Tips for Improving Your Freelance Writing Samples

If you’re just getting started with freelance writing, one of the most important steps you’ll take is creating a portfolio. The heart of your portfolio, of course, will be the samples of your writing that you choose to showcase. After all, you’ll need a way to demonstrate your writing abilities to your potential clients, and developing strong writing samples is the best means of doing that. This raises an obvious question: What if you don’t have any writing samples? If that’s the case, you’ll need to write brand-new samples. If you’re doing this for the first time, you may be wondering what you can do to show off your writing at its best.

Even if you do have some past work—published or not—that you would like to use, you may be wondering whether you should make any changes to it before putting it in your portfolio. In general, it’s best to review your work carefully before using it as a writing sample, whether it’s new or not. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re putting together samples for your freelance writing portfolio:

Don’t include anything you’re not proud of.

First and foremost, your portfolio should consist of examples of your very best writing. Remember that this is going to be most of your readers’ first experience with your writing, and you want it to be a positive one! That’s why it’s important to spend as much time as possible polishing your samples, so you can be sure that they’ll have the right effect on your readers. If you’re not 100 percent satisfied with a piece of writing, work on it until you are—or use a different piece for your portfolio.

Think about the type of writing you want to do.

If you want your samples to help you get the kind of writing gigs you’re interested in, they should be relevant to your interests. Look at the publications you want to write for and study the type of writing they’re publishing, or look at the clients you want to attract and try to get a sense of what they’re looking for. Then, create the sort of samples that will make those clients want to hire you. If you want to be a freelance legal writer, write samples that showcase your ability to write clear, concise articles about legal subjects—don’t simply fill your portfolio with samples that aren’t relevant to your ambitions as a writer.

Make sure your writing is tight and succinct.

When you’re writing to impress, it’s critical not to pad out your writing with fluffy, unnecessary words. Go through each of your samples before putting them in your portfolio and pare them down to their essence. Your writing here should be as succinct as possible, without self-indulgent asides or aimless rambling. This doesn’t mean, of course, that you can’t be descriptive or that you can’t use complex sentences or long words. It simply means that there shouldn’t be anything unnecessary in any of your samples.

Try to make your samples timeless.

As a general rule, it’s a good idea to use writing samples that will continue to seem fresh and relevant no matter when a reader encounters them. This doesn’t mean that you can’t use a review of a recent book or performance, of course, but it does mean that you should be careful to minimize currently popular slang and avoid leaning too hard on references that may instantly date your work. The more evergreen your writing samples are, the more effective they are likely to be.

Check and double-check for errors.

If there are any errors in your writing samples, it’s going to speak volumes about your level of professionalism as a freelance writer. That’s why it’s imperative to go through your work with a fine-toothed comb, correcting any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors that may be there. You should also double-check the spelling of names and proper nouns, test any hyperlinks, and fact-check any statements that you’re not certain of. It may even be a good idea to run your samples by someone else before using them; a fresh pair of eyes can spot mistakes that might be invisible to you.

Make your samples easy to read.

Put yourself in the shoes of a potential client who is opening up your portfolio to read your writing samples for the first time. If your writing consists of one long, dense paragraph after another, it’s not going to have the effect you’re hoping for. Make your samples as reader-friendly as possible by using short paragraphs and plenty of white space. Subheadings and even graphics can help to make your writing samples more approachable. Finally, make sure you’re using a clean, clear font and a readable type size for all of your samples.

Don’t be afraid to use humor.

While the work in your freelance writing portfolio should be of professional quality, that doesn’t mean that your writing has to be devoid of humor. In fact, your portfolio can be a terrific place to show off your creative side, as well as your wit. A well-done humorous piece will help to make your portfolio more memorable, so you’ll be more likely to leave a positive impression on potential clients. Humor is also more difficult to pull off in print, so if you have a knack for it, it will speak all the more strongly for your writing skills.

Are you eager to launch yourself into the world of freelancing writing? Everybody has to start somewhere—and for many aspiring freelancers, that somewhere is Writers Work. We offer the comprehensive resources you need to make your way in a competitive environment, including an intuitive document editor, handy job search engines, and a series of informative videos. If you’re ready to start your journey as a freelance writer, visit our site today to check out our introductory video and sign up for a risk-free 30-day membership!