What a writer
portfolio should include.
A writer portfolio should lead with a short set of curated clips, each with a real byline, the outlet it ran in, and the date, arranged so the range of your voice and beats is obvious at a glance: a reported feature next to an essay next to a piece of criticism or an interview. Every clip links to the published work, and any clip that has gone offline keeps a saved PDF so the link never dies. Add a two-line bio, the beats you cover, and a plain note on availability and how to commission you. Below is the full list of what to put in, the terms an editor actually searches, and which of the Portfolio designs suit a writing sample page.
The sections a writer portfolio needs.
An editor hires on the strength of the writing and the breadth it covers, so the page is built around the clips and the range they show. Work through these in order, and read the flagged block twice.
Curated clips, not all of them
Six to ten pieces you are proud of, not the full archive. Pick the ones that show you at your strongest and that together cover the ground you want to be hired for. A tight, chosen set reads as confidence. A wall of every link you have ever earned reads as noise.
A byline, outlet, and date on each
Every clip needs a title, the outlet it ran in, the date, and one line saying what it is and any result: pieces that drew traffic, got cited, won or placed for an award, or were anthologized. That one line is what an editor reads before they decide to open it.
Range of voice and beat, made obvious
Group or order the clips so a reader sees the spread: a reported feature, an essay, a review or criticism, an interview or profile, a newsletter issue, a long-form piece. If you write across genres, show it. If you are deliberately a specialist, make the depth on one beat the thing that stands out instead.
Live links, plus PDFs for dead ones
Link to the published piece wherever it is still live. Outlets fold, redesign, and paywall constantly, so keep a saved PDF of any clip whose link has died or slipped behind a wall, and point to that instead. A broken link on your best piece is a self-inflicted wound.
A short bio and your beats
Two or three lines on who you are and what you write, then the topics and beats you cover: politics, science, culture, business, personal essay, whatever is true. An editor scanning for a features writer in one area wants to know in five seconds whether you are that person.
Availability and how to commission you
Say whether you are open to freelance, contract, or staff work, and give one clear way to pitch or commission you. If you have rates or a preferred brief format, a short note saves both sides an email. Make the ask to work with you the easiest thing on the page to find.
Never include: work you agreed to keep private
No ghostwritten or unbylined work you agreed to keep anonymous, and nothing under embargo. Do not publish a killed piece without the outlet's ok, and never present an edited or co-written piece as solo work when it was not. Keep unpublished manuscripts and any confidential source material off the public page entirely.
When a great piece has to stay off the site, describe the scope without naming it: "ghostwrote a monthly column for a Fortune 500 executive" is honest and breaks no agreement. Anything that would expose a source, break an embargo, or overstate your role does not belong on a page with your name on it.
Terms an editor searches.
When you apply to a staff or editorial role, the posting runs through an applicant tracking system that indexes exact competencies. If these are true of you, use the exact words, because a system reads the words you wrote, not the ones you meant.
Paste your resume into the free ATS score checker with a real editorial job posting to see which of these terms the posting uses and your resume is missing.
Which designs suit a writing sample page.
Writing is judged by reading it, so the design should get out of the way and make the clips easy to read and easy to open. Of the 60 Portfolio designs and 48 resume layouts, these are the shapes that fit.
Pick one of the editorial designs built around type and reading, with generous line length and clear clip cards that link out. The writing is the work, so the design should frame it and then step back, not compete with it for attention.
For staff and editorial applications, choose a single-column resume rather than a two-column one. Multi-column layouts can serialise into a scrambled reading order when a newsroom or publisher's system parses them, which garbles the clips and titles you want read cleanly.
Order the page so the strongest clips are the first thing a reader hits, with the bio and beats just below. An editor decides on the writing, so put the writing in front of them before anything else.
Use a readable serif or a clean sans, one accent colour, and real whitespace. An editor is skim-reading between deadlines, so a calm page that lets a headline and a first line breathe does more than any flourish.
Who a writer portfolio is not for.
A portfolio helps some writers and is beside the point for others. Read this before you spend an evening building one, because for a share of writing work the clips themselves, sent directly, do the job.
Worth building if you
- +Freelance or pitch, and want one link that shows your best clips, your beats, and how to commission you.
- +Write across genres and want the range of your voice visible in one place instead of scattered across outlets.
- +Are applying to staff or editorial roles and want a home for clips that outlives any single outlet's site.
- +Have pieces behind paywalls or on sites that keep dying, and need a stable place with saved copies.
Skip it, for now, if you
- −Are on staff and only ever apply through a newsroom's internal Workday or Greenhouse portal that never opens an external link.
- −Have an agent or editor who submits your work on your behalf in a set format. Send them the clips instead.
- −Have almost nothing you can publish because most of your work is ghostwritten or under NDA. Build a page of scope, not links.
- −Have a deadline. Fix the resume for the ATS first, then build the site after.
Questions writers ask.
Straight answers on clips, paywalls, ghostwriting, and whether the effort is worth it.
How many clips should a writer portfolio have?
Six to ten, chosen deliberately. An editor gives a portfolio a couple of minutes, so a tight set that shows your best writing and your range does more than a long archive. If a piece is not one you would happily be judged on, leave it off. Curation is itself a signal that you know what good looks like.
What if my best work is behind a paywall or offline?
Keep a saved PDF of the piece and link to that, with a note that it originally ran in the outlet. Paywalls and dead links are normal in this business, and an editor would rather read a clean saved copy than hit a subscription wall or a 404. Always keep your own copy of anything you publish, because outlets fold and redesign without warning.
Can I show ghostwritten work?
Not if you agreed to keep it anonymous, and most ghostwriting comes with that agreement. Do not post the piece or name the client if the contract says otherwise. What you can do is describe the scope honestly, for example that you ghostwrote a column or a book in a given field, without linking the specific work or naming who it was for.
I am new and have no bylines yet. What goes on the page?
Lead with the strongest thing you have, even if it is a student paper, a newsletter you run, or a well-edited spec piece written to a real brief. Be clear about what each thing is. A page that shows one or two genuinely good pieces and a clear sense of the beat you want beats an empty one, and it gives an editor something to react to when you pitch.
Should I show range or niche down to one beat?
It depends on the work you want. If you are chasing general features or freelance across topics, show range so an editor sees you can move between a reported piece and an essay. If you want to be the go-to writer on one beat, lead with depth there and let a couple of adjacent pieces hint at reach. Either is fine, as long as the page commits to one.
Do editors read a website or just the clips?
They read the clips first, so the page exists to get the right clips in front of them fast. A good portfolio is a clean frame around your best work with a clear line on your beats and how to reach you. The bio, the design, and the layout only matter to the extent they make the writing easy to find and easy to open.
Where to go next.
Build the site, test your resume, or read how the paste-a-resume flow works.
Turn your writing
resume into a site.
Paste your resume and Portfolio drafts a clean, clips-first website in about a minute. Your best bylines up top, saved copies for the links that die, and a clear line on how to commission you, published to your own domain with TLS handled for you.