Sometimes a new tool comes along that significantly impacts how you work, letting you work much smarter with ease.
Enter Authory.
On their website, Authory notes: “Authory gives you the superpowers you need to take control of your articles, build your own audience and advance your career, regardless of where you publish.”
First impressions
I saw the name “Authory” on LinkedIn for the first time when one of my contacts mentioned that they’re putting their portfolio on it. Intrigued (and searching for an easy and professional way to share my portfolio with future clients), I went to have a look…
… and got the same feeling that I got when I first discovered Notion – a giddy excitement that this could really change the way I work for the better.
(Disclaimer: That said, I then saw that they have an Authory Review Program.)
I was more than pleasantly surprised when I started using it for my 2-week trial period.
Setting up my page
I set up my page in a few minutes thanks to the easy-to-use interface. Adding my name, a description, and social media links were a cinch. I took longer deciding which background to use for my header than to complete the rest of the of the information.
Your description can be quite a bit longer than the 140-odd characters that show just as you open a profile, giving you enough space to go into more detail while also forcing you to be concise.
Importing articles
As I do quite a lot of ghost writing, my first question was whether my name had to be in the by-line for me to add the articles that I’ve written.
The good news is that you can automatically or manually add your articles. (At the moment it’s only articles, although a little bird told me this will change in the future to include other media as well.)
Because the layout of the page is quite minimalistic (yay!) you don’t have to go looking for the menu or the button to add your articles. The page is also not cluttered with buttons to take away from its sleek presentation.
Automatically importing articles
To automatically import your articles, you need only give the publication’s name and URL. The system then goes through the website to either only find past articles, and to keep an eye on the website to also import future articles. This choice is also given when you initially add a publication.
The first publication that I added was the website “Health Knowledge Centre” and Authory imported my articles without a glitch. This is a definite benefit if you often write for the same publication(s).
As these were some of the articles that bore my name, I wasn’t too worried about them being imported. My real concern was adding the ghost-written articles.
Note, however, that some (not all) of the articles can take a few hours to load. It’s therefore best not to do this just as you’re about to send off your CV and portfolio.
Manually importing articles
Although manually importing articles takes longer than simply adding them automatically, it’s well worth the time spent to be able to complete your portfolio. As mentioned above, I do quite a bit of ghost writing and therefore need to add those articles manually.
“Manually”, however, doesn’t mean copying and pasting full articles into Authory (see the exception below), but rather simply adding the URL to your Authory page. If any other info is needed – for example, a publishing date – Authory will let you know and then you can add the information manually.
The only snag that I came across while manually importing articles, was while trying to import from a specific website on which my work appears. However, this was overcome by copying and pasting the article into Authory and supplying a URL to the original article. Easy-peasy.
Writing on Authory
I have yet to try writing on Authory from scratch, but from having to copy/paste another article, I did find this feature easy to use. The feature gives me vibes of a “normal” blog crossed with a Substack-like newsletter.
Writing on Authory is a great way – in my mind – to let your followers (see below) keep up with what you’re busy with and where they’ll be able to read your work next. This will also become very handy when formats other than text are added. (There’s that little bird again…)
Conclusion
In conclusion, I can say that, after using Authory for 12 days (and counting), I am extremely pleased and excited! Not only does my portfolio have the professional look that I’ve wanted all along and have failed to find with other services, it’s also simple to keep up to date.
Being able to send only specific articles or subjects to potential clients with a few clicks has made life easier already (and isn’t that what we all need, especially now?).
Yes, it does take a while to set up when you just set out, but once you have the initial portfolio there, it’s easy to just check in every now and then and to upload the odd article manually. I blocked out some time on my calendar to do this and ended up needing less time than I thought. I would, however, gladly put in the work to keep all my most important writing together and then be able to share it easily with clients.
Authory’s price (USD8 or USD10) is also, I feel, very fair for what you’re getting, and an expense that I would happily pay to keep using such an excellent service.
Whether you write for well-known publications or smaller websites, I’d urge you to have a look at Authory – it can only make your life easier in the long run.
Authory Website: https://authory.com | Authory Twitter: @authoryapp | Carin Marais Authory: https://authory.com/CarinMarais
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