Lights, camera, action!

[Paul Whybrow]

Three years ago we pondered the importance of self-promotion.

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/unaccustomed-as-i-am-to-public-speaking.4219/

In a recent newsletter from Writers Relief and Web Design Relief, there’s an article recommending that authors should have their own YouTube channel:

Why Writers Should Have YouTube Channels | Web Design Relief - Web Design Relief

Over the years, I’ve watched videos posted by writers, some of which were kind of depressing from a home decorating viewpoint, as I found my attention wandering to gaudy wallpaper, discarded apple cores and badly shelved books!

Nevertheless, making my own YouTube videos is a possibility, as I have a smartphone, and last summer, I bought a DSLR camera. This afternoon, I’ve been watching numerous videos on TweetDeck and this one, in which Mark Warncken recommends YouTube as the way to go.



Do any of you have a video channel?

What do you think of it as a way of selling books?

 

[CageSage]

I know a few people who set up a YouTube channel. Mostly, it gives their current readers a place to see the writer doing a reading or similar. None have a unique selling point. The USP is the important thing -- what search will bring your site to the top billing?
Pop-ups has a USP, and yet not many who subscribe to the channel.
What are the most popular YouTube sites? (it's kids stuff at the top, Lego (Gangnam style is off the top now), pimple-popping, dangerous stunts, and music, followed by movie trailers.)
Even if you take that down to the most popular sites of writers, you'll find people like Brandon Sanderson, but his site is popular with the book buyers, it's popular for his lectures and tips to other writers. His 179k followers are made up mostly of other writers, not readers. Those readers have their own sites, or follow him in several locations. (Jenna has about 120k followers; she's another one putting up 'how to write' vids.)

The questions to ask are:
What's your USP?
How will the search engine find your SEO?
What have you got that someone wants to see? How are your potential readers going to find your one voice in among the 31M YouTube channels?
Will it bring you what you want?