The film critic is no longer the starving artist writing for a downtown rag or the member of the New York intelligentsia with the acid tongue: thanks to the internet, anyone with a keyboard and a blog can be a critic, so status is less a question of the paper you write for than the readership you have.
If you’re just starting out, this means that you have to be your own advertising team, editor and manager. This means that tasks like proofreading your work, optimising your posts for search engines and performing social media marketing are all up to you.
In this article, we’ll go through how to start building a readership online as an amateur film critic.
Write for other sites
Writing for other sites is the easiest way to gain a readership as a film critic. When submitting to others, it’s important to get the formatting right. Often, this involves the use of a Word to PDF converter and other file conversion tools.
The benefits of writing for other sites include learning the ropes of various content management systems like WordPress, having an editor to help you improve your writing and having access to a ready-built audience. Writing for others’ sites also allows you to build industry connections and bolster your CV.
To write for another publication, you’ll need a few samples of your work and a willingness to write about more niche films. Smaller sites tend to accept reviews of around words, but it’s good to have at least one 800-word sample to show that you can write longer pieces, too.
Create an engaging bio
Your bio is like your elevator pitch. You want to make a good impression on potential readers and third-party sites you want to write for. Often, this involves a good headshot. You’ll also want to share details about your personal life. Don’t forget to talk about hobbies and interests, as readers want to see that you’re human.
When creating an author bio, don’t forget to link to your social media profiles. You can also include a link to your writing portfolio if you’re sending your bio to blogs you want to write for. This gives readers an idea of what else you write and builds your following online.
Optimise your website
Once you’ve built a readership with your writing on other sites, you’ll need to build your very own blog that readers can visit. If you’re lacking inspiration, find other sites that you enjoy using and that fit your niche, and use these as a baseline for designing your own site.
Prioritise creating a fantastic user experience: if readers enjoy looking at, navigating and reading your site, they’ll be much more likely to come back. Things as simple as creating fast-loading pages can be the difference between success and failure.
You can use platforms like WordPress and Wix to build your very own site in minutes. Alternatively, you can engage professional designers if you want a more personal site.
Understand different social media platforms
To build a loyal following, it’s vital to understand different mediums. Don’t stretch yourself too thin: opening an account on every social media platform out there won’t leave you any time to make the actual content.
Understand each platform’s special affordances and audiences. Then, choose a few that best suit your needs. Platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram allow you to reach different demographics and allow you to connect with your followers in unique ways.
Define your purposes and goals
Before getting started as a film critic, it’s crucial to define your purposes and goals. What do you aim to achieve with your writing? Do you want to focus on in-depth analysis, profit or getting invited to premiers? Are you writing about trending movies and series or are you more of a niche writer?
Understand what you want to achieve, then break it down into goals, including writing consistently, improving your viewership or creating social media engagement. Making these goals as concrete as possible helps you tremendously in achieving them.
Engage with others
While writing is a solitary experience, building a readership is not. Reach out to other writers for collaborations, write personal notes to individual readers and be active on social media. People are more likely to read your work or work with you if they like you as a person.
To be an effective film critic, you’ll need to engage with other people’s work. Comment on and share blog posts other than your own, connect with other writers online and join film critic conventions. This boosts your chance of being featured by more famous writers and gaining access to their readership.
To build your audience, you’ll need to engage with it. Take some time to get to know your readers and other film critics.
Writing is about marketing
Being a film critic is not just about creating great content. You also want to make sure the people you’re writing for discover your work, and to do this, you’ll need to brush up on your marketing skills.
Marketing as a film critic involves familiarising yourself with various social media marketing tools, improving the SEO of your blog and directly pitching your work to third-party sites. In order for these strategies to be effective, it’s vital to understand your target audience.
While marketing might not be the most glamorous part of being a film critic, it’s absolutely essential. Experiment with different marketing strategies to figure out what works best when it comes to putting your writing in front of your readers.
There’s not much fun in being a film critic if nobody reads your work. In this article, we’ve gone over some key tips for building an online readership, including engaging with readers on social media, collaborating with established blogs and marketing your work.
Make use of what we’ve gone over in this article to build a loyal online reader base and boost your reputation as a film critic.