How (and why) I’m making videos

Lately I’ve been making wide, longer form, evergreen videos for YouTube.

I use my android smartphone and Canva. I have a tripod, too, but I haven’t used it much yet. Oh, and I recently made a DIY phone mount on my bike safety helmet.

On my wish list are a bluetooth mic, a gimbel (for video stabilization), and a lot more courage.

A few of my first wide form videos for YouTube

Starting with the most recent as of this blog post, here are some of my first wide YouTube videos. Each is just a few minutes long. Notice the different topics, formats, and tools that I’m playing around with. For example,

• one is an animated video of a short story I wrote

• another is a climb up an historic lighthouse

• another is a day in the life type of vlog

• one is a selection of love poems from my book.

I have also done quite a few vertical mobile style short short videos, but here are longer, wide format videos.

Working on getting better at video making

Areas that I’m trying to improve are

• thumbnails

• titles

• research

• working up the courage to talk to camera

• video editing

• ideas for videos / relevant topics for both me and audience

WHY though??

Connect with Audience

As everyone knows, YouTube is a search engine as well as a massive collection of videos, and it continues to be a very popular platform. People like the video format, finding authentic people, and finding what they’re looking for. Of all the platforms out there, I think the best one for me to find my audience is YouTube. My goal is to connect with an audience, improve my craft, and own my intellectual property assets.

Pinterest is another great platform and search engine, and it’s somewhat under the radar. That’ll be a topic for another day.

Monetization?

Monetizing my YouTube channel through its Partner Program is do-able if I keep at it, be consistent, and continue to improve. Over the years, YouTube has stood behind people who create content with real resources. It continues to do so, unlike other platforms. I just need 1,000 YouTube channel subscribers and 4,000 “watch hours” LOL. It’s another long game! (Like writing and painting, let’s face it.)

I mean, what if by the time I’m 60, I have a nice big email list, a whole bunch of writing and painting going on, a monetized YouTube channel, a blog, and an online store as well? That would be a fun and awesome next chapter of life.