Learning the Ropes of YouTube

I have six videos up on One for the Books, my new YouTube channel. I’m learning so much already, and thus far I feel like every episode is better than the one before. In addition to learning about video editing (which I talked about in my last post), I’m also just learning more about how to make content that YouTube viewers want to click and watch. I recently learned that a video’s title should be different from the text on the thumbnail viewers see, because it’s a different chance to catch someone’s attention. And while one might need some key words that are searchable, the other should be more click-baity. Basically, it needs to drive curiosity. Both should be short and punchy. So I spent some time in the last few days and gave all of my thumbnails a makeover.

I posted an example below of my interview with Mariama. I kept the same title, “Tackling Big Topics in Middle Grade Books”, but I updated the image that viewers will see if it pops up on their home screen.

BEFORE

AFTER

The first is obviously just a screenshot from our interview. But its fuzzy quality and very busy. The new version is a beautiful headshot of Mariama as well as the covers of her two books, and lets the audience know more details than the title alone. I was a little conflicted about removing myself from the thumbnail entirely, because I am the “brand” of One for the Books, but for now I think it’s more important to provide a compelling image than to make myself a part of it.

I did a similar makeover to my other five videos, and I am super happy with the results. Hopefully that will encourage more people to click on my videos in the future, now that I’m learning how the system works a little better.

I’ve got a seventh episode already filmed and am going through edits now, and I have my next four videos after that planned out and some guests booked. Thus far I’ve been able to keep to my goal of posting one video every two weeks, but since Michael and I are going on a two-week vacation next month, it’s likely I’ll miss one in August (unless I can get through the editing of video #7 and film and edit an additional video before we leave on the 30th…not going to hold my breath).

Other updates

I haven’t been blogging as much lately, and I haven’t been working on my novel. I feel like YouTube has taken over my life. But I’m having fun, so I don’t have any complaints. I’ve also been reading more the last two months than I have in the early part of the year, so I’m happy with that as well. I love how my new years resolution has evolved over time and that it has lead me to here. By reigniting my love for creative writing, I inadvertently reignited my love for reading, discovered a new community of creators on Youtube and decided to become a part of it. I intend to get back to writing, but it’s not a priority for me at the moment while getting my channel off the ground is still such a heavy lift. The progress feels slow, but it’s definitely progress.

I also added a tab to this website to help folks find my channel more easily. It’s just a link to each episode that will redirect to YouTube, but it’s nice having all the things in one place.

Oh, and one of the short stories I wrote back in January was published in a local zine (pages 6-9), so that’s nifty.