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How to build a writing portfolio without being scammed into writing for free

February 4, 2019

One of the questions I get asked about most often is how to break into freelance writing as a blogger. I know it’s an area lots of you are interested in and my answer is usually just to start putting yourself out there and pitching!

However, I’ve noticed lots of ‘magazines’ pop up recently looking for contributors-and I’m seeing people fall for them time and time again. So today, I thought I’d share my tips for finding reputable places to contribute to, how to get paid for your work and more!

Going from Blogger to Freelance Copywriter

I don’t do a huge amount of copywriting, so I’ll put you in the direction of this amazing guest post ‘The Insider Secrets To Becoming a Highly Paid Copywriter.‘ One thing I would say is the copywriting work I have done can be quite different to blogging-remember it’s about being succinct, meeting a strict brief and using SEO keywords-rather than just expressing yourself like we’re used to as bloggers. And when I first started copywriting, I found it really difficult because of that.

I know many of my friends get copywriting work from places like Linked In and it could be a good place to start. Try following brands in your blog niche and reaching out. However, just a warning that just because you’re a good blogger does not make you a good copywriter necessarily!

Going from Blogger to Freelance Journalist

I’ve since realised journalism is much my thing than copywriting-so I’ll spend the rest of the blog post explaining how I went about getting into this.

Obviously, the key thing is to build a portfolio to show off your skills as writer; I use the free version of Journo Portfolio. However, be warned: writing for anyone and everyone does not a good portfolio make! You need to focus on recognisable publications/sites.

Let’s take the tweet above. I am seeing so many of these type of things being shared in Facebook groups and Twitter. Let me say, you are WASTING your time writing for these types of things. For one, you want to be paid for your writing. But let’s put that aside for a second.

The key to a successful journalist portfolio is having a range of titles that people RECOGNISE. Putting ‘magazine’ at the end of something does not make it a publication. I’ve checked and the site is not built yet and they have 52 followers. It would essentially be useless putting this on your portfolio

Similarly, you might see sites recruiting ‘editors’ and this should ring alarm bells. Reputable editors have to have years and years of experience and having ‘editor’ on your CV would look almost offputting-as how can someone just getting into journalism be an editor? 9/10 times anywhere advertising for lots of ‘contributors’ is not worth your time.

Does that mean I shouldn’t guest post for other bloggers?

Before we go any further, it’s important to differentiate between guest posting on other blogs and building a journalism portfolio. Guest posting for other bloggers in your niche is a great way to grow an audience( and I’m always happy if people get in touch and ask to guest post!) but the focus there is to get a link to your site and hopefully have their audience clickthrough. Whilst the focus on building a journalism portfolio isn’t to get traffic to your site/grow your audience. It’s to make a living from your words. So whilst I guest post sometimes, I would not include these in my journalism portfolio.

How can I build a journalist portfolio if my only experience is my blog?

My first tip is to focus on your blog’s niche. There’s no reason why you can’t start earning from your words from the offset. But it helps if you have a unique niche-rather than something like fashion and beauty; which many, many people can write about.

If you don’t yet feel confident in taking on paid work, be picky and focus on finding valuable opportunities. For example, you might not get paid to blog for a recognisable non-profit or charity, but this will be something that holds more weight on your portfolio than a publication you’ve never heard of. For example…

–The Mighty is a well-known publication for those with chronic illnesses. They do not currently pay and whilst I don’t agree with this, I wrote one piece for them starting out to grow my portfolio (I DO not recommend writing for non-paying publications regularly unless you’re very passionate about it. More passionate than about paying your mortgage in fact!)

-The Uncomfortable Revolution are relatively new (I think) but impressive publication focusing on disability, mental health and illness. They have a submission section for personal stories for those new to writing; and also will pay established freelance journalists with a track record (more here)

-The Nopebook is an online feminist magazine. More on how to write for them here.

–Into The Fold is another female magazine open to submissions. Not clear if the pay however.

-I interviewed icelolly.com previously and they mentioned they take guest submissions.

–Pebble Magazine is a great publication around sustainable lifestyle and green living. I believe, depending on the piece, they do sometimes pay contributors-but I’ve not worked for them myself.

-Focus on relevant charities and non-profits. Always consider if a publication can add weight to your portfolio, e.g. 1. will people recognise the name? 2. Does it show off my writing skills? 3.Is it an area I haven’t written much about so can show my diversity?

But where can I find paid work?

There’s no denying there are lots of freelance journalists out there. And what it comes down to is to perseverance and a unique angle. If you want to write about the 10 best blushers, nobody is probably going to want to pay you for that. Because they already know 27 other people who could do it. The key to finding paid work is offering something that nobody else (Especially a member of staff working for the publication) can do-and doing it WELL.

The easiest way to do this is to follow google news alerts for your topic of interest (for example mine is gluten-free, freelancing etc) and pitch first-person opinion pieces based on that when they’re timely and relevant. Us bloggers are great at offering first-person accounts as its what we do best! Here’s a few places that pay for opinion pieces…

Both Indy Voices and Metro commission lots of opinion pieces- and tweet about it regularly. So give them a follow (Indy Voices will put the email of who to pitch to in their twitter bio) and when something is in the news-pitch your opinion!

Another tip is to join Sian Meades weekly newsletter as she will share any places looking for pitches. This makes it very competitive but does help give you a feel of the type of pieces that people are looking for!

If opinion pieces aren’t your thing, I‘d recommend an app like Readly. This helps you view lots of magazines at once. Read them and get a feel for publications you could write for-and the type of content they put out there.

Use Linked In to find editors details or follow them on Twitter. Occasionally they will tweet they’re looking for pitches! I’d still recommend starting in your niche as you can mention your blog (if you’ve written for nowhere else) and bring in your experience. Once you’ve built a bit of a portfolio, you might feel more confident in pitching outside your box.

Don’t be afraid to follow other freelancers and see where they’re writing for too! It gives you a feel as to which places will take freelance commissions.

You might find work in the most unexpected places. For example, I write for Health Union about my IBD each month. I had never heard of them until I saw another freelancer mention them. (They cover all sorts of health conditions so take a look!) So I pitched and it’s now a regular job which I love to do!

A final mention to Underpinned -a magazine for freelancers. I love this site and they do also commission paid pieces. So give them a read (look out for my pieces of course!) for lots of useful info on freelance life too!

There are more and more places I could mention but I’m aware we all write about different topics. It is definitely easier to find work focusing on things like health/invisible disabilities (Which I largely cover) than more generic topics. So be realistic: if you want to write about fashion, could you find another unique angle to you? e.g. ethical, sustainable fashion brands? plus-size fashion? etc. Always ask yourself the question: why me and not just a member of staff they’re already paying?

UPDATE: Just saw Refinery 29 are looking for pitches (the tweet mentions LGBTQ writers but she clarifies all types of pitches are welcome)

You can also checkout the blogging/freelance writing opportunities board for writing opportunities.

How can I write an email pitch?

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