As a copywriter, content writer, UX writer, and overall content creator, my portfolio is expansive.
I’ve worked for some amazing companies, like NPR, Boy Scouts of America, Goodwill Industries, and dozens of nonprofits making a difference for people in my community. My time at each of those institutions allowed me to write entire marketing campaigns, short articles, flyers, and even the occasional press release. I have whole flash drives filled with writing samples from those clients alone.
Normally it’s a good problem to have.
Until I have to think about which parts to post online.
I know that a professional platform highlights the best content you’ve done in your chosen niche. No one has time to read everything you’ve ever written, even if they understandably think you’re amazing. So my LinkedIn Profile and my portfolio website have been carefully curated. I try to only highlight the pieces that will most benefit fellow writers, editors, content creators, and anyone who’s taking on the K2 climb that is their first novel.
Lately, though, I couldn’t stop wondering… where is the rest of my content supposed to go?
Not everything I’ve written for a client has been designed to find the next Steinbeck or change the world. I’ve authored articles for local magazines, web zines, short stories for publications small and large, and even dabbled a little bit into script writing. I also have food reviews, book reviews, travel pieces about spooky spots in my region, and even some movie and TV criticism.
More than that, there’s a chunk of my portfolio that I’d like to rerelease and repost. Sometimes because it was an article that was originally published in a magazine that no longer exists. Sometimes because they were posts on social media that never got the traction they needed.
Yet none of these pieces are going to fit in with my carefully curated professional content.
I need an online presence that was professional, but didn’t connect to my LinkedIn account. Acted like a blog, but wasn’t part of my portfolio website. Could stand on its own as an independent presence while keeping the tech support to an absolute minimum.
Plus, this portfolio would need to connect to a larger audience who would actually want to read what I had written. Would reach niches that I hadn’t previously developed easily, while ensuring that new additions wouldn’t take away from my existing curated platform.
I briefly looked into revamping my portfolio site, but quickly realized that would have been a massive undertaking. I don’t have resources for something as big as what I had planned. I didn’t know if I even had enough content for a presence that big, let alone the time and energy it would take to maintain a platform that big.
So I needed to find an alternative.
And I was a little surprised when I found that alternative on Medium.
It checks all the boxes. Professional format. Expansive connection of writers and readers. You post content like a blog, but it also acts as an independent entity. It’s not clunky or expansive, but it gives you just the right number of tools to make the space you create your own.
At the moment, I can’t brag about being an expert or give anyone insider tips. I only have a few pieces up, and am still learning how the site works. But from what I’ve seen so far, I think it’s a great platform and serious option for professional writers who were having the same conundrum as I was.
If you’d like to see what I’ve been doing so far, go to: https://medium.com/@leighwillwritethat