Hi all,

we moved the service over to our new server this morning. This should mean better service for you all. If you have any concerns about the move or notice anything that isn’t working quite right please let us know.

We’ve also introduced a categories feature for your writing samples.

In the writing samples tab you can now create categories. When you edit or create a sample you can add it to one or more categories. Any categories that contain samples will be displayed on your portfolio so that customers can filter your samples by category.

Of course you don’t have to use categories at all, it is just there if you want it.

Thanks,

Monica & Tim

In writing my last blog post I happened upon the MPA’s How to Become a Freelance Writer, a 4-page PDF with some good tips for new writers.

The article includes advice on how to send clips and writing samples with query letters to editors:

Most magazine editors receive queries via e-mail, although you can send a query letter by mail or fax depending on your target magazine’s preference. When querying via e-mail, it is suggested that you use one of these formats
to send your clips:

* Copy and paste text into the bottom of your e-mail
* Send the editor links to your work at other sites
* Create your own website as a “calling card,” posting several of your articles online to show editors

Do not send an editor an e-mail attachment unless it has been
requested. More often than not, it will be deleted, sight unseen.

One of our goals with Writer’s Residence is to give writers a place to host their writing samples so that it’s easy to send editors links to their work on the web. It’s good to hear that the MPA encourages writers to use the web in this way. I also like their “calling card” metaphor for an online portfolio. After all, online portfolios are pretty much replacing business cards as more and more writing work becomes entirely virtual.

I received an excellent question today from a fellow freelance writer:

I am making my way into freelance writing and I have been rather lost as to what my first steps should be. I am very interested in setting up an online portfolio and was wondering if you could help me figure out the best way to showcase my writing samples. I haven’t yet been published and am not sure how my samples should look in order to appear professional.

Unpublished writing samples should be given the same treatment as published writing samples. Particularly:

• Your writing sample should have its own page in your online portfolio
• It should be displayed in plain text (not as a Word or PDF attachment)
• The text should use a friendly font that’s easy to read

In a nutshell, you’re writing sample should look as professional as a published writing sample, but without the small detail of a publisher’s name included.

The good news is, many publications won’t mind this approach. Take this piece of encouraging advice from The Magazine Publishers of America:

When editors look at samples of your work, they are primarily interested in your writing style and mastery of journalism, rather than where the sample was published or how much you were paid.

In fact, some editors actually want to see unpublished work. For example, HowStuffWorks asks for “a mix of published writing samples and unpublished writing samples (work that has not been through an editor)” in their submission guidelines.

The other option: get published!

The email got me thinking about getting published without published writing clips, and it’s worth noting how easy it is to get published in today’s multi-media world of blogs, web copy, community newsletters, and press releases.

Getting published is not as hard as you think. In fact, you may already have published writing samples that you haven’t considered:

• Do you have a blog? If you’re blogging is of a high enough standard, you can always use blog posts as writing samples. Here’s an example of a restaurant review I posted on my blog, and how I presented it as a writing sample in my online portfolio.
• Have you written business reports, technical manuals, or press releases? These are perfectly legitimate writing samples. For example, I wrote a technical manual for one of my former employers and wanted to use a sample chapter as a writing sample. The chapter was in Microsoft Word format, and would have been a beast to convert to HTML. To get around this, I wrote a little blurb that described the writing sample, then a link to download the writing sample as a .doc file. You can see how I did this here.

For more ideas on writing samples, checked out a guest post I wrote for The Freshman Writer: Getting Published Without Writing Clips.

Here at Writer’s Residence, we’re all about creating content and services designed to help you market your writing online. A well-presented writing website is a large part of that package. So to help you better understand what makes a good writer’s website, we’re going to start featuring writer’s websites that rock. First up: Mark Bittman.

Food writer Mark Bittman is best known for his New York Times cooking column, The Minimalist. He also publishes web videos, has a daily blog, is the author of several cookbooks, and appears regularly on both commercial and public television, where he has his own series.

