3 Tools to Help New Writers Build a Portfolio

So, you have the heart and soul of the writer. You know that, and you feel that. You have a blog of your own, and it’s looking amazing. But how do you go about convincing other people that you have a talent and a passion? How do you build a portfolio to show potential employers?

When you have no experience yet, there’s still plenty of tools you can use to build a portfolio that you are proud to show potential employers. Here’s a few of them.

1. Odyssey

I had already graduated school when I discovered Odyssey. I was approached by a former classmate about becoming an editor for them, and decided to do some volunteer work as an editor. In addition to writing an article of my own every week, I also formatted the posts for the website, and most importantly, gave constructive feedback to my writers on their stories.

Odyssey is amazing because it allows you to just…Post! You can write about anything and everything you want, which means you have the freedom to really show what you can do. It’s as simple as clicking the “Create” on their homepage and writing your first piece!

2. School Publications

If you’re in college, or even high school, your school most likely has their own publication, and that publication is comprised of content entirely from other students. When I was in school, I wrote for and was the editor of two of our publications: The Sentinel and KSU News Now.

Other students in student media understand how important building a portfolio is for writers. Find out about your school or university’s publication(s) and reach out to the editors asking if you can write for them. Nine times out of ten, they’ll happily welcome your help!

3. Patch

If you’re looking to add some more serious or news-related articles to your portfolio, your local Patch is a great website to write for. Patch is composed of community news from all across the country, and is run almost entirely by user-submitted articles.

To write for them, all you have to do is find some local events and happenings in your area, make an account, and post them. The posts have to go through an approval process, but as long as your stories are legible and legitimate, there’s no reason they won’t go through.

There’s plenty of other amazing tools out there to help new writers build a portfolio, but these will definitely help get you started!

Experienced writers: Did you ever use any of these when building your portfolio? What about other tools you used? Sound off in the comments!