Well, it has begun.
I'm actually doing this. I'm going to attempt to make a cloak, from raw wool, in one month. That's spinning, weaving, and sewing.
And on top of that, I'm making videos about each step - which more than doubles the time everything takes.
This might not be the smartest decision I ever made, but it's going to be a fun adventure.
So, without more preamble (because my spellcheck won't let me put 'preramble' as in the rambling on of words before the thing), I bring you SPINNING!
I wanted to get this published as soon as possible to hop on the trend while it's hot.
This means I ran out of time to create a nice thumbnail and title. Both need improving, but they will do for now.
That got me thinking about youtube and thumbnails... and how the current recommendation is to make it as colourful as possible. As they say in Gilbert and Sullivan, "when all is gold, up goes the price of shoddy" (I paraphrase), so maybe having a simple thumbnail might make it stand out more? I have no idea.
I'm still feeling the pressure of youtube - or putting it on myself perhaps. I want to make this my main source of income so I look at all the suggestions (both from youtube and random netizens) of what I 'should' be doing better. Quite often the suggestions are contradictory - often in the same sentence. I also think a lot of these suggestions would work well for Mr Beast style content, but not for the more soothing textile arts and homesteading feel I'm trying to achieve. Knowing what to ignore is hard.
I also want this to be sustainable and to get there, I need to make the kind of videos I want to watch. Like in this video, I deliberately stayed on the spinning for a lot longer than I suspect the casual viewer would enjoy - because I'm also making the video for those interested in the craft and as a hand spinner, one of the big issues with trying new things (like a distaff) is not having a good example of how it might work.
This sort of thing reminds myself that I'm not just making videos to learn this new craft (the craft of youtube) but also that I want to fill in the gaps in the internet. To make the world a better place.
But I'm also frustrated that I feel I've reached a limit with my videos and that I can't make a video that more than a few hundred people in the world want to watch. I got to keep doing better... and this might be a symptom of the youtube analytic page driving me towards burnout? Maybe.
First, I make a cloak! I don't have time to worry about this other stuff right now. I've got loads more spinning to do.
1 comment:
Yet another great video! I loved how nicely the music matched the image starting at around 7:20, when you were reskeining the drying skein. I got way behind again in my blog reading, and I'm in a bit of a rush trying to meet some deadlines at the moment, so I won't be able to catch up soon, but I'm happy to know I have the weaving and sewing parts of your Capetember adventure to look forward to!
I understand the pressure you feel since you want this to become your main source of income. Creating the videos you enjoy making, videos that fill a gap where you see a need and an opportunity to make the world a better place — I'd say that's smart, and probably the most sustainable strategy. It takes patience to grow an audience, and I know how hard it is to be patient when we need the income… Still, I've had a look at your channel, and some of your older videos have thousands of views; that's something! It's a good sign that people are finding and watching them long after they were published; some of those people will stay for the newer ones, and you'll eventually reach the point at which you get those thousands of views when new videos come out.
I've come across a channel some time last year that I think you may enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/c/DinLife/videos
Din, the creator, has never tried to play Youtube's game; she simply had something she wanted to share, and she poured her heart into it. It has reached and touched many people over time; I doubt she saw numbers much higher than yours in the first couple of years after she started, but some of her videos eventually got very popular, and her core audience, who would watch all of her videos and not just the popular ones, grew to the point where both her least popular as well as her most recent videos have tens of thousands of views.
Anyway, try not to put too much pressure on yourself, and trust your inner voice on what advice you can ignore (by the way, if I had an advice to share regarding that, it'd be to ignore more than you follow). Keep at it! I hope you'll get over this plateau and see the growth you're hoping for sooner than later. <3
Post a Comment