Bittman has had a pretty long career, and it might seem like a mess to consolidate it all into a website. But he’s done a very fine job of it at markbittman.com.

Here’s why his website rocks:

His URL tells you who he is

It’s a simple thing but having a good URL really matters. What if instead his url was thefoodwriter.blogspot.com? This doesn’t really tell you what sets him apart from all the other food fans out there. Furthermore, the blogspot.com address would make him seem like just another blogger.

Instead, Bittman’s opted to register his own domain name, using his own name as the url, to make it crystal clear that this website is about him. This makes his URL simple, straightforward, and totally not generic.

His website is clean and the navigation is obvious

When you visit Bittman’s website, you know immediately how to navigate to other parts of the website. Furthermore, the background is plain white and the fonts are standard making all of the text easy to read. Finally, his use of images are tasteful – he keeps images to the minimum, but uses those that are of high quality and reflect his career.

His website is well organized and comprehensive

This is reflected in the navigation. He’s got all of his content separated into obvious categories: about, articles, video, recipes, schedule, gallery, contact and store. This is not only good organization, but it also provides all the information that the reader needs to know who Mark Bittman is and what his writing is all about.

He uses his name as the title

Like the URL, he puts his name at the top of the website to make it clear that this website is all about him and his career. This is a good approach for just about any writer’s website.

The front page contains obvious links to his favorites

It’s always good to call out the “highlights” of your writing portfolio on the front page of your website. That way, you point people in the direction of the work you’re most proud of. Mark Bittman does just this on the left hand side of his website.

His writing samples are well presented and clearly organized

The Articles page contains links to his favorite writing samples. Not only does he present the articles in a clear list, but he has a little introductory paragraph that describes them.

Here’s a selection of recent articles I’ve written, some with recipes, some not. For more stories by me in the Times, check out my Times Topics page or my blog Bitten.

This type of paragraph is good practice for writing portfolios in general – it gives people some context. Note also that Bittman uses this paragraph to link to his blog and The New York Times, which tells people how to find more writing samples if they wish to read further.

His “About” page tells his story

All writers have a story – Bittman tells his on the About Mark page.

The story gives us an idea of how he came to be a food writer and what his writing is all about. It’s brief – about five paragraphs (enough to digest on a web page without being too much). Note also that he includes a pretty nice picture of himself. It’s important – if you’re going to include a picture of yourself on your website, make sure it looks professional (even if it isn’t!).

He tells you how to buy his stuff

For all the writers out there who have books to sell, I’m often surprised by how few of them include a link to where they can buy the book on their website. Mark Bittman does this pretty clearly by including a Store with links to where readers can buy his books on Amazon and BN.com.

His contact details are easy to find

Every writer’s website should make their contact information easy to find so editors can get in touch with those high paying gigs. Mark does this on his Contact page, also including a link to his agent.

Today, I’m thrilled to bits to be guest blogging on one of my favorite writing blogs, Tumblemoose.

Tumblemoose is George Angus, a professional writer who lives in Alaska and has an amazingly smooth bald head that I swear tells the future. In fact, his head just told me that you’re going to head over to Tumblemoose to read my guest post about why writers need an online writing portfolio.

Here’s a snip to whet your appetite:

There comes a time in every writer’s life when she asks herself if she should set up a website. For me, that was in early 2008 while I was still working full-time at a bank but dreaming of going solo as a freelance writer. I decided to register a domain and hack together an online writing portfolio to promote myself as a writer. Although I would have rather spent the time pitching articles and writing stories, the effort paid off – I got my first commission, for a national newspaper, after sending the website address to an editor who asked to see some writing samples.

Do all writers need an online writing portfolio? My short answer: absolutely. This fact only becomes clearer as my career progresses and I build up my portfolio with clips and samples. Here are just a few benefits of putting your work online…

Read the rest of my post at Tumblemoose. And while your there, have a look around – George has written plenty of helpful articles for aspiring writers to learn from!

