4 Things I've Learned From Vlogging

Vlogging, for me, began as an experiment. Something to try out to help get over my anxiety around having my face online. Ultimately when I decided to stick with it, it was largely because the new medium was fun to play around with, and I figured maybe it'd help broaden my platform, though I really wasn't expecting much in terms of reception for a channel about books and writing.

Luckily, I was wrong. Though YouTube is far from my oldest platform, it has undeniably become my largest and most interactive audience by far. It turns out, there are loads of writers out there looking for tips to help better their writing on all media formats—not just the written ones.

I've now been vlogging for a number of years. And here are some things I've learned along the way.

1. YouTube's audience isn't just trolls. YouTube kind of has a reputation for having a large audience of trolls who get kicks filling YouTubers' comments with meanness and/or grossness. I was pretty worried about this when I first started vlogging, but I'm glad I took the risk because my experience has been far from the stereotype. Have I encountered jerks making rude comments about my appearance or presentation? Yes. But to be honest, I'd say as of right now with over 13,000 subscribers, for every troll comment I get, I get like fifty genuine comments. Maybe even more. My ratio right now is probably about the same as Twitter, and though that might change as my channel grows, my experience over the last couple years has been largely positive. 


2. Relaying the same information in different formats works. While not all of my YouTube videos are a vlog version of already-existing blog posts, many of them are. I was a little hesitant about doing this at first—after all, the blog posts exist!—but I quickly learned the audience on YouTube is largely not interested in jumping over to my blog unless I don't already have a vlog about a topic they want. It even works on my blog too, because obviously most of you haven't read all 1,167 blog posts on Writability, so it allows me to go over information I covered a while ago in a new way. 


3. If you do what scares you repeatedly, it (sometimes) becomes less scary. I was terrified of putting my face online when I did my first vlog. To the point where when my friends took pictures with me, I asked them not to put the pictures on Facebook for years because the prospect of having my likeness on the internet sent me spiraling into anxiety mode. I started my YouTube channel after I'd started actually treating my anxiety, which then made it possible for me to push past it enough that I posted my first vlog. And my second. And my third. Vlogging was pretty terrifying at first, but the more I did it, the easier it became. And now it doesn't scare me at all—and I actually quite enjoy it. :) Bonus points, vlogging has made public speaking a million times easier—in large part because the process is pretty nearly the same, I can just see my audience instead of staring into a camera. 


4. In terms of income, YouTube has a pretty decent conversion rate. It's hard for me to compare this to my other social media sites, because people don't regularly tell me on Twitter or my blog when they've decided to get my book because of my presence there. But for whatever reason, people on YouTube do—and the number of times I've heard from my YouTube audience that someone bought my book because they like my channel is way higher than I was expecting. Same goes for my freelancing—I've had quite a few clients discover me on YouTube and hire me from there. Now I've just recently started monetizing my vlogs that have over 10,000 views, and though I'm not making a ton from that, it's still a little extra something that will only grow over time as more vlogs hit 10,00 views. Or I decide to lower the threshold. 

So those are some things I've learned from running a channel on YouTube. Do you watch writers on YouTube?

Twitter-sized bite:

Over 150 vlogs later, @Ava_Jae shares 4 things they've learned from running a YouTube channel. (Click to tweet)

How to Become a Writer YouTuber

So back in May 2014, I made a vlog to introduce myself to the internet. Prior to that, I had a stack of books as my avatar on all my social media sites, and for whatever reason, I thought the way I would show my face to the internet should be through a vlog rather than a selfie.

I made a channel, bookishpixie, just for that vlog, and then thought, what the hell? I'll just keep doing this.

So I did. And to be honest, I wasn't really expecting all that much in terms of subscribers—I figured there probably weren't that many writers on YouTube, right? It just seemed so different from the written media I was used to seeing writers interact on, and I knew of only a couple writing-related channels, so I figured there probably just wasn't much a demand for it.

Wellllll I was wrong. So wrong.

