How to Create a Profile as a Freelance Writer: Your Profile Depicts You

Creating a profile as a freelance writer is vital for anyone who is serious about pursuing a writing career.

Understanding what a profile is or represents can prove beneficial in terms of creating a personal profile, which will be distinct from that of any other freelance writer.   

What is a profile?

The freedictionary.com suggests that a profile is a “biographical essay presenting the subject’s most noteworthy characteristics and achievements.”

A profile is your biography when someone else writes it; if you are the writer, it becomes an autobiography written in abbreviated or condensed essay format. A profile may also include “a formal summary or analysis of data…representing distinctive features or characteristics.”

Your profile can depict you in terms of your previous writing or other literary projects. This aspect of your writing is a portfolio; the two often go hand in hand. For anyone just beginning a career in freelance writing, it can be difficult to know what to include when creating a profile and a portfolio. How does one make that decision?

Begin by asking yourself how you want others to know you.

What kind of projects or other freelance writing have you participated in recently or in the past, that will increase your credibility as a freelance writer?  Is there something in your background that will give you immediate credibility and help to establish your reputation as a viable, freelance writer? In other words, do you have other creative writing, poetry or other published articles, books or short stories?

Many freelance writers are concerned about potential vulnerability because of self-disclosure; others may not want to share personal information with strangers. Disclosing only basic information in a profile may resolve that kind of concern.  

Freelance writing speaks for itself and a profile with an accompanying portfolio discloses enough information to reveal a writer’s talents, as well as sufficient information to draw a potential readership.

Your profile should portray you, not others. Including some of your personal thoughts, dreams or expectations with respect to your freelance writing career may help others relate to you, but do so in moderation. Be aware that other freelance writers and readers may have the same ambitions and this can be a good thing, if you begin to network with them.

Your profile as a written document is subject to revision or expansion as your freelance writing career proceeds. Including a professional photograph will help others to identify with you.

It may prove helpful to read the kinds of profiles others have created, as your profile may take on a similar format.   

Be aware that posting your profile on an Internet website or blog will take time and effort. Make certain that you have included enough basic information including location, education and employment background to identify yourself as distinct from anyone else with the same name.

Check your profile carefully for spelling and grammar errors. Ask a trusted fellow writer, family member or close friend to review it with you. They may have thoughts or ideas you have not considered. Consulting a webmaster may prove helpful.

Creating a profile as a freelance writer is a worthwhile project to pursue if you are a proactive, creative and serious freelance writer.