We’re in the business of helping writers create online portfolios, so naturally the subject of writing samples comes up a lot. Even so, we don’t often discuss the challenge of managing printed writing clips such as those that have appeared in newspapers and magazines. Specifically, how should you store your printed writing samples so that they’re easy to find when you need them?

Terreece Clarke has a few suggestions on today’s Freelance Writing Gigs. Her key point is: make sure you have electronic versions of all of your articles stored in a convenient place so they’re easily accessible when it comes time to send them to editors or job employers.

Specifically, if your article appears on the web, save it as a PDF. If your article appears in print, save a JPEG scan of the article and store the prints in flat folder or file.

Whatever your style, you need to develop a system. Save time with web articles and keep a list of links and the PDF versions easily accessible to cut down on the amount of time you spend Googling yourself to find your clips. Keep your print article clips organized and in good condition – no one wants to look at a rumpled piece of paper in a submission packet.

My advice is to save all of your electronic writing clips on your website so they’re easily accessible to you and anyone else who wants to read them.

Taking Care of Your Writing Clips [freelancewritinggigs.com]

Ghostwriter Andrew Crofts is my personal hero of the writing world. His book, The Freelance Writer’s Handbook, is perhaps the single most influential book in convincing me to take the plunge into freelancing. More than a mere how-to guide, The Freelance Writer’s Handbook manages to deliver a solid dose of motivation along with all the essential tips on finding markets, making contacts and pitching stories.

One of Andrew’s key messages in his book is the importance of marketing. Marketing is how you persuade people to pay you to write. Recently, I was very fortunate to have an email discussion with Andrew about marketing and how a website should fit into an aspiring writer’s marketing machine. Here’s what he said:

Setting up a website was the best marketing move I ever made. It has brought in a host of interesting enquiries and leading to a dozen number one bestsellers and trips to a variety of places from Bermuda to Lahore. Within a year of starting it was virtually my only marketing tool, permanently out there in the ether waiting to be discovered and followed up by potential clients. I firmly believe that every writer should have one.

Unsurprisingly, Andrew is using his website as a marketing tool to promote his new book, The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride. In this case, Andrew is taking web marketing to a whole new level by creating a website for Steffi McBride herself, with a Twitter feed and Facebook page to boot. Some say it’s going a little far, but even so, he’s getting attention and that’s what marketing is all about. But it also proves that marketing is tough and there’s no guarantee that you’ll get it right, even with a simple website. No wonder so many people are nervous about biting the bullet and building a website – what if it doesn’t work?

One of our goals with Writer’s Residence is to take this worry out of the website process. As such, I was very happy to read Andrew’s kind words about our product:

A website can be expensive and time consuming, and seem a little daunting to a newcomer. What Writer’s Residence has done is create an easy to understand and easy to afford package which removes every excuse for avoiding taking the plunge. A brilliant concept, beautifully presented.

Thanks, Andrew.

Andrew Crofts
The Freelance Writer’s Handbook

If you’ve already created a writing portfolio website for your clips and writing samples, then congratulations: you’ve just taken the first step in getting your work seen by others. But how do you get people to actually visit your site?

The key to gaining traffic is to get as many websites linking back to your writing portfolio as possible. Here are a few simple ways to do that without look like a spam-bot:

Signatures

Add a link to your writing portfolio in your online signature. This not only goes for email – add it to posts on forums and blog comments, as well.

Participate in Writing Forums

Related to your signature, forums are a great way to interact with fellow writers and build a name for yourself in the field. Add a link your writing portfolio in your profile and your signature. Not sure where to start? I’m a big fan of Absolute Write, but there are loads of similar forums out there for every type of writer.

Social Networks

Join social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Virb, LinkedIn and Flickr and make sure your profile links back to your writing portfolio.

