Despite having actively worked as a freelance writer for over a decade, I confess my resume looks far more horrible than my college guidance counselor would like. My work history over the past decade has been akin to a hodgepodge of paint splatterings; only, I didn’t have the foresight of a Jackson Pollock to weave it into a work of art.
Everything you’re not supposed to have– gaps in work histories, retail jobs beneath someone with a master’s degree, tiny gigs lasting bare minutes – is all evident in my resume. And updating a resume is my least favorite activity in the world. 
But here’s the thing: I wouldn’t have it any other way. I grew up and currently live in in what I imagine is the most resume-obsessed city in the country in Washington, DC. Fortunately, my field of freelance journalism doesn’t care whatsoever about resumes.
For all my editors know, I could have spent time in prison, been fired from every job I worked, or been in an insane asylum. What’s more important to them is past published work, proper communication, and a good idea for their use. For all of freelance journalism’s faults with instability and pay, few other industries have embodied Yankee ingenuity without the trappings of modern bureaucracy.
But if editors don’t want a resume, what do they want? The basic form of introduction between you and an editor is a pitch or query letter. In this letter, you write an idea, a basic outline of said idea, how it might be relevant to their audience, how you plan to report about it, and what existing access you have to sources and information. There are a lot of guides out there on the internet about how to pitch, but it’s not as intimidating as it looks.
In either the opening sentence or the final part of your pitch letter, you should establish your credibility as a reporter. Use the first half of the sentence to list who you are and the second half to showcase published clips that have to do with what they’re looking for. Something along the lines of: “I’m a freelance writer specializing in human interest stories who has published in three dozen publications over the past decade. Some of my biography-based clips have appeared in Virginia Living, Falls Church News Press, and Northern Virginia Magazine.“ If you were a staff writer somewhere with similar experience, list that.
The goal here isn’t for you to reinvent the wheel each time you pitch, but to be pretty automatic about writing these parts. It might seem like a Sophie’s Choice to choose between your beloved stories, for example, but try not to overthink it. A bit of advice here: Briefly click each of the links just to see if they’re working before you link to them in your paper.
It’s important to have access to these clips, so you’re not constantly digging them up every time. I keep a sample of my favorite writings on my blog, but a new web tool has provided an even greater resource called Muckrack.
Muckrack is a site that automatically aggregates all bylines across all media with your name on it and displays it chronologically starting from your most recent work. You can log in and create a profile, but there’s the pleasant surprise of how much the website has done for you, even if you are just discovering its existence. Simply type your first name and last name separated by a hyphen after the hyperlink like this: http://www.muckrack.com/orrin-konheim. Of course, the website might run into glitches if you have a common name and there’s another writer with the same name as you. It’s also not a guarantee that everything you’ve ever written for all time appears on there.
This is one of the many reasons it’s useful to log in to Muckrack and take control of your profile. This article has instructions for the nuts and bolts.
So what are the basic features (there’s a list of premium features here)? If you feel like your most recent work is your best, you do have the option to curate a portfolio. You can also write a personal statement which can serve as a cover letter to prospective employers about what you’re about.
Another plus is being able to link your social media, but that’s a double-edged sword, so tread carefully over that decision: You can dazzle people with your social media prowess, but you’ll also have to police yourself to make sure you don’t say something cancellable. Muckrack not only picks up your tweets but your responses so be careful not to participate in any flame wars.
If you’re publishing semi-regularly as I’m doing these days, it’s also extra motivation for me to push myself and take an assignment because it gives me something new on the top of my Muckrack page.
It’s also important to note that Muckrack’s customers are primarily PR professionals who want access to great journalists to pitch stories. Make a decision if it benefits you to have your e-mail inundated with PR pitches and reveal your information accordingly.
Most importantly, Muckrack is a way to show in a single link what you’re all about. Nowadays, I put it at the bottom of my signature and let my page do the talking.
BIO: Orrin Konheim has been a freelance journalist since 2011 with bylines in the Washington Times, Washington Post, Mental Floss Magazine, Today I Found Out, and over 3 dozen other publications. He primarily writes in the Washington DC and Richmond markets and primarily enjoys film and television writing, local journalism, and the intersections of politics and culture.
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