Build a Portfolio with Blogging

Every writer who has ever applied to any job involving writing has experienced this: The online application is going fine until the field appears asking for a link to your portfolio. For many authors, this is no big deal. For many others, this creates a problem, often because they’ve spent a great deal of time working on writing… but none of it is something they would be comfortable showing a stranger.

This is the conundrum presented by a portfolio. There was a time when this was a physical binder or portfolio (natch) of printouts, artwork, etc. These days, when an employer asks to see your portfolio, they’re asking for something online they can peruse to establish what type of writer you are (and what type of work you’ve done).

Now, you could (and many authors have) put together a sampling of PDF files that you send on demand. A PDF is preferable because, while it isn’t as non-editable as people once believed, it is at least editing-resistant. If you’ve worked as a writer before, either freelance or for employers, you may also want to sanitize some of the writing you’ve done. It’s not uncommon for writing work to be proprietary, written under a non-disclosure agreement, etc. If you want to show off your work but you don’t want to disclose any secrets, you could always edit out key information and create mock-ups in PDF form. These show off what you can do without breaking any confidences.

There is, however, a simpler way to create a portfolio that is instantly accessible to any employer or potential freelance client (or, perhaps, an agent), and that is through blogging.

I have a personal philosophy in life: If somebody else can do something that I’m doing, they should do it. And what I want to do is find things that would represent a unique contribution to the world – the contribution that only I, and my portfolio of talents, can make happen. Those are my priorities in life. – Neil deGrasse Tyson

Blogging enables you to create a body of work that is on the Internet, public, for anyone to see, that really shows off the breadth and depth of what you can do. This is why it’s important to use your blog for the many purposes we’ve described to you. Engage with your audience. Get your name out there. Build your following and your “fandom cred.” Stretch your legs as a writer. Explore different genres and produce work of different kinds.

What you’re doing, as you engage in all of these activities that show what you can do and how well you can do it, is building a portfolio. Accessible to anyone in an instant, always a click away, and far more extensive than any folder of PDF files you might painstakingly email to someone, this portfolio will serve you well in “repping” your work as you go about the business of being an author, a working writer, a technical writer, or anything in between.

This is the power of blogging when it comes to building your portfolio, your repertoire. Don’t forget that… and blog accordingly.

___

*This blog was written 100% by a human and contains no AI-generated written content.