Whenever you hear "Two Thumbs Up" who do you immediately think of? That is a perfect example of a gimmick.

Who are worst dressed celebrities? Just ask Mr. Blackwell. He may not be a movie critic, but he does us a gimmick to make himself memorable. His variety of gimmick is known as "throwing a brick". No, not literally, but saying something negative about a celebrity will certainly garner attention. Joan Rivers is another person who uses this type of gimmick to gain attention for herself. After all, who could forget her scathing remarks on red carpet?

The rating system at Rotten Tomatoes that was created for their compendium of reviews is another fine example of a gimmick.

You should avoid closely copying gimmick of another well-known critic as you will merely be viewed as a pale imitation. Although, if you can come up with an inventive and original twist on one of their gimmicks, then by all means give it a shot.

Show Me The Money

In beginning your main goal should be to make your name well-known and synonymous with movie reviews. Once you have achieved a modicum of fame then you can parley that into a paycheck. There are a of couple ways that you can turn experience and celebrity that you have achieve online into cash and recognition offline.

1. Contact newspapers in your area. Find email address for these newspapers and write to them asking if they would be interested in having you write reviews for their publication. Be sure to write to appropriate editor. In most cases this will be entertainment editor.

When writing for a newspaper it is vital that you don't sign a work-for-hire contract. If you were to do this then publication would own copyright to all of your work, which means that you would not be able to publish your reviews on your web site or anywhere else as newspaper is now copyright holder.

2. Another offline venue that you should explore is radio. Public radio is probably your best bet, but you should approach mainstream radio stations as well. You could suggest doing reviews on morning show of a Top 40 station or, perhaps, bite-size reviews that could be played all through-out day.

4.Researching The Internet is also another good resource for information. Keep in mind that not every resource you find online is going to be an honest good resource. It will take time to sort out which websites are useful. Most information is free, so you can sit back and research in comfort of your home. If you don't have a computer with Internet access, check your local library and see if you can use one of theirs.

5.Workshops Workshops taught by experts is a great way to learn from professionals, but only if you can afford it! Make sure topic of workshop is based around your interest. For instance, if you love fiction..it wouldn't be a good idea to go to a workshop based only on non-fiction. It's a good idea to register early to ensure a spot at event. Bring a new legal pad, plus a few writing tools to take notes. 6.Contests After writing a while, you may want to enter contests. Some require an entry fee. I suggest staying away from entry fee contests until you've entered some other free ones. That way you can get a feel for how contests work. Spend some time writing and re-writing your entries. If you've written your entry in 5 or so minutes, judges will notice it immediately. You wouldn't want a reputation for sloppy work.

There you are, 6 tips to get you started on your journey to writing. Good Luck!