There weren’t too many people jumping up and down with excitement and anticipation when Marvel Studios announced Iron Man was coming to the screen, with Jon Favreau directing and Robert Downey Jr. (remember him?) playing the lead. With The Dark Knight on the horizon, your scepticism and apathy would have been justified.
Making $585m from a $140m budget, Iron Man was 2008’s biggest surprise, and put into fruition a series of movies that led to Avengers Assemble, an absolute monster of a superhero movie that made over $1 billion at the box office. With the next phase of films leading up to the second Avengers movie starting to hit the cinemas, it made me consider how much there is to learn from Marvel if you’re a blogger.
Below is what I came up with, and at no point do I give bloggers the advice to become a superhero. I do not want to get sued for anyone jumping off a building because – like R Kelly back in the day – you believe you can fly.
Now that the legal issue has been dealt with, on with the show:
Build Towards Something
Iron Man 1 and 2, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and Thor were all great movies in their own right, but they were born with a common goal in mind from Marvel: Introduce the characters to the world and build their profile towards the big day that would be Avengers movie. The reason the Avengers initiative worked for Marvel is because just as much work went into the build-up as it did for The Avengers. They could have been half-arsed films filled with explosions (there are lots of explosions) and not a lot else. But the characters are fleshed out and good stories are told.
Bloggers can learn from Marvel by putting 100% into every aspect of their writing, from the ground up. Do your research, spend time on the writing and the editing process and don’t release anything into the world that you wouldn’t happily hand over to any publication in the world. If you’re not building towards something and just floating through the process you will quickly become bored or disenfranchised with it all. Make your work the equivalent of Iron Man and Thor, and make your Avengers Assemble the blockbuster result it needs to be.
Capitalise on a Following
Stan Lee and the Marvel crew have more than 70 years of material and a fan base that has been built over decades. You don’t retain the enthusiasm for your work for that long without feeling inspired by the people who love your work. It is, after all, these guys who give you the passion (and the funds) to keep plugging away, telling your stories. If Marvel’s fan base has kept them going through the years, bloggers can definitely do the same by rewarding them with great content an interacting with them on a daily basis.
Marvel always ensure to keep their fans happy with cool events and by unveiling footage of their upcoming films at Comic-Con. They know that their fan base is ultimately what is going to keep them at the top, so the fans become the number one priority. Bloggers can do the same by giving subscribers to your blog a free eBook or a chance to interact with them and offer advice. You should understand that if you have a following, you are in a privileged position. Don’t take it for granted.
Be the Hero of Your Story
OK, so I said I wasn’t going to tell you to become a superhero… I lied. Kind of. If you’re looking to be a successful blogger, you do have to become a superhero of sorts. It’s a hard life as a writer. You get knockbacks from clients, publishers and agents. You get setbacks in your professional and personal life that you have to overcome. But like the superheroes in Marvel’s films, you have to overcome adversity and come back fighting for the victory. Just don’t start fighting super villains or start jumping through portals to another dimension. Stick to writing great content for your blog.
About the Author: Daley is a writer and filmmaker who wants to help his fellow writers to get out there fully confident and armed with great writing. He can be found struggling with his own career at www.daleyjfrancis.com
