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I started a YouTube channel at the end of 2017 and published on YouTube on a regular basis for a bit over a year. My best year was about $1,500. I've made $4,60

I started a YouTube channel at the end of 2017 and published on YouTube on a regular basis for a bit over a year. My best year was about $1,500. I've made $4,600 since I started the channel. At the channel's peak, I was trying to publish a DIY video where I would build something two or three times a month. I started the channel because I enjoy making stuff and thought I would be able to do more of it and maybe get paid to do it. As I continued, I worked hard to polish my production style and I realized I was prioritizing the video production over doing what I loved. Making videos taking time away from actually making stuff and making the projects take 10X longer. So I stopped. I still post videos from time to time, but I try to do everything in a single take and not spent more than an hour editing it. Last year I finished a project I was pretty proud of and spent about 20 hours working on a video and it only got 100 views after the initial posting. For me, it takes a lot of self promotion to get the algorithm to recognize the video as a good video and have it be shown to more people. The self promotion part is something I really dislike doing. YouTube is great for people that love the process of making videos because it's a win whether someone watches your video or not. Editing can be fun, but for me it gets tedious and I prefer doing a lot of other things.

sebazzz 3y ago
> Making videos taking time away from actually making stuff and making the projects take 10X longer. So I stopped. Isn't that why a lot of YouTubers (or content creators, whatever the name is), hire a videographer to do that work for them?
- SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
  So a lot of YouTubers start primarily self editing up until they have enough of a following to hire someone’s services. It can be painful!
- CM30 3y ago
  They do, but you need a large following and a decent amount of money for this to be affordable in the first place. I paid someone I know to edit some of my videos for a while, and even at a fairly low price, I would end up spending as much money on the editing as the video paid out to begin with. Same with thumbnails, a lot of big creators get someone else to make them, but the prices there are quite steep too. I used the same thumbnail designer as a few of my favourite 100K subs YouTubers, and it was like $200-300 a thumbnail. So it's probably like, $1-2K per video if you want someone else to take care of the editing and thumbnail design aspects. Hence you'll likely have to do this stuff yourself for the few hundred thousand or so subs, at least if you don't have FAANG/trust fund money on the side.
- Broken_Hippo 3y ago
  If you have money laying around, sure. If not - and you aren't really making money - then no. And even then, lots of folks do their own editing. It isn't all that different from other arts: If I paint, I might be lucky enough to pay a gallery, either through commission (often 40-60%) or through renting space (often, monthly payment plus a lower commission). You might be able to rent space. But most folks just have to do all the small stuff themselves. It isn't uncommon for artists to spend more time doing social media/advertising/mundane stuff than they do creating art, if you are trying to make money. I'm not as intimate with the music scene, but it seems a lot of folks do similar stuff.
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
Can you educate me a bit here? If you do it in a single take, what do you do in your hour of editing?
- amelius 3y ago
  Editing is boring work because you have to go through hours of video and find the right fragments and stitch them together, then rewatch to see if the flow is right, etc.
  - hahamrfunnyguy 3y ago
    Exactly, selecting what to put in the video is incredibly time consuming if you have a lot of footage. That's not evening mentioning editing. Every time I watch a section of video I would find things that can be improved. At a certain point, you need to stop polishing and just finish it.
- inconceivable 3y ago
  import the video from your device. cut out/speed up the boring parts. add a voice over or music or corrections to dialog. add intro screens, cut screens, transitions, titles. tweak the audio, censor curse words if required. insert images or screenshots you reference. insert labels/graphics. export it. re-export it because you screwed something up. upload to youtube. fill out their required forms. write description, timestamps, link cards, end cards. create affiliate links if that's what you're doing. follow up on social media. etc. etc. etc. you're probably thinking of streaming, which involves less work, but you have to do it in real time with OBS or whatever. maybe you're talented and can do it yourself, but sometimes that involves a second person at the controls. sure you can just upload a raw video straight from your device. but this is exceedingly rare, because you've grown accustomed to at least the basic round of editing - you likely don't even realize what edits have happened. raw video is incredibly boring. will anyone watch it? if not, then what are you even doing that for? you should try both sometime, it's not quite as easy or fast as it sounds.
  - amelius 3y ago
_davebennett 3y ago
I think DIY content is so hard to make. For me, it usually involves building stuff that I find interesting, but that is usually super niche and doesn’t appeal to a mainstream audience. Thus, less views which makes the whole time spent on making the video feel wasted compared to other projects I could be doing. On the other hand, I could try to build projects that might be more mainstream for the better views, but then I’m spending time creating stuff I don’t want to make.
- MaxikCZ 3y ago
  As a consoomer I find interesting that the production quality has bigger say over which DIY projects I watch than if the thing they are building aligns to my interest. For example JohnnyQ90 is filming himself creating very high quality RC cars from scratch, and despite me not having interest in machining/rc cars I still watch basically all his videos. Your interest being niche may not matter as much as you may think.
  - _davebennett 3y ago
    That’s a good point! Though, I would still argue that things like RC cars are more mainstream then a video about building a RISC-V emulator or re-implementing an existing protocol.
    - MaxikCZ 3y ago
      You are right. Such concepts are truly abstract, such for illustrations are hard to make. The matches may not be perfect, but examples in this case come to mind: [0]braintruffle - took the concept of computer fluid simulation as main topic over detailing specific implementation, few videos a year. [1]Reducible - His explanation of GJK algo, even after reading papers on it, made me appreciate it. Both utilise extensive animation skills, mastering meaning of video. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXs_vkc8hpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXs_vkc8hpY [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajv46BSqcK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajv46BSqcK4
- SkyPuncher 3y ago
chongli 3y ago
Making videos taking time away from actually making stuff and making the projects take 10X longer. So I stopped. Check out Kenji Lopez-Alt [1]. He’s an award-winning chef who makes cooking videos by strapping a GoPro to his head and going to work in his home kitchen. He has basically none of the fancy production you see on cooking TV shows. Yet his videos are very popular because he’s a great chef and he tells you the why in addition to the what and how. I’m pretty sure he’s made his setup just about as close to optimal as possible in terms of minimizing the time he spends on the video production part while still looking great. I think his one bit of fancy production is that he has a nice spot by the window to set a cooked dish for his thumbnail photograph. I think a bunch of his cooking videos also do double duty to supply photographs for his cookbooks, but that’s unnecessary for the vast majority of video creators. [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/kenjialt https://www.youtube.com/user/kenjialt
- SkyPuncher 3y ago
  Kenji isn't really representative of the path most people can take. His reputation is almost exclusively from his superb cooking articles (and recipes). The Youtube channel is a side dish, not the main course.
  - chongli 3y ago
    I said his videos are very popular because he’s a great chef. Nowhere did I imply that you can go from nothing to famous person by strapping a GoPro to your head. I mentioned Kenji because he’s an example of someone who makes great videos with absolute bare minimum production effort. The person I replied to talked about how video production had gotten in the way of the enjoyment of the craft. I think Kenji’s videos are a perfect example of how to avoid that problem. That doesn’t mean following this advice will lead to instant wealth and fame. Ultimately, there is no formula for fame because audiences are fickle and trends are fleeting.
- drBonkers 3y ago
  Do you reckon he uses the built-in microphone, or an external? This channel is amazing. I learn best by simply watching others do, and this will surely help me advance my culinary art!
okr 3y ago
I wonder, what would come out, if all these editing things can also be automated and optimized by an AI. Leaving the video intact, but doing the cuts, translation, timestamps, colorizing, densing, audio gaining, lighting, so it all looks compared to things out there.
Gigachad 3y ago
I really want to get in to video editing and posting on YouTube, but I just can’t come up with something to record as all I really know is programming which doesn’t make for great video content.