Turns out, there are a lot of writers and people interested in publishing on YouTube—and I have to say, the writerly community there has been one of the most supportive and welcoming I've ever seen.

So how do you vlog and build a community on YouTube? It's not as difficult as you might think.

Vlog preparation:

1. Decide on a topic. Like blogging, this is easily the hardest step—figuring out what to vlog about. Luckily, I have nine times as many blog posts as I do vlogs, so if I ever really get stuck, I sometimes go through my archives and pick a topic I've blogged about but haven't vlogged about. Because while some of my YouTube audience has peeked over at my blog, a lot haven't, and even though I share my vlogs on the blog here too, I am more than well aware that most of you haven't read all 900+ posts, so reviving a topic here and there can be helpful for everyone.


2. Bullet points. While some YouTubers rely on a script, I personally prefer to just jot down a few bullet points of the main things I'm going to cover, then improvise everything in between. This helps because I never sound stilted or get stuck trying to remember the exact phrasing of my script, and it also keeps things flexible. (Note: I use this same approach for speeches, too! Bullet points are so much easier to remember than line by line scripts.)


3. Film! There's actually a lot that goes into this step—setting up lighting, figuring out where to put the camera, resetting the white balance and exposure on the camera every time I turn it on, etc. I have an advantage here in that I went to school for film for three years, so I know the basics in camera prep, but I'm also missing a lot of the professional gear I had access to in film classes way back when, so...maybe one day. Now I have most everything set up the way I want it all week so all I have to do is turn on the lights and camera when I'm ready to go.


4. Edit. I have a Mac, so I use iMovie to edit all of my vlogs. Generally, I split up the vlog editing over three days (Thursday-Saturday). Day one: importing and cutting out the pauses and obvious mess ups (I do one long take instead of multiple takes, so this means when I mess up when I'm speaking I just stop and restart. During this step, I remove the in-between silences and frustrated outtakes). Day two: choosing the best takes/deleting duplicate takes (I repeat everything three times ish when vlogging) until I have the basic vlog. Day three: detailing (trimming clips, adding text when needed, cutting more if the vlog is too long, etc.) Note: I personally try to keep vlogs four minutes or under whenever possible, because too much longer than that and people start to lose interest.


5. Upload to YouTube. This is actually multiple steps—the uploading itself, creating the title picture that will be the still when the vlog isn't playing, filling out the description for the vlog, and writing out the captions. I usually do this on Mondays.

So those are the basics for getting the vlog up. In terms of growing your channel, the main steps I've relied on are basically the same as growing any other social media account.

• Consistent posting. I decided from the start I'd do one vlog a week (Tuesdays). Vlogs are a lot of work, so the weekly post works well for me because it doesn't add too much work to my already packed social media schedule. The reason consistency is so important, however, is because the more consistently you post, the better your audience will know to come back. Plus it shows your audience that you're committed and aren't going to just drop off the face of the internet.


• Pay attention to your community (answer the comments). I can't tell you how many times I've had commenters say how nice it is to hear back from me, because most of the channels they comment on never get responses from the creators. While answering *all* the comments may one day be unfeasible (if the channel gets too big, for example), it's good to show your community that you're involved and listening to what they say. I'm not always able to answer channel comments quickly, but I do try to make sure I get to as many of them as I can.


• Cross-post. Cross-posting whenever possible is sooooo helpful. I cross-post all of my vlogs to the blog here (which then links to my Twitter), tumblr, and Facebook. Cross-posting is a great way to get discovered and spread your creation around—you never know when a tweet or tumblr post will go viral and get you a host of new subscribers, even months after you posted.

So those are my YouTube channel-building tips! I definitely recommend vlogging if it's something you think you could consistently do—it's been a great experience for me even though I was *completely* terrified of the camera when I started, and has not only helped in terms of getting the word out for my blog and book, but has also made me way more confident when public speaking. Bonus! :)

Have you ever considered vlogging?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Curious about what goes into running a YouTube channel? @Ava_Jae breaks down some steps and tips. (Click to tweet)