To organise clips by publication, give every outlet you have written for more than once its own heading, add one line saying what you did there, and list your three to five strongest pieces underneath with headline, date and a working link. Outlets with a single clip go into a short "Also published in" list at the end. This layout mirrors how commissioning editors think (in titles, desks and readerships), so an editor can see at a glance whether you already write for publications like theirs.
This guide covers the clips page you send when pitching. If you are trying to preserve and index everything you have ever published, that is a different job, closer to running an archive, and it deserves its own system behind the scenes.
Why editors read clips by outlet
A commissioning editor opening your portfolio is usually checking three things: whether you have been edited by people they respect, whether you can hit a register close to theirs, and whether you file reliably enough to be commissioned again. The masthead answers the first question faster than any headline can. A run of reviews for one arts desk tells an editor that a section editor kept hiring you, which is a signal of reliability that no single brilliant piece can give.
Grouping by outlet also makes repeat relationships visible. Five reviews scattered through a chronological list look like five separate jobs. The same five under one heading read as an ongoing commission, and that is often the most persuasive thing a freelance can show.
There is a practical side too. Editors tend to skim on a phone between meetings. Clear headings let them jump straight to the outlet that resembles theirs, and MDN's guidance on HTML heading elements explains why the structure should be real headings rather than bold text: one page title, then second-level headings for each outlet, without skipping levels. Screen readers and search engines both use that outline.
Choosing which outlets get their own section
Not every byline earns a heading. A workable rule is two or more pieces you would happily send today. One-off pieces still count; they simply belong in a compact list near the end, outlet names first, each linked to its strongest piece.
If you write for many titles, add a layer above the outlets so the page stays scannable:
| How many outlets | Layout that tends to work |
|---|---|
| Two to four | One heading per outlet, most relevant to your pitching first |
| Five to eight | Outlet headings, each with a one-line description of your role |
| Nine or more | Broad groups first (national press, magazines, trade and specialist, broadcast and audio), outlets inside each |
The groupings are a reading aid, not a ranking. A specialist trade title may matter more to the editor you are pitching than a national masthead, and the order should reflect who you are approaching next.
What each publication block should contain
Each block needs the same small set of elements so the page reads consistently:
- The outlet name as a heading, spelled and styled the way the publication styles itself.
- One line on your role, for example "Freelance theatre reviewer, 2023 to present" or "Two commissioned features for the books pages". Only write what is true; "regular contributor" means something specific to editors.
- Three to five clips, each with the headline as the link text, the publication date, and the section or format (review, interview, feature, column).
- A note for anything paywalled or offline, such as "subscriber access" or "print only, PDF on request".
Use the headline itself as the link text. Google's guidance on crawlable links and anchor text asks for anchor text that is descriptive and relevant to the page it links to, and warns against generic phrases such as "click here" or "read more". The W3C's explanation of WCAG success criterion 2.4.4, Link Purpose (In Context), a Level A requirement, makes the same point for accessibility: people should be able to tell what each link does from its text or its immediate context. A list of ten links all labelled "Read" fails both tests.
Dates matter more than many writers think. A clip with no date leaves the editor guessing whether you are still active in that field. Write them in one format throughout, either "14 March 2026" or "2026-03-14", and do not mix the two.
Ordering outlets and clips inside them
Order the outlets by relevance to the work you want next, not by the order you happened to write for them. If you are pitching literary magazines this quarter, the literary titles go first, even if your biggest masthead is a newspaper.
Inside each block, most recent first is the default, because it shows you are working now. Break the rule when an older piece is plainly your best for that outlet: lead with it, then continue in reverse date order. Editors notice a strong first clip far more than a perfectly sorted list.
Some writers keep two versions of the page, or two orderings of the same page, for different pitching seasons. That is fine as long as both are kept up to date.
When one outlet covers several kinds of work
Critics in particular often do several jobs for one title: reviews, interviews, longer essays, perhaps a column. When a single outlet block grows beyond five clips, add subheadings inside it by format rather than adding more links. "Reviews", "Interviews" and "Features" under one outlet heading lets a features editor find long-form work without scrolling past forty star-rated reviews.
The opposite problem is a strong specialism spread across many outlets, for example documentary film criticism appearing in four different titles. Here a short "Selected work" strip at the top of the page can carry your best piece in each specialism, with the outlet named in the line, followed by the full outlet-by-outlet listing. Keep the strip to three or four items, or it becomes a second portfolio competing with the first.
Dead links, paywalls and rights
Links to journalism break more often than writers expect: sites are redesigned, sections are closed, titles fold. Check every link before a pitching round and keep your own copy of each published piece.
For pieces that are still online, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine help pages explain that the "Save Page Now" feature saves a specific page once, does not add the URL to future crawls, and that there can be a 3 to 10 hour lag before captures appear. Capturing each clip as soon as it is published gives you a fallback link to offer if the original disappears. Link to the live page first and offer the archived copy only when the original has gone.
Paywalled pieces can stay on the page. Mark them clearly and add a two-line description of the argument so the editor can judge the work without a subscription. Do not paste the full text behind the paywall onto your own site unless you are sure you hold the right to do so.
That last point depends on your contract, not on custom. GOV.UK's overview of how copyright works notes that protection is automatic and there is no register of copyright works in the UK. Its page on licensing and selling your copyright says a sale or transfer needs a written, signed document, often called an assignment. So check what you signed for each commission: if you licensed first publication rights, republishing the full text later may be open to you; if you assigned copyright, it probably is not. For anything you are unsure about, the NUJ freelance resources page explains that the union's freelance office advises members on contracts and copyright. This article cannot give legal advice on individual contracts.
Keeping the master list that feeds the page
The public clips page should be a curated view of a fuller private list. A spreadsheet works well, with one row per published piece and columns for outlet, headline, date, format, URL, archived URL, word count, fee status and rights terms. When you sort it by outlet, the clips page almost writes itself.
The same list pays for itself in other ways. In the UK, the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society runs a claims-based articles scheme for freelance writers. As of October 2026, its page says claims must reach it by 31 October for payment in the March distribution, covers articles in UK journals and magazines in print or online, and excludes newspapers and newspaper supplements as well as open access publications. A print and online version of the same article count as one claim. A spreadsheet already sorted by outlet makes that annual claim quick to compile. ALCS's membership information states that lifetime membership costs £36, deducted from your first payment, and its information for members puts its commission at 10% (both checked October 2026).
Two further uses for the list:
- Byline links. Google's Article structured data documentation describes an author URL as a page that uniquely identifies the author, such as a bio page, and says Google understands both the url and sameAs properties when telling authors apart. That markup is the publisher's job, but you can ask outlets to point your contributor profile to your own site, and keep a record in the spreadsheet of which ones do.
- Directory listings. The NUJ notes that its freelance directory offers free listings for freelance members; if you join, your outlet list is the material the listing needs.
Update the page in the same sitting as the spreadsheet, at least monthly during busy periods. A clips page whose newest piece is eighteen months old tells an editor something you probably did not intend.
Mistakes that cost you the commission
The most common is volume. Thirty links under one outlet tell the editor you could not choose. Three to five per outlet, chosen for the editor in front of you, is plenty.
Inconsistent formatting is next: dates in some blocks and not others, outlet names styled differently, a mix of headline links and "read here" links. Pick one pattern and apply it everywhere.
Third, overstating relationships. "Contributor to" a national title on the strength of one letter page appearance will be checked, and editors talk to each other. Describe each relationship exactly.
Finally, burying the outlet that matters. If you are pitching a books editor and your two book reviews sit in the bottom block, move them up for that pitch. For more practical guides on author websites, portfolios and newsletters, see the rest of UniBlog.