sebazzz 3y ago

> Making videos taking time away from actually making stuff and making the projects take 10X longer. So I stopped. Isn't that why a lot of YouTubers (or content creators, whatever the name is), hire a videographer to do that work for them?

SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
So a lot of YouTubers start primarily self editing up until they have enough of a following to hire someone’s services. It can be painful!
CM30 3y ago
They do, but you need a large following and a decent amount of money for this to be affordable in the first place. I paid someone I know to edit some of my videos for a while, and even at a fairly low price, I would end up spending as much money on the editing as the video paid out to begin with. Same with thumbnails, a lot of big creators get someone else to make them, but the prices there are quite steep too. I used the same thumbnail designer as a few of my favourite 100K subs YouTubers, and it was like $200-300 a thumbnail. So it's probably like, $1-2K per video if you want someone else to take care of the editing and thumbnail design aspects. Hence you'll likely have to do this stuff yourself for the few hundred thousand or so subs, at least if you don't have FAANG/trust fund money on the side.
Broken_Hippo 3y ago
If you have money laying around, sure. If not - and you aren't really making money - then no. And even then, lots of folks do their own editing. It isn't all that different from other arts: If I paint, I might be lucky enough to pay a gallery, either through commission (often 40-60%) or through renting space (often, monthly payment plus a lower commission). You might be able to rent space. But most folks just have to do all the small stuff themselves. It isn't uncommon for artists to spend more time doing social media/advertising/mundane stuff than they do creating art, if you are trying to make money. I'm not as intimate with the music scene, but it seems a lot of folks do similar stuff.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

Can you educate me a bit here? If you do it in a single take, what do you do in your hour of editing?

amelius 3y ago
Editing is boring work because you have to go through hours of video and find the right fragments and stitch them together, then rