I am a big fan of Colleen Welsch at The Freelance Writer’s Guide. She has a big personality, but she is down to earth as well and so darn full of common sense. If I were returning to fulltime freelance writing, she’d be the person I’d go to in order to get back on track.

Thanks to a recent post of hers and lots of recent experience I’ve had from writers pitching FundsforWriters, I decided we needed a crash course in how to set up a freelance writer portfolio.

You would be amazed at the number of pitches I receive from people who have no website, no professional social media, and no online writing portfolio. They TELL me they are writers. They TELL me they’ve published elsewhere. They TELL me they’ve been freelancing for 5, 8, 10 years. However, without a hardcore search, I cannot find proof of same. I don’t have time for that.

So guess what I do? I reject them. I do not have time to research a writer and find proof they are who they are, especially in these days of AI. Our features ask that the writer talk about writing success, and to write about the topic, they need to have walked the walk. To me, in my limited time, in my split-second, yes-or-no moment in reviewing a pitch, I fall on the side of rejection when I cannot see it right off the bat. So do 90 percent of the other editors out there.

When pitching your work, make it easy for the reviewer to say yes. They have never met you. They are not required to believe you. They want a good topic, written well, with a bio with links that go straight to proof you are who you say you are. When you make them have to invest in seconds if not minutes in confirming your identity and experience, you increase your odds of a NO.

So, after reading this article, I wanted to share it with you. If you are pitching articles, have an online presence. In this article, you’ll learn how easy it is, whether you have tons of experience or just a teeny bit. Thank me when you land a good gig.

And see some examples here.