Writing is gradually becoming a decently paid job, which is tempting the aspirants from all over the world to adopt this profession in large numbers. But, as Rome was not built in a day, creating your reputation as an established writer will also take time. If you too wish to join this extended coterie of writers as an employee or as a freelance writer, the foremost step would be to create writing samples. Before we proceed, let’s go through some quick facts about writing.
Some interesting facts about writing
Writing is a hobby for a big population of the world, but still for many, it is a profession and the primary source to make a living. Do you know that around 0.03% people around the world earn their bread and butter through writing in a regular job or as a freelance writer? Moreover, alone in the US, 82% of freelancers are writers out of which, 24% are earning a lucrative $50,000 every year through their freelance writing services.
Therefore, if you have a knack of writing and love playing with the words, there is no death of work in the writing domain for you. This concise data only echoes this very thought and is motivating enough to steer your way into this profession. All you need is a good start and this is where knowing about how to write a writing sample could help you win your dream job or your foremost freelance writing task.
So, what is a writing sample?
You can call a writing sample as a document that could convince your potential leads about your writing expertise. The nature of your writing sample could however differ depending on whether you are looking for an internship, want a job or wish to be a freelance writer. In any case, sound knowhow of the concerned writing sample format could prove beneficial.
If you are looking to have a career in freelance writing, a good sample blog can work wonders in getting you the first client within no time. Your future clients may ask you to write samples to evaluate your writing skills and find out if you are worth hiring for their tasks accordingly.
Alternatively, you can create and post your writing samples for freelance or job over several social media platforms for your target audience. Most probably, someone interested in your writing will contact you after reading it and ask you to write for their projects in the same hypnotizing manner.
For obvious reasons, the clients will prefer investing in the writers whom they believe could enthral the potential audience and drive the intended traffic through their captivating words. For a deeper insight, you can go through various writing sample examples or templates available online.
The traits of a perfect writing sample
A good writing sample is the first step toward attaining this feat. In the run, you should make sure to:
- Write it in a proper format
- Ensure attractive presentation
- Add soothing tone of voice, and
- Provide relevant statistical data
All these points will help to make your writing sample look more professional, relevant and meaningful.
How long should a writing sample be?
The length of your content will depend largely on the writing sample format you are providing. The table below will give a deeper insight into it:
| Writing sample format | Average word Limit |
| Blogs/Articles | 1500-3000 |
| Guest Post | 1500-2500 |
| Short Story | 1500 (min. 3 pages) |
| Landing Pages | 500-1000 |
These are just numbers, as much will depend on the requirement of your potential client. Before writing a perfect sample, make sure to enquire about the type and format of the content available on the client website. This will help you to get an idea about the taste of the client and you can deliver a professional writing sample accordingly.
At times, the clients may also want you to write sample 250-500 words, so make sure to abide by their requirement. Now that you are aware of the length of your writing sample, let’s move on and find out the recipe to creating a win-win writing sample.
How to create a writing sample?
Creating your first writing sample has to be a special one as it will lay the foundation of our freelance writing career or land you in your coveted job. To make your creation a good writing sample, you should follow several inevitable steps. Let’s know about them in detail.
1. Create a brief about the content
Before you start the task of writing sample, it is good to create an outline of what your content should like. Try to align your writing with that of the content of the concerned client’s website in terms of your goal, target audience, keywords and style of writing. In short, write the brief as if your content is a part of their content marketing strategy.
2. Write an appealing headline
Invest considerable time to write a killer headline that could compel the reader to go through the entire writing sample. For example, consider these two headlines, checked out through the headline analyzer tool of CoSchedule.
Simple headline: How to Write an Article?
Transformed headline: 10+ Influential Steps to Write an Article that Makes Your Readers Go WOW!
Notice the difference in the heading scores of both these headings. Try to improvise accordingly.
3. Write an impressive introduction
An entrancing introduction is what segregates the best freelance writing examples from the rest ones. Here is the formula.
- Highlight one pain point of the target readers
- Describe the unsuccessful solutions they have already tried
- Commit for a solution write in the writing
Whether you are doing writing samples for job or freelance, this formula will always work. Keep your reader hooked up with the first sentence itself.
4. Divide the copy into subheadings
Including subheadings helps readers to go through the information they want with ease. They don’t have to struggle searching for the thing they want in the content. In addition, adding subheadings in writing samples for job or freelance work is good for SEO as well.
5. Add relevant stats
Adding information from genuine survey reports, polls, or some research findings will add immense credibility and relevance to your writing sample. It will also portray your research skills. So make sure your freelance writing samples contain enough statistical data.
It is even better to depict the data in the form of infographics, pie-charts, bar-graphs, etc., as given in the image above.
6. Conclude smartly
Write a spellbinding conclusion so that the reader keeps glued to your writing sample till the last word. Sum up the key points you have written about and add a Call To Action (CTA) that your reader can’t resist clicking.
7. Make it shareable
Once done with your perfect writing sample, now is the time to share it with your potential readers. Creating or uploading your doc in Google Docs would be preferable in this regard, as you can generate its link and share the same with your client straightaway. If you are writing it for a fictional client, you can upload it as a blog post on blogger, WordPress, Wix, etc. and make the share icons available in it.
Wrapping up
Whether you are looking for a regular job or a freelance gig in the writing domain, coming up with perfect sample writing will work wonders in your favor. You can go through freelance writing examples online to infuse the same effect in your sample as well. Summing up, your writing sample should satisfy your end goal, which is to kick off your writing career as an employee or a freelancer.