My first job out of college was a copywriter for a small firm in Chicago. It was pretty awful and I wanted out, badly--but I had no idea how to showcase my writing skills. I had taken no advertising courses in college and didn't know how to display my writing other than the journalism clips I had accrued. In advertising, how can you show off your writing in an attractive way if you don't have any design skills? I'd have no chance next to other copywriters who knew their way around Illustrator.

Several years later, I still don't know how to put together a copywriting portfolio, but it's OK since I'm done with advertising. But some of you might be stuck in crappy ad jobs, writing newsletters for a second-rate Indiana riverboat casino (is there such a thing as a first-rate one?) So I asked some advertising pros I know for their advice to copywriters on how to build a pretty portfolio.

A friend of mine, art director Lisa Leone, who has held the role of creative director at firms like BBDO, J Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett USA, recommends taking a portfolio class. Otherwise, "the only advice is to befriend art directors and graphic designers. because yes, the look does matter. but, we're bitchy and picky and won't do something unless a) it also makes our book better, b) we are paid or c) there's fair trade/free shit involved."

"It's my opinion that for advertising, a writer NEEDS to put together a book with an art director," agrees Ernie Schenck, cofounder of the acclaimed advertising agency Pagano Schenck and Kay and author of The Houdini Solution. Writing for advertising isn't like any other kind. It's as much about the concept as it is about the actual writing. More so now than ever. Personally, if a prospective writer comes to me with nothing more than a bunch of writing, I can't take that person seriously. If you want to work in advertising, team up with an art director. "

Another friend, hunky marketing copywriter working in Chicago Dave Reidy, has some suggestions for portolio schools. "They get you a chance to work with an art director, make some business connections, and build your book. Sort of the codified version of working with a designer friend to come up with some ads. The best of these ads, produced with an art director either inside or outside school, will take into account the realities of their medium and the clients they would serve while still innovating. Otherwise these fake ads look just that--fake. You don't want the person looking at them thinking that they could never be produced, or thinking that they are examples of your naivete. Maybe a piece or two in your portfolio can really blow up convention, but the rest should innovate within the framework of some standard expectations."

I got so much good advice that I didn't want to create one huge super-post, so I'll be scattering these through the morning. Stay tuned for even more advice from even more ad vets.