Building your freelance writing portfolio
If you thought working at improving your writing skills was tough, brace yourself for what comes next. Getting your writing published. You need to accomplish this so you can start building your freelance writing portfolio.
But before proceeding any further, check if you’ve really made progress with your writing.
Don’t tell yourself you’ve practised enough, you should now stop the tedious stuff, and gear up for the real thing. Let me warn you such impatience won’t get you anywhere. To be successful, it’s not how many weeks or months you’ve been practising that matters, it’s how far you’ve come from where you started.
If you try to sell your work to editors without first putting in the efforts to refine your writing skills, you will surely be in for a lot of rejections and disappointment. That’s what you can expect for putting the cart before the horse.
So, let me repeat the right way forward one last time:
- Identify the niche or niches of freelance writing you’re interested in.
- Take the pains to improve your writing.
- Be a good writer, and only then look for freelance writing opportunities.
Getting the first clips
All aspiring writers have to clear a common hurdle in the beginning. Bagging the first writing assignment. The first clip. The first published article with their byline.
When you contact editors, you’ll find that most of them want to first see your freelance writing portfolio before trusting you with any assignment. But you have yet to get work published, so how can you have a portfolio to show? The classic Catch-22 situation that every freelance writer has to confront while starting out.
Well, here’s how you can take a flying leap over that ‘no clips to show’ hurdle.
Target smaller or local publications
Just think. Which publications cannot afford established writers and would therefore be more willing to work with newcomers? Yes, the smaller, lower-paying ones.
So, look for local area newspapers or low-paying websites. The payment may not be worth your time, but the clips will help you establish your credentials as a published writer. Remember you’re just trying to get a foot in the door. Jump-start your search for freelance writing opportunities for new writers by checking out the last tutorial.
Write for free
But if you’re not making any headway with breaking into smaller publications, then what? Then write for free! Only when you’re starting out, I mean. So look for non-paying opportunities online as well as offline.
Some websites want writers who expect only a byline in return for having a piece published. Give these a shot. Maybe you have a friend who runs a small business from his website or blog. Offer to write online content or any promotional material for him. Explain you’re in the process of building a freelance writing portfolio, and not looking for any payment at this stage. Perhaps he might even suggest someone else who could use your services.
You never know where and when opportunities could pop up. And don’t worry if you don’t get a byline or credit for what you write. Just get that first clip!
Highlight your background
In the early days pickings will be lean. So you’ll have to think smart to get the ball rolling. For example, to convince editors to let you write for them, instead of sounding apologetic about being an amateur with no clips, draw attention to your background.
Are you working in a travel agency? Tell the editor of a travel mag or e-zine about your experience in providing guidance to travellers. Are you a young housewife with a kid who was once picky about his food and often drove you nuts at dinner time? Explain to the editor of the women’s or parenting publication how you use innovative ways to get your little angel to eat well. If you know a minor celebrity, mention you’ll be able to interview her for the publication.
See what I mean? Everyone has some strong point that can be leveraged. Find yours.
Be willing to submit on spec
Wondering what the heck that means? It means submitting on speculation. You submit the completed piece without any guarantee of acceptance, and then keep your fingers and toes crossed that its brilliance will sweep the editor off her feet.
Some publications need writers to submit an article query first; but many others are willing to accept unsolicited submissions on spec. I got my first clip that way by submitting a short story to Woman’s Era. This led to more work being accepted by the same editor.
Buoyed up by my success with this magazine, I dashed off a query with three article ideas to Femina. And guess what? I snagged bylines here as well. However, you should only pick established publications for writing on spec. Otherwise there’s a risk of being gypped or exploited.
Get references
References are powerful tools for amateurs to build a freelance writing portfolio.
Remember what I told you about forgoing a byline or payment in the beginning? Whenever you write for free, request the business owner or person you’ve written for to give you a recommendation vouching for the services you offered.
You can then provide the contact details of these persons or institutions as references to editors or other prospective clients for getting more work. Nobody needs to know that you were not paid for the work.
Take it step by step
OK. So now you’re ready to flaunt the bunch of clips you have under your belt. But, no matter how highly you rate your writing talents, don’t even think of aiming for plum assignments with national or international publications right now.
You could certainly get to that point someday. But at this stage you’re like a toddler just learning to walk. So begin with baby steps.
From local or little known publications, move on to smaller but established ones. Not only are such markets easier to break into, published clips from these could be your stepping stones to the higher-paying, bigger publications. So the key to success is taking it step by step.
To conclude, whether you’re targetting big or small publications, in most cases you will have to first send the editor a well-crafted query letter. How to write one? Read all about this in the next tutorial.
Psst: Just drop me a line at veenawrites16@gmail.com, and I’ll email you my FREE e-booklet titled: Free Online Resources for Writers. It’s a compilation of helpful online resources every writer needs, freebies I found by scouring the internet and which I have personally found to be very useful.
Bye for now… and if you’ve found this useful, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and pass the word around to your friends who might be interested in freelance writing.
