We recently hosted a members only office hour session at Writing Launch.

There were a lot of related questions that kept popping up from the new freelance writers:

What about my portfolio?

I’m new to my niche, and don’t have a portfolio? What do I do?

My publications are really old, can I include them in my portfolio?

Do any of these questions sound familiar to you? If so, you’re not alone. These types of questions are incredibly common.

The fact is that most new freelance writers get very stuck as soon as they start thinking about their portfolio.

Let me put it into perspective for you. I recently asked the editor of Authors Publish Magazine a simple question: “When you get a pitch, do you want to look at the portfolio?”

In response, a look of dread crossed her face. Her shoulders tensed. Her eyes rolled back.

The answer was clear: “No way!”

The fact is that editors DO NOT WANT to look at your portfolio. Even if you’re new to freelance writing.

As an editor myself, I do sometimes look at the portfolio, when a pitch links to one, but I usually think to myself, am I wasting my time? The fact of the matter is that I just want to publish good writing. And for the types of articles I publish, I can almost always tell if the writer is qualified based on just the pitch.

If you can describe an article in two or three sentences, and the article is just what I’m looking for, and your description is clear and concise while still communicating a lot of information, then I can usually make a good decision about an article almost immediately.

Here’s where the portfolio does come into play. Sometimes there is some nagging doubt, in terms of whether or not the author is qualified. I might check out the portfolio, in that case. Note, that even this is very rare.

However, I’m most likely to have a little bit of doubt if the author is proposing a major article that will cost real money. In that case, I am obligated to do a bit of due diligence. What does that mean to you, if you don’t have a portfolio? It means don’t propose a major article. Start small! (Or medium.) When you study a publication, figure out the categories of articles they publish, and aim for something simple and low risk from the editor’s perspective. Do this even if you have a portfolio. Once you’ve proven yourself, then you can propose to do a feature article.

Of course, established journalists often pitch featured articles to new-to-them publications. In these cases, how much does a portfolio matter? Ironically, probably not very much. Once you’ve honed your ability to write a good pitch, it is often extremely clear that you’re established, just from the quality of the pitch. You might link to the portfolio, but half the time, even if the editor is going to look at the portfolio, they’ve already made up their mind.

The bottom line: A good pitch wins the day. Focus on that, and if you find yourself stuck because you don’t have a good portfolio, pretend that you have an amazing portfolio. Just don’t link to it in your pitch 😉