It’s a two-for-one ask-the-Renegades special! We got two clips questions in a row and they seemed to go together, so I’m answering them both today.

Kimberly writes: What is the best way to present some wonderful clips from the late 80s along with one from this year? For the past six years I have written successful grant proposals, appeal letters and other fundraising materials, but I would like to move back into writing for magazines, corporate communications and some grant writing as a freelance writer. I spent the rest of the 90s in the Peace Corps and graduate school.

Sandy writes: Could you give me the lowdown on what to do with clips when you’ve got them: Do you need to include the cover page when photocopying (as seems to be common when displayed on a website)? Does the copy need to include the actual magazine name and page number as printed, or can you write the magazine name at the bottom instead? Do you block out any other stories or ads appearing on the same page? How do you handle jumps? What about oversized newspapers and magazines – how do you photocopy those clips? I appreciate the chance to pick your brains! Thanks!

My take is that I’d send the most recent clip to the editor, and explain briefly in the credentials section that I’ve been writing professionally for X years, but took time off to join the Peace Corps. If she requested to see the older clips, only then would I send them. As I’ve mentioned, editors understand that stuff happens, and lots of people change careers, take time off, join the circus, or whatever. The fact that you took time from your career to join the Peace Corps seems to me like a pretty good “excuse” — anyone who would hold that against you is a first-class jerk!

Which segues into the next question: What do you do once you have clips? My virtual assistant recently turned many of my clips into nice PDFs that included the covers and the text of the articles, so hopefully my days of photocopying clips are over. But when I do photocopy, I typically make a color copy of the magazine cover and black-and-white copies of the article pages. That way the cover of the clip looks impressive, and you don’t have to worry about the mag title or date not appearing. I don’t block out other stories or ads or do anything special about the jumps — I just photocopy the article as is. As for oversize magazines: I write for USA Weekend, which is an oversized newsprint magazine, and I photocopy as much of the cover as I can, making sure the name of the mags gets in there, and then cut my article out of the magazine and arrange it as best I can on white paper using double-sided tape. I then photocopy that. (And if you need it, there’s always the “fit to page” button!)

The main thing is to make your clips look as attractive as possible without driving yourself crazy. If you have 10 pages where your article occupies a tiny sliver of space on each page, you might want to cut them out and consolidate them. If for some reason you can’t get the magazine title or date on the clip, write it in the corner. Just do your best; I can’t imagine an editor not accepting your wonderful query because you didn’t include the magazine cover in your clip or because you used black and white instead of color.

Final note and product plug: To make photocopying clips easier, I bought a $90 HP PSC 1210 color printer at Staples a few years ago. That copier is a wonder!

Have a question for the Renegades? E-mail us at questions [at] therenegadewriter [dot] com.[lf]

If you liked that post, you might also like:

• Clips 101: What They Are (and Aren’t), How to Get Them, and How to Make The Most of Your Clips
• What Should I Put on My Website if I Have No Clips?
• You Ask, I Answer: What If I Don’t Have Relevant Clips?
• You ask, we answer: How can I show off a handful of clips?
• Student Kudos: Sarah Zobel in Spirituality & Health