How this film critic manages his articles, editors, and audience with a single solution
This article was originally published on Authory's blog.
Matt Donato is a very, very prolific LA-based film critic. His articles are currently published on IGN, SlashFilm, Fangoria, and Bloody Disgusting, and he has worked for many more outlets in the past. All in all, Matt has written thousands of articles published in dozens of different publications. Not to mention the many podcasts that Matt has been part of.
I’m already pitching articles, bashing keyboards, managing deadlines, and promoting myself - Authory lightens my load as a freelancer.
Usually, when we do a case study with one of our customers, we highlight one specific aspect of how Authory helps them. With Matt and his massive body of work, it turns out he had numerous problems… and Authory was able to provide solutions to all of them! Truly a one-stop-shop for Matt.
The problem: How to stay on top of your work if you have published thousands of articles at dozens of publications and add many more every week
For Matt, with so many existing pieces and so many new ones being published, things became challenging:
Matt didn’t know when his new articles were published
If sites are especially nice, they tag the author in pieces on social media when published or they tell a writer when said piece will go live. Of course, that’s not every site (for a slew of reasons). Otherwise, I’d be checking site Twitter handles to see if my piece was live, or refreshing my author page for the same reason.
Pitching for new gigs was tedious
When new outlets would ask for sample links of past work, it’d be on me to scour my separate author pages on however many outlets my work appears. I’d have to scroll through and find those pieces I was exceptionally fond of that’d win me another gig, hopefully not forgetting what I’d written, say, a year ago.
Keeping his fans updated was a pain for them (and for Matt)
It can be hard to keep reader traction as a freelancer because when someone asks, “Where can I find your work?” Answering “The highest bidder” doesn’t really help, and until Authory, my answer was “I Tweet all my pieces,” which means nothing to people without Twitter.
Sharing evergreens with readers? Also a pain
If I wanted to share an old piece I’d written for a movie some 3 years ago that’s now celebrating its 10th, 20th year anniversary? Hopefully a Google search finds it, or it’s back to the endless scroll of articles on site-specific author pages, hoping I was remembering correctly where said piece was published.
Can you imagine the time, resources, and mental load it required Matt to tackle the problems above? Or, as Matt puts it, “before Authory, my life was a lot more ‘manual’.”
The solution: a central platform for Matt’s content that automates the many tasks Matt had to perform manually before
After Matt started using Authory, managing his content, editors and audience became a breeze. To begin with, Authory automatically found, imported, and indexed all of the content Matt had created for various publications and clients over the years, no matter where and when they were published.
As of now, he has a total of 2,650 articles and 62 podcast episodes from 25 different sources in his Authory account.
Automated tracking
Authory didn’t only import all his existing articles and podcasts but also continuously checks the publications that Matt writes for, for any new content of his. And whenever a new piece is found, it’s added to Matt’s Authory account, appearing at the top of his Content section.
In addition, Matt receives a daily summary email telling him what new pieces of his have been published where that day:
As recently as last month, I was in a situation where I had no idea when something I’d written would go live - until an email hit my inbox to alert me that a new entry was added to my Authory. No bothering editors, no scrolling, no extra time monitoring such activities. Authory allows this “set it and forget it” freedom for writers that feels damn good.
Better pitching
The Content section is basically like an email inbox, just that it shows Matt’s content to him instead of emails. He can easily search and filter his entire archive. So whenever he needs to find a number of specific pieces for a pitch to an editor, he can do it in seconds:
Not only that, once he finds the respective pieces, he can select them and turn them into a collection within his Authory account and then share this collection with the editor.
Of course, answering specific pitches is only half the job. Matt also has a self-updating portfolio that serves as his business card: authory.com/MattDonato
Authory makes it so easy to provide my work to guilds, outlets, readers, anyone. Even better, it has a search function that visitors can use if they want to find, say, a specific review I’ve written years back about a specific movie.
Enhanced reader traction
Given Authory provides him with a self-updating portfolio page, Matt can now point readers there when they want to know where to find his content.
His portfolio works as an always-up-to-date hub that displays links to his newest pieces, no matter where they are published.
With Authory, the answer is easy: “Here’s a single link with anything I’ve done now and in the future, plus a handy RSS newsletter you can subscribe to that only comes once a week and has a recap of everything new.”
Easier sharing
Once Matt has found a specific piece in the Content section, he can open the copy Authory created for him with a single click. This copy is available to Matt no matter what happens to the original (which is important as many sites eventually de-publish content).
Matt can either share a direct link to the original piece or if the original doesn’t exist anymore, create a share link so that others can see the copy as well:
But there is more: social media analytics
Matt discovered an additional feature that came in handy: Authory provides detailed analytics on how many shares, likes, tweets, and comments his articles and podcasts receive, all data that’s easily accessible in his account:
I personally love the social media statistics that are gathered and reported on, so I know what articles I write get the most attention. I use the social media data I receive to formulate future pitches, noting what gets shared most and what gets ignored. I can learn from social media attention given to my articles, and better pitch in the future with this information!
Authory offers a real one-stop-shop
Matt’s use cases highlight very nicely how Authory can help content creators be more successful when it comes to managing their work for themselves, for editors, and for their audience.
Join Matt and thousands of other content creators and be on top of your content game while saving countless hours of manual work every month: Try Authory for free!