Not only are you a writer, but your own marketing firm so you need some stellar writing clips to promote your talents.  Clips are almost always necessary to apply for any well-paying freelance writing gig.  Clips are samples of your writing and can be of any length, topic, and may be previously published or not.  Job postings usually specify the types of clip they would like; some freelance jobs may request only published clips or clips similar to the subject that you are applying to write for.

Many wonder how they can get their first writing gig without having any clips, what follows are some ideas for getting your first clips.

(1) College Papers, Business Letters, Etc.

You may already have some clips.  Have you ever written a college term paper, a neighborhood flyer, an article for a community newsletter, or a business letter or report?  I used an excerpt from a college paper and a work report to land my first paid writing gig and now I have some published work to ad to my writer’s portfolio.

(2) Create Your Own Writing Samples

Before applying for a freelance writing, create a series of articles that are relevant to the job you are applying for.  Even if you don’t get the job, you now have clips for your next application.

(3) Set-Up Your Own Blog

Starting a blog is an easy way to get published clips.  Pick a niche or topic that is of great interest to you and that you think you will have enough material to be able to add content to it several times a week.  You will want all blog posts to be of professional quality since you will be referring prospective employers to it.

It is quite simple to set up blogs at WordPress and Blogger, but as you get more experienced with blogging you are probably going to want to set up your own blog with your own personal web address and host yourself for greater control of the site.  For great information about starting your own blog, see Blogging Basics for the Beginner Blogger.

(4) Volunteer Your Writing Skills

Offer to write a guest post on an already popular blog or perhaps offer up a free piece to a reputable website.  You could also volunteer to write for your favorite non-profits newsletter or website to get some professional looking clips.

(5) Be Weary of Content Sites

Content mills are popping up all over the Internet and pay writers mere pennies for their ‘published’ pieces.  The quality is usually poor since anyone can publish at these sites (e.g. e-How, Associated Content, and Helium) so using clips from a content site may make you look less credible.

Some content sites, such as Suite101, have editors and stricter guidelines for published material and can be a nice opportunity for getting published clips.  If you are interested in travel writing, Trazzler is an excellent website to submit your work.  Trazzler does not pay for an individual writing post but the clips are very professional looking and they may even consider you for freelance work.

Can you think of any other ways to get professional looking clips if someone is new to writing?