Get Blogging

Blogging is a great way to gain exposure and establish yourself as a professional in your market of choice. You can start your own blog or guest post on others. As always, remember to link back to your writing portfolio wherever you go.

Business Cards

Business cards may seem old school, but they’re still a great way to market your writing when you’re interacting with people in the real world. Put your portfolio website address on your business cards and give them out whenever you can – at conferences, in meetings, or at the pub. Always keep a few extra in your wallet; you never know when they’ll come in handy.

“You may be the most brilliant writer in the world, but if you don’t have a clip to show me, I won’t know that.”
- Rachel Clark, deputy editor of Premier magazine

Writing samples, or “clips”, are a critical part of the writer’s marketing machine. They demonstrate to editors proof of your abilities and should be included with all queries and pitches unless otherwise noted in the publication’s guidelines.

This may sound simple enough, but it’s not always clear what qualifies as a “sample” or how to send that sample in an email query. In this article, I attempt to demystify writing samples by defining what they are, how to format them, and how to send them with an email query.

What is a Writing Sample?

Writing samples, also called “clips” or “clippings”, are samples of your published work. This is sometimes confusing, because “published work” can take one of many forms:

• Text, PDF or Word document
• Scanned image of a magazine tearsheet or newspaper clipping
• Blog post, either on your blog or someone else’s
• White paper
• Academic thesis

In some cases, unpublished material can also be used as a sample if you haven’t been published before.

So you have a newspaper clipping in one hand, a blog post in the other, and a magazine article dangling off your big toe. How do you put this hodge podge together into a tight package that won’t give editors a headache?

How to Make Your Writing Sample Email Friendly

The easiest way to make your writing samples suitable for email is to host your writing samples and clips in an online portfolio website. This allows you to simply include a link to your portfolio in your email pitch to editors. Here is an example of how to do this:

I am a full-time writer with numerous online and print credits, including The Daily Telegraph, The Hackney Citizen, and SmarterFitter.com. You can read samples of my work at at http://monicashaw.com.

Alternatively, you can include links to individual writing samples that are targeted to the publication.

A general rule is: don’t send clips or writing samples in an attachment unless requested. As Jenna Glatzer points out in her book Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer

Many editors will delete attachments unread because of the risk of viruses, and many spam filters will toss them out before an editor even has the option of making that decision. I can’t emphasize this point enough; I’m amazed by the number of writers who continue to ignore this advice and have their queries deleted because of it.

How to Format Your Writing Sample in Your Portfolio

All of your writing samples should be hosted on their own web page and include the sample title, name of the publication, and date it was published.

Whenever possible, include the text of your writing sample on the webpage itself (click here to see an example). If copyright issues prevent this, here are a some tips for dealing with specific sample formats:

• Newspaper and Magazine Clippings: First, scan your clipping as a high-resolution jpeg file. Then create a web page that includes a smaller, thumbnail image of the clipping, plus a link to an image of the full-resolution scan OR to the full text article on the publication’s website (click here to see an example).
• Documents: Documents are risky because you can’t be sure the editor will have the right software to read it. So if you must contain your writing sample in a document, make sure it’s in a standard format such as Word (.doc), text (.txt) or PDF (.pdf). As with all writing samples, host your document on its own web page that clearly displays the title, publication and publication date. It’s also a good idea to include some text that summarizes what your sample is all about (click here to see an example).
• Blog posts: If copyright issues prevent you from including the full text of the post in your portfolio, then include a link to the original blog post. As with documents, it’s also good to include some text that summarizes the post.

General Rules for Writing Samples

• Keep it to no more than 500 words
• Do not violate confidentiality (i.e., make client names anonymous)
• When sending links to specific writing samples to editors, make it relevant to the job (i.e, if you are pitching to a food magazine, send a sample of a restaurant review or a published recipe)
• Check for correct grammar and make sure your work is typo-free
• If your sample is contained in a Word, PDF or text document, make sure it’s easy to read. Use Times New Roman font, double space your lines, left align the text and use 1-inch margins