Including Editor Reviews in a Portfolio or Cover Letter.

The Don

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I have a nice editor review that I recieved in regards to a load of writing I did for a site that I no longer write for. Is it appropriate to include that review in a portfolio? If so, would it be best to paraphrase or simply paste in the review, stating where it came from?

I don't have the one good writing reference that I know will pop out at potential clients, so I am looking for anything to spice up the portfolio a bit. Any advice on this is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 

Susan Coffin

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:welcome: Don:

Do you mean a portfolio for freelance assignments? Do you have any other writing samples--articles you wrote for the site you no longer work for? Clips from other articles? Do you write a blog?

As for me, I would not include the editor review because that is just one person's opinion. I think whomever hires you on assignment would want to see actual writing samples.

This is just my opinion, though. :) Hopefully others who have built a portfolio to work on assignment will answer soon.
 

Phaeal

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My feeling is that this would be more appropriate for a portfolio than a cover letter. I'm only familiar with query letters for fiction, so I'm not sure how you would handle the review in a non-fiction query/proposal package.
 

CaoPaux

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Moved from Roundtable to Freelancing.
 

SpiderGal

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If this is for a non-fiction market, such a Website or a magazine, I would not include any such reviews into the intro letter. You can, as others have suggested, include links to your published writing.
 

The Don

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Thank you all for your replies.
Susan, it is for a portfolio. I do blog and have some links and clips from articles. Much of my work is ghostwriting, so I believe I would have to get permission to use any of that from whoever I sold it to.

Agreed that it would not work so well with a cover letter.

I recieved a reply in a Linked In group on this question from a writer who says she does portfolios for clients. She states that this is "exactly" the type of thing to include in a portfolio and gave examples of how to do it, including who the editor(s) work for.

It seems a logical way to go about it, so think I will try it that way.
 

gettingby

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Honesty. your writing comes down to the work you produce, not what someone says about it. I know you just said you are going to include it in your portfolio, but I would think twice about it.
 

The Don

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Honesty. your writing comes down to the work you produce, not what someone says about it. I know you just said you are going to include it in your portfolio, but I would think twice about it.

There are certainly varying opinions. I think some of it may be the type of writing you are doing. It may be less pertinent to have these reviews for non-fiction. I'll mull it over and just see what I come out with. I can always change it.
 

Debbie V

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Don,
Please keep us posted if you decide to use it in a portfolio. I'm curious to know how that works out.
 

The Don

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I included the editor's comments in a cover letter and landed a decent paying, ongoing contract gig. I am thinking it is a good idea to include in a cover letter or portfolio, if it is presented well. Particularly for someone who does not have many obviously big-name clients that jump off the page. Thanks for the feedback.
 

The Don

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Thank you Jeffo and Melina. It worked for one client at least. The job is working out well so far. Not always the most exciting gig and you never know when they may run out of work, so still working on that portfolio!
 

WeaselFire

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I had a portfolio ages ago when I applied to be an associate editor at several magazines. But that's more like a job interview than a query. Otherwise, I've always just queried the proposed article and skipped anything else. Unless I had a specific tie-in to something.

Jeff