Icy wind creates dangerous sheets of black ice on I-90 and for Collin Stetzner, 20, of Anaconda it is a variable that he considers before leaving for school. Stetzner is a Montana Tech freshman going into PTC (Professional and Technical Communication) who, in between studying and working as a banquet server for Fairmont Hot Springs, writes articles for superbromovies.com. In the year Collin has been with the site, he has written 100 articles that review and report on media ranging from movies to video games.
As a writer for the site, Stetzner works with 30 people to create articles that review or report on movies, television, comics and video games. SUPERBROMOVIES has grown to be a family and through working together, they have increased their audience from 15k in August to 60k in February. Some of the largest bumps to the site’s traffic come from photos of behind the scene props and exclusive content.
“Well, our exclusives are going to get major views of course but, behind the scene photos, they never get too huge but they always do good, no matter what. And you know with some stuff you never know what’s going to do good and what’s not, but usually behind the scene photos always a win.” Collin elaborated on some of the factors that helped to increase traffic to the site.
“Collin is one of the first guys I actually hired on to the site, and after over a year I consider him more than a writer, but a close friend. He always keeps a plasticine funny attitude and has time to balance school, the site and working.” Said Parker Batkins, editor in chief, SUPERBROMOVIES.
So how did Collin start to write articles with Parker?
“I’ve always been interested in “nerdy” movies I guess, you know comic book movies and stuff, and so I just followed the account @superbromovies. At that point, he was just, Parker was just tweeting, it was no one else, just him. No articles or nothing, just him tweeting stuff. He’d tweet, you know, he would have jokes, post memes, just report on the news and then he put it out there one day, he was like hey you know if you guys want to write for a website or something, send me an email, you know and tell me what you can do and everything. So I emailed him, and I was lucky enough, a year ago today to be added to the site.” Collin shared how he joined the site and that February 28, marked an end to his first year with them.
Sometime, around December, Jackson, Caleb and Marcos, some of SUPERBROMOVIES best writers, came together and made an outline they want followed. The outline suggested how many words you should shoot for, how to end the articles to encourage audience feedback and to create consistency between writers.
“The whole thing started for fun, and I still do it for fun, uh, but the guidelines nice just cause, you know, I love it so much you know and I want it to look good and be good. So, it’s like, those guys know a lot more than I do. I’m not saying that I am a terrible writer, but they just, they know how to make it look good and so it’s nice to have some backup to be like, wow, this is how it should be done and this is how it should look. So, it’s just trying to make the site look better, cause then that makes everyone happier and we get more views.” Stetzner elaborates on why an outline is helpful to the writers.
Of course, no outline can be followed to the letter because sometimes the news is only a fact or two.
“Obviously theirs times you’re not going to get all the requirements because the article is just a couple pieces of information. I had one article that was like 100 words but that was because it was basically, it was like Bob Iger announced that on their streaming servicing, Disney getting their own streaming service and they announced that they were going to put like whole Star Wars shows on there. And that was it, that was all the information he had, was that there was going to be new Star Wars T.V. shows on there, and so it was literally, you know that’s all, I couldn’t put anything in the article besides that because there was nothing else.” Explained Stetzner.
Podcasting has grown in popularity and the SUPERBROMOVIES family has been discussing starting one, though they have not started yet.
“That’s something we have been talking about a lot, a lot, a lot. About starting a podcast up, for just, like the main site and then also for gaming stuff and everything.” Stetzner elaborated. Also, two podcasts he listens to are “The Weekly Planet” and “Canadian Texan Connection.”
SUPERBROMOVIES received five press passes to comic con in San Diego this year and Stetzner has a chance to be one of the people who get to go. By choosing to join his friends and pursue the passion he had for writing, Collin has found an opportunity to be a voice in this distracted world. They utilize Reddit, Twitter and other social media platforms to share articles and increase traffic to the website. Collin think’s the amazing results are because they do what they love and have amazing people to get advice from.
“If someone can’t get the right idea for a headline they’ll usually ask in our group message and you know, three or four people, right there with a headline idea.” Stetzner said.
Stetzner’s 100th article was a short and simple piece that informed their readers of the upcoming release dates and a confirmed sequel. He tied the two pieces of news together with a cohesive theme.
“BREAKING: Kevin Feige Confirms Black Panther Sequel” On March 9, 2018 his 100th article was posted.
“Black Panther has quite possibly been Marvel’s most successful film. Making outrageous money, and being universally praised by almost everyone who sees the film. Only two known films are happening after Avengers 4 and they are the Spider-Man sequel and the third Guardians of the Galaxy, but Marvel did just add some new release dates to its schedule.” Stetzner’s article illustrates how simplicity can be valuable.
Simplicity is a very useful skill to learn for anyone, from writers to pilots, simplicity forces one to eliminate the unnecessary and look at things from a different perspective. The art of simplicity comes from one’s ability to let go of the complex to find simple ways to live. Stetzner is a great reminder of how important it is to enjoy the small things. For him, writing is a passion that he would love to grow into a sustainable income. It may not happen for a while, but with 100 articles under his belt, Collin has made a lot of progress toward that goal. Even though Collin has written a massive number of articles, he expressed “It’s not that much, some of the other people have written a lot more.”
As of March 10, 2018, Marcos Melendez, with 366 articles, has written the most. But it is a group effort the advice they get from each other is invaluable.
The SUPERBROMOVIES family is community of like-minded heroes striving to bring news and riveting content to the masses.
“Occasionally we open up applications via email that we tweet out to hire new writers.” Said Batkins, so follow Parker @ParkerFromSBM on Twitter and when an opening for writers comes up you will know.
Collin considers himself to be a simple person. While he likes all genres of movies, music and games, he does suggest watching “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Godfather.” His time, outside of leisure activities, is spent writing articles for superbromovies.com, working as a banquet server for Fairmont Hot Springs and studying professional and technical communication at Montana Tech. Stetzner hopes to go to the San Diego Comic Con this year with his fellow writers from SUPERBROMOVIES.
So, take a page from Collin’s book and keep life simple. Do what you love without expecting something in return and you might find a niche that you really love. Simplicity is valuable because life can be complicated, but people who keep it simple find happiness where they are.
Links
SUPERBROMOVIES: http://superbromovies.com
Collin Stetzner: https://superbromovies.com/author/collinstetz/
Twitter @collinstetzner
Parker Batkins: https://superbromovies.com/author/parkerbatkinseic/
Twitter @ParkerFromSBM