, two were covers, one was editing and one was "ghost writing" the end chapter to a story. Only one finished on time. I couldn't use any of the results. It was a total waste of time. I found it easier, with my publishing company to hire local professionals or to run a "help wanted" from my company website.

[Sean]

If your provider on Fiverr is going to be late they are supposed to request an extension on the dead line which you can then approve or contest.

[Heather]

Yes, this is normal. You are buying from people all over the world. And sometimes you are buying from one person and they are having someone else do it, it's not always the person you are talking to. The other thing to keep in mind is that you are not really "working with Fiverr" you are working with a freelancer who lists their services on Fivver. Any person in the world can list their services on Fiverr.

So like hiring any other service provider, the thing to do is vet the freelancer first. Look at their ratings, ask them a quick question before booking the gig.

What level sellers are the ones you are selecting? And What price range are you paying for your books, do you mean they are formatting them for you?

[Marcia]

Ask other authors who they use as a cover designer. I’m sure you’ll get lots of recommendations. That’s how I found mine! I’m afraid that if you go cheap, you get cheap. It’s an investment that’s well worth it.

[Sharon]

Simply put - you get (or don't get) what you pay for. Yes, it's a well known fact that on Fiverr that you take your chances - most designers there are rip off merchants - whereby they steal covers from other designers) some don't deliver on time and some just don't deliver at all. I know not ALL designers at Fiverr are like that but they are in the minority.

[Debbie]

Anyone can offer their services on Fiverr. The clue is in the title - it’s cheap. But cheap can often mean slow. There are some great people there, but also a lot of unprofessional ones too. You could try Reedsy next time - more expensive, but usually has professional freelancers, or ask for recommendations elsewhere.