Like any other writer in this day and age, I'm always looking for ways to introduce new readers to my work. And as I'm sure you can tell from the title, this post will be all about what I've been doing on YouTube lately.
Not that I'm trying to pose as an expert, or anything, because I'm not. I've really only gotten into the YouTube game this last year, and only been seriously into it this past month. I'm still at the stage of the game where I'm experimenting to find what works. Nothing you're about to read is written in stone, and I might come back in a week or a month to tell you everything I'm about to say is wrong.
So, now that I've thoroughly disqualified myself ad a reputable source of information, lemme tell you about the situation. Frankly, the channel is at a pretty fledgling stage of its development–even downright embryonic, really. As of the beginning of the month I had exactly six subscribers and my most successful video had something like 50 views. I hadn't posted anything at all since about May of this year. So I figure, I like YouTube and I'm still looking for ways for readers to discover my work–why not post some audio versions of a few of my short stories and see what happens?
So I did–or, really, I still am. By the time this post goes live I'll have three of my stories up on YouTube, voiced personally by yours truly. And to date it hasn't been an unqualified success–at the time of this writing, the video from two weeks ago has a respectable zero views, while the video from last week is a runaway smash hit, garnering a staggering two views in the last week.
So like I said, not exactly an unqualified success. Not that I'm discouraged by these early results, either–it just shows I'm still learning the platform and the medium, and that I don't yet have the kind of following that has a magnetism of its own. And I remember Winston Churchill's old line about how success is just proceeding from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. It's just a matter of falling at this so I can learn how to fail at even bigger problems later along the road.
So, as you can imagine, about this time last week I got to thinking about ways to turn this flatline of a channel into something with at least some appreciable growth. Which is when I came across a video all about using YouTube shorts to grow your channel. And that got me thinking–well, what do I have to lose? Might as well commit to putting up a short on YouTube every day for the rest of the year. I mean, it's not like it's gonna alienate my legions of adoring fans!
So I've done that ever since Monday. At the time of this writing I've put up five shorts between Monday the 23rd and Friday the 27th–although by the time I finish writing this I'll probably have my short for Saturday uploaded. So let's take a closer look at what I've managed to glean from my vast experience in this matter:
Posting shorts does help you gain more followers
I'm pleased to report that while I started the week with all of six followers, I finished it with seven. And before you go poo-pooing that figure, you have to realize that I'd built up to six followers in about six months, while one week of posting shorts took me from six to seven. Which, you're right, that's not exactly a staggering uptick in my growth rate. But it is an uptick, and the more followers you get, the easier it is to attract more. So even though in absolute terms it might be only a minor thing, in relative terms it's a massive win. Especially when you consider the fact that (as will soon become obvious, if it isn't already) I have no idea what I'm doing.
If your channel is stupid tiny, shorts get way more views than your actual videos
The numbers I'm talking about here are so ridiculously tiny that it's almost embarrassing to talk about them at this stage. But you'll remember that my most popular recent video got a total of two views in one week. So imagine my surprise and giddy shock when I realize that after five days of posting shorts my least popular short has ten views. Which, if you're looking at it in absolute terms, really isn't the biggest difference in the world–two, ten, what difference does it make? You're still looking at audience numbers so absurdly tiny that there's nothing you can do with them. But, relatively speaking, I could also say that the least popular short has five times the reach of the most popular video. And the most popular short, with 43 views at the time of writing, has more than twenty times the views of that video. With relative numbers like that… if YouTube is a war of attrition, shorts are starting to look like something I'd absolutely want to be using at this point in the game.
Grabby Internet openings lead to more views
I am allergic to clickbait. I usually block anything I come across with even a hint of clickbait energy. So I'm not exactly sure how to use this insight, but… it just so happened that I started out one of the shorts by saying, "So I got hit by a car…"
Which is true, and I go on to tell the story and everything. But simply the fact of starting the story in such a grabby way made that short by far the most successful of the five I've done so far. Call it clickbait, call it an attention-grabbing opening, call it whatever you want… I stumbled across an important lesson about YouTube shorts when I made that video. Don't want to take it too far, of course… but there's something important here.
My voice is fucking annoying
This one is just a personal thing. I don't think my voice is objectively annoying, but it does sound different in recordings than in my everyday experience. I'm not sure why it sounds so different, but it most certainly does.
Anyway, I've done videos routinely before, so I know how this goes. Eventually the habit of speaking to the camera gets you used to speaking with the most pleasant tones possible. I'm still in the process of adjusting at the moment. Give it time and I'll get there.
The walls of my apartment are boring to look at
What I mean here is that video is (obviously) a visual medium. I mean, I say it's obvious, but here I am not genuinely realizing it until I jump into making daily videos. You'll have to excuse me, I'm a writer, in my mind everything is made of words and the only reason to see anything is just to be able to come up with the right words for it.
And my instinct is to plop down in front of a bare spot of wall and try to tell people what's what. But that's not going to work–especially with the shorts, you have to give the people something pretty (or at least striking) to look at while they're listening to you. Above and beyond my beautiful self, that is.
I need a stronger concept for my YouTube channel
While I'm out airing the dirty laundry, I might as well mention this. I'm the type who has to start doing something before I'll address the problems that come with it. So naturally it's not until I'm a couple weeks into this YouTube experiment that I start really thinking about what the channel's for and how I want it to work.
My original concept was that I'd just put out a few stories and that would naturally draw a great big audience. Which, in principle, is a good idea. But there's the whole question of how to create content that really fits into what YouTube wants and rewards. Which is a whole massive question in and of itself, and not something I want to talk about in depth here and now. But I'm thinking about it.
I need to understand who the viewer I'm looking for is
I'd like to think of myself as a pure artist who is simply expressing his own personal vision. But when I'm honest I don't believe that kind of person has ever existed. And even if they have, we don't exist in the kind of society where that kind of thing is possible. It matters what the viewer wants, what the reader wants–what the audience wants, in other words. And if art is a mirror, it's part of my business to have a thorough understanding of the kind of person I'm trying to create that mirror for.
I need to learn more about photography and filmmaking in general
Like I said, I see the world in terms of words. I've been a writer for a long time, and it's a challenge to adjust to a new medium. The stories I'm telling in my videos may be very good, but I need to internalize the fact that these aren't just stories. They're videos. And as videos, they have considerable room for improvement. Which could be a discouraging thought, but I prefer to think of it as an opportunity: if every video I make can be just a little better than the one that came before, I'll be on track to create some truly remarkable videos in the future. Just need to expand my skill set.
I need to learn more about YouTube shorts in particular
Every medium has its own little peculiarities. I made a minor discovery when I found out that it's important to start a short with someone that grabs the viewer's attention, for example. And there's not a doubt in my mind that as I go on making videos and experimenting I'll find more and better ways to create YouTube shorts.
The point is to remember that I don't know anything. Beginner's mind, as they say. Always question your assumptions, always be willing to let the results of an experiment prove you wrong. The data never lies and the results never lie. You just have to stay true to the goal and follow what your experience tells you you need to do to reach it.
I'm the kind of person who needs to start things long before I have the vaguest idea what I'm doing
We've all heard that old saw about entrepreneurs, that they jump off a cliff and figure out how to build the airplane on the way down. And much as I'd like to think of myself as a pure artist… we live in a time where an artist has to know business pretty well in order to make any impact. Which means doing a lot of new and uncomfortable things, if they're in the service of the goal that leads the art forward.
A lot of the time I feel like I'm muddling along, creating things that are only tangentially related to what I'd like to be doing. In my mind, I'd like to be able to write novels and stories and have them magically turn into a successful writing career with no further input from me. And naturally, I'm hard at work on drafting those novels.
But part of me thinks why am I on YouTube? Why am I on Twitter? Why do I have a blog? And that part of me would like to stick to what's familiar, or at least work out a whole system in perfect detail before doing anything.
But I don't work like that, not really. Maybe nobody does. I have to jump into things, into YouTube, into Twitter, into blogging, with only a vague idea of how these things will ultimately fit together into a writing career. Knowing all along that there's a massive amount of things I don't know and that I'm very likely to make a fool of myself many times over in the process. Do I think what I'm doing now will ultimately be exactly what brings me success in the end? No, not really. Naturally, I hope I'm more or less on the right track. But I don't know.
And maybe in the past that would have been enough to discourage me from acting at all. Or maybe I would have whined about how hard it is to find or make your own path. Or maybe I would have hesitated until I thought I knew everything and been devastated when I realized I didn't.
But… that's what makes life an adventure. Not knowing what comes next. Meeting new challenges as they come up and inventing or adopting solutions for them. Trusting that you have it in yourself to reach your goal, if you're willing to do what the goal requires. And wanting it enough to do all it takes.
I don't know if these thoughts will speak to anyone other than me. I do know I'm still working on figuring out what this blog needs to be, if it needs to be. But I hope, even if the challenges you face in life are completely different from mine, you find something in here that speaks to you. Even if it's just a little something, just a spirit that tells you to work a little harder, push yourself a little harder, or believe just a little harder that what's on the other side of your struggles is worth the struggle. If I could do that for you, I'll consider what I've done here worthwhile.
Keep struggling, friends. All my love to you and yours in the coming week.
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