Comments on: Freelance Writing Experience: Does it Matter Where Your Clips Come From?

By: Annie Mueller

Annie Mueller — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:42:08 +0000

@Susan: I just sent you an email via your contact email on your website. I thought maybe we could work out something — I’m looking for a few high-quality guest posts and you need current clips. Might be a good exchange – I hope so.
Have a great weekend!

By: Use a Skills Inventory to See What Writing Jobs You Can Do : Freelance Writing Jobs | A Freelance Writing Community and Freelance Writing Jobs Resource

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:31:26 +0000

[...] Lack of experience and lack of confidence are two of the biggest obstacles that any writer can face, but for those who are actively trying enter the corporate writing market these barriers can seem to be nearly insurmountable. [...]

By: Susan Rand

Susan Rand — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:10:10 +0000

Several years ago I wrote 57 articles for a low-paying content site which at that time was paying pretty well (according to my beginner’s standard at the time). Now I get considerably more money, but 99% of my clips are from those years. I’ve run into more problems with the age of my clips, frankly. I have only 17 recent clips, all for the same client, but (1) she claimed this work as her own writing, and (2) she “edited” my work after purchase and inserted errors! I feel that limits my ability to use these clips without some kind of explanation.

By: Tania Mara

Tania Mara — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:17:16 +0000

I had no clips when I got my first freelance writing job. I simply found an ad at a webmasters forum, applied and made sure my message would look professional enough. I noticed the other applicants didn’t write too well, so I hoped my application would stand out, as it did–in fact, the employer hired me again a few days later.

Nowadays I do have clips, of course. Some are available on my own blogs, others have been published on content sites. I never had a problem, i. e., so far none of my prospects told me they wouldn’t hire me because my clips come from Entry Level Site X or Low-Paying Blog Y.

By: Jennifer L

Jennifer L — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:55:22 +0000

Interesting discussion here!

I remember when I applied for my very first post-college writing job. I proudly handed over my stack of college newspaper clips and short clips from my summer and school internships. A few years later, when I applied for a new job, I went back and looked at some of those clips and shuddered. Some of them were still okay, but some of them were so obviously the work of a total amateur who had a lot to learn! But that was okay. I used newer clips from that point on and continued to work upward. Today, I would never use any of the clips from that era of my career simply because I have much better clips that I’ve produced since then.

So what’s the point of my musing about that? My advice is simply to take a good look at the clips that you DO have and pick the very best ones. A good editor will probably be able to detect if you have some skill or show steady improvement. And if s/he thinks you’re not ready and need to get more experience, well….then you keep doing that until you do have more clips and more experience. You gotta start somewhere, right?

By: chris

chris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:15:33 +0000

I’d be interested to see where some prominent authors, bloggers and other writers got their starts. Like anything else, you have to start somewhere. Just like famous actors who started off in commercials or sitcoms and went on to become Oscar winners, there’s no reason old work should ever be held against you.

By: Chinamatt

Chinamatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:54:55 +0000

I was given a one-time writing gig that paid pretty well and the only clips I had to apply for it with were from low-paying content sites. I guess I did something right with those articles.

By: Jodee

Jodee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:18:30 +0000

I’m honored to be the inspiration for a post.

By: Allena

Allena — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:24:42 +0000

…. random thought though: a lot of the things I hire for– it’s more important to me that I dn’t have to hold the sub-contractor’s hand (hence experience), because I can clean up basic web copy, which is 95% of what I outsource…

By: Allena

Allena — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:12:21 +0000

I personally won’t hire writers or proofreaders (and let’s be honest, I mostly hire proofreaders!) who show me all/only clips from one place such as … I don’t know … whatever is the Content Flavor of the Week. It has nothing to do with quality- but moreso with experience. I want to hire someone who has been in this field X amount of time, and demonstrates it with an upward arc in clips.

Now, if I was hiring for something in which I wanted the very beginners, I guess I’d expect to see beginner clips, and be ok with that.

By: Triona Guidry

Triona Guidry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:20:50 +0000

I don’t think where you get your clips matters at all. As you said, most of the time people won’t know how much you were paid, if at all. I managed to land an article in a national magazine based on clips I’d done for local businesses and my own blog. What matters more is the quality of your work: if you can write a solid query, if you present yourself as a professional. Don’t think of yourself as a writer with itty-bitty clips, just think of yourself as a *writer* and go for it. The worst they can do is say no!

By: stephanerd

stephanerd — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:21:58 +0000

I’ve been curious about this myself. Not that I’ve worried about the rinky-dink clips hurting my career. I just worried that they wouldn’t help much.

In most cases, I haven’t had trouble getting an assignment with a great cover letter and some small-scale clips. Actually, I’ve only been in contact with one editor who balked at my lack of national magazine experience. I’m curious to see what others have experienced.