Clips

Yeah, I blanked on the sarcasm there.

Why wouldn't you want to be professional and organized with the presentation of clips? You think that being half-assed shows you're serious about a job?

 

That would probably be fine if your stories are PDF'd from the actual paper. A lot of editors seem to like to see your work as it appeared in the source — albeit, that doesn't say much for your writing before editing. On a web site, I'd think you could fudge over any errors.

 

less is more

 

I do think presentation matters.
Sloppy is sloppy.
The following presentation worked for me, and a few others I knew in college.

1. Photo copy the important parts of the paper: the story, the section head (A1, Sports, B9) the date and art that goes with it — especially graphics that you helped develop.
2. Cut up the photocopies and paste them onto an 8x11 sheet.
3. Photocopy that sheet. Don't worry if it takes two pages for everything.
4. Looks nice huh?
5. Buy one of those plastic-front folders that have a plastic clip for the bind.
6. Place the cover letter on top, followed by resume, then clips.
7. Make sure it looks nice.
8. Send 2-3 air
9. Cross your fingers!
10. Call the editor between 10a and 3p (their time and never after 5p) about seven days, or whatever you stated in your cover letter, for a quick chat and to answer and questions he/she may have.

Can I get a receipt for my two cents? I may need to expense it.

 

What Highway 101 said. (That's the non-narrative answer, I suppose.)

I think our clips presentation is pretty similar.

 

Use resume paper for starters. That's one of the few things that makes me read a cover letter. From there, I prefer hard copies of clips. But I'm probably old school.