No Portfolio Required: 8 Open Platforms to Monetize Your Writing Right Now

Some websites and magazines ask first-time potential contributors to provide sample clips of their articles. This can create a somewhat frustrating paradox for emerging wordsmiths who don’t have previously published articles to show. How can freelancers build article portfolios without any samples to show when many print and digital publications ask to see published clips from new prospective contributors? 

The best solution to that catch-22 cycle is to embrace open digital platforms where everybody can submit content. An open platform is an accessible publishing system that enables users to digitally distribute text-based content without any kind of pitching. Blogging pioneered the democratization of publishing decades ago, and various kinds of content monetization sites emerged thereafter. 

Today, there are a variety of open platforms where you can establish article portfolios. Such open platforms also offer community-driven remunerationbased on pageviews, reads, subscriptions, ad revenue, affiliate marketing, etc. Thus, open platforms can become viable markets for those who establishlarge readerships and big followings. Here are eight open platforms on which you can monetize text-based content. 

Substack is an open publishing platform on which you can set up digital publications. A Substack publication is essentially a free website hosted on the platform with accompanying email newsletters. You can get started on Substack by registering an account there and setting up a publication on it for any topic niche of preference. 

The Substack monetization model is based on premium subscriptions. You can set a monthly subscription charge for paywalled articles on your Substack publication. Substack receives a 10% share of all subscription charges. Thus, Substack provides the core infrastructure required for a subscription-based content business. 

Medium is an open-to-all publishing network where everybody can submitarticles. It offers a traditional blog hosting system for articles with comments, follow, and social media sharing options. Users can also set up publications for covering specific topic niches. Alternatively, users can submit articles to established Medium publications open to contributors. 

(An Honest Review of the Medium Publishing Platform Article Market) 

The Medium monetization is based on its Medium Partner Program. Users can monetize content by becoming Medium members for a $5 monthly subscription charge and joining the MPP. Joining the Partner Program enables users to paywall selected articles, which generate revenue based on member engagement metrics. 

Vocal.media is an open publishing platform similar to Medium, albeit with a few notable differences. It is essentially a content site where users can submitarticles for topic niches organized across community categories. However, Vocal.media users can’t set up their own publications as on Medium. 

Users can freely submit monetized articles on Vocal without paying a subscription fee. Vocal’s articles generate a fixed $3.80 per 1,000 reads, which is much simpler to understand than Medium’s algorithm. Articles generate $6.00 per 1,000 reads for users who upgrade to the premium Vocal+, which has a $9.99 subscription fee. Vocal also hosts themed writing contests that offer financial prizes for winners. 

A web blog is an updated digital platform where a blogger (writer) can submit a regular stream of formatted posts (articles), and readers can respond with comments. The traditional structure for a blog is to display posts in a reverse chronological order, like this golfing one. You can freely set up a wide variety of blogs with templates on all-in-one blog provider platforms like Blogger and WordPress. Blogger offers 100% free hosting and is integrated with Google’s ecosystem. 

Self-hosted blogging monetization is a little more flexible than the likes of Medium and Vocal.media. Most bloggers monetize blogs by adding ads to them with networks like Google AdSense or Mediavine. Blogs will then generate revenue when users click and view their ads. 

Alternatively, you can add sponsored blog posts (promotional content that includes backlinks) to blogs. Some companies and marketers promote products by submitting pre-written content to blogs that include sponsored posts. For example, I used to add sponsored content to my own blogs, such as this Calgary Rentals post. Adsy is one guest posting platform where bloggers can find potential content sponsors. 

Setting up a niche content website is another open way to establish a visible article portfolio and a potential content market. This is a more technical, but flexible, alternative to blogging because a website needs to be designed from scratch. However, some authors turn to website design services to help them with setting up sites. Note that this need not be expensive because there are a few reputable free web design services, such as The Free Website Guys. 

Website monetization is typically based on display ads and commission affiliate programs. Display ads in your website articles will generate revenue through impressions. Thus, a site that attracts a large, global readership and generates many pageviews will accumulate revenue with its display ads. 

Book self-publishing is a little different from the other open platforms here because it’s not based on articles or newsletters. You don’t need a publishing house or literary agent to launch any kind of fictional or nonfictional book these days. Instead, you can self-publish a printed book or e-book via self-publishing platforms like Lulu, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, and Barnes and Noble. 

Self-publishing monetization is based on authors receiving royalties for book sales. The self-publishing platform that distributes the book receives a royalty share. You can receive a 70% royalty share on Amazon KDP for digital e-books retailing between $2.99 and $9.99. Amazon KDP also offers freely available and paid marketing options for self-published books. For example, I frequently select the Kindle countdown deals and free book promotion options for my “Battles of the Pacific War 1941-1945” e-book. 

Book self-publishing isn’t necessarily ideal for building a portfolio to share with clients. You can show book previews or samples to prospective clients, but that can be a little chunky. Blogs, Medium, and Vocal.media are better open platforms for establishing content portfolios. 

Fika is a new publishing community that’s similar to Substack. This has been designed to be a more minimalistic and SEO-friendly alternative to bloated content management systems. Fika enables users to set up personalized publications within its subdomain and send posts to their email newsletter subscribers. It offers automatic translation for articles to expand audience reach beyond English-speaking countries. 

Fika’s monetization is based on the paid subscription model. You can set a minimum subscription fee starting from €5. It charges a 7% to 10% subscription fee share that decreases for publications with more subscribers, as follows: 

Beehiiv is an open platform that enables users to set up monetized newsletters and niche content sites with its no-code website design tool. This open platform takes a slightly different approach to Substack by treating user publications more like a media company would, with tools for advanced growth engineering and data analytics. 

Beehiiv offers a more diverse range of monetization options across three pricing plans. If you opt into its freely available package, you can monetize newsletter content with affiliate marketing links and direct sponsorships. You can access the Beehiiv ad network, paid subscriptions, and boosts with the $49 per month Scale subscription tier. So, Beehiiv is a pricier open platform than other alternatives covered here. 

The open platforms above make it easy to build sample article portfolios to share with anybody because they have minimal entry barriers. They also offer opportunities to establish readership-oriented markets with articles, newsletters, or books. However, note that establishing a large readership base via such platforms can take a lot of time and persistence. It’s hard to say which is the best one because much depends on user preferences.