Getting your first content writing experience can be one of the biggest hurdles for aspiring writers. With some strategic effort you can gain the experience and portfolio needed to start a content writing career. This guide will provide multiple avenues for getting that initial experience through both paid and unpaid opportunities.
Build Your Portfolio
Even without paid experience, you can build a portfolio of published writing samples to showcase your skills. A strong portfolio is valuable for demonstrating your abilities, especially when first starting out. Here are some ways to build your portfolio:
Blog on your own website or platform: Create a blog focused on topics you’re passionate about and want to write about. Publish high-quality, well-researched posts regularly to build an archive of samples.
Contribute to other blogs: Research blogs and websites in your niche and reach out to editors to inquire about contributing guest posts for their site. This gets your writing published and helps build SEO links back to your portfolio.
Publish on freelance platforms: Sites like Medium allow you to publish articles and gain an audience. While the pay is generally low, it’s a way to get published clips to showcase in your portfolio.
Start your own newsletter: Creating an email newsletter, even with just a few subscribers, is another way to publish content and add samples to your portfolio. Newsletters also build an audience over time.
Write personal essays: While these may not directly relate to your desired niche, personal essays demonstrate your writing abilities. They can be published on your own site or in local magazines/journals.
Leverage social media: Micro-blog style content on platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn can demonstrate your passion for topics if shared strategically. Consider re-sharing published portfolio pieces as well.
Use these unpaid opportunities consistently to grow a diverse portfolio highlighting your best writing samples across various formats and topics. Aim to continuously produce fresh content for your portfolio on a regular schedule.
Offer Unpaid Work For Experience
While not ideal in the long run, offering to write for free early on is sometimes the only way to gain those first professional clips. Look for opportunities where you can potentially build paid work from the unpaid starting point. Here are some options:
Internships: Reach out to potential employers to inquire if they offer writing internships. Many are unpaid but provide real work experience on a team.
Assistant positions: Small companies and individual writers may be open to an unpaid assistant who they can eventually pay if a good fit. This directly helps with workflow.
Industry connections: Attend events in your local writing community to meet people and publishers directly. Offers to help with small tasks can turn into paid gigs.
Non-profit work: Charities and advocacy groups often need content help. While unpaid, it demonstrates passion for certain issues and may lead to related paid work.
Contests: Enter writing competitions for exposure. Some have small cash prizes but gain recognition that could lead to paid opportunities.
University/alumni publications: Schools often accept free submissions from students/alumni as a way to give experience to new writers.
Always make clear that unpaid work is temporary while you build experience, have a timeframe in mind, and be respectful of others’ time. Offer substantial value for the unpaid opportunity to lay a foundation for potential future paid work.
Leverage Freelance Platforms And Resources
Websites that connect clients with freelance writers are ideal starting points to gain initial paid projects. Here are some effective platforms:
Upwork: One of the largest marketplaces. Apply for many mid-to-low budget projects to build a track record. Take on small revisions/edits to start.
Freelance sites for writing: Sites like WriterAccess, ConstantContent and others focus specifically on linking writers with clients. Apply broadly and look for micro-projects.
General freelance sites: Like Fiverr allow you to promote very small, short-form writing projects to jumpstart experience and reviews.
Local marketplaces: Craigslist, Facebook jobs groups, or individual company job boards could have smaller local opportunities to get paid for writing experience.
In addition to applications, research companies directly for potential contract writing positions they may not have posted publicly yet. Set modest hourly or fixed rate starting out based on experience (or lack thereof).
Leverage existing skills by also offering supplemental services like research, transcription, or light editing depending on experience to expand potential clients when first starting out. Find opportunities wherever they exist.