Author Services
Author Articles

Book Review & Contest Insights from Real Reviews and Submissions
What separates great books from the rest? Below are articles with insights from real reviews and contest submissions—what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve your book. You’ll also find a wide range of articles covering writing, publishing, marketing, and more. Each article has a Comments section so you can read advice from other authors and leave your own.
Why Some Books Win Awards (And Most Don’t) — Insights From Real Contest Submissions New!
What separates award-winning books from the rest? After evaluating contest submissions across a wide range of genres, certain patterns become clear. Some books consistently rise to the top. Others, even with strong ideas and clear effort behind them, fall short. The difference is rarely dramatic—it...
What We’ve Learned From Reviewing Hundreds of Thousands of Books (And Why Most Don’t Stand Out) New!
After reviewing and evaluating books across thousands of submissions over the past two decades, certain patterns become impossible to ignore. Some books immediately stand out to reviewers. Others—even well-intentioned ones—fade into the middle or fall short. The difference is rarely luck. It comes down to...
7 Simple Tips to Create a Sensational Writing Portfolio
There is a multitude of opportunities for freelance writers online. Today, you are not limited to only writing for magazines or publishing a book to make money from writing. You can now have a career as a freelance writer, writing for online magazines, creating content for websites and blogs, writing CVs, resumes, press releases, or being a ghostwriter for celebrities writing their life story.
You need to show prospective clients your writing style and skill to get any freelance writing work. But what should you consider when choosing samples to display on your portfolio to prove your writing proficiency?
1. An essential factor writers should consider when submitting a writing sample is ensuring that your writing is error-free. You need to pay attention to details like grammar, spelling, syntax, and typing errors.
2. If you apply to an ad for a writing job, you need to follow the instructions provided regarding topics, tone, style, format, etc. Read the ad carefully, and before you submit your application, check that your writing sample complies with all the requirements.
3. You must adjust your style and tone according to the clients' specifications in your writing sample. You should be familiar with the most common style guides and know how to use them should your clients provide you with their own. Alternatively, you should be able to figure out their style from their current content.
4. Writing for clients means you should be able to write about various topics. Thus, you should showcase your research skills and ability to explain complex subjects in simple language.
5. Your writing sample should show prospective clients that you understand best practices for specific types of writing. For example, SEO, if you plan to write blog posts or website content for clients. It would be best to show that you can tailor your content according to different target audiences in your writing sample.
6. If you want to specialize in long-form content, you must show clients you can plan and organize content using headings and sub-headings. Your writing sample should have an engaging introduction, a conclusion summarizing your content, and a solid call to action.
7. It will help if you use powerful and emotional words to create an intriguing headline people would like to click and read. Since it is the first thing online visitors see, showcasing your expertise in creating click-worthy titles can increase your chances of getting your next writing job.
Since there is such a variety of writing jobs available online, your online portfolio should have various writing samples, showcasing your mastery of different types of writing. It can be handy if you also have writing samples of different lengths to show you can discuss a topic extensively or write concisely, getting your point across in as little as five hundred words.
Portfolio services are handy since you can showcase your published work in one place and only share one link when looking for future clients. It is also simple to remove older and add newer links. Create your profile today by adding the URLs for your best writing samples and creating a portfolio that will wow future clients.
Sources
- How to Create Freelance Writing Samples (as a Complete Beginner)
https://peakfreelance.com/blog/freelance-writing-sample/
Written by Readers’ Favorite Reviewer Susan van der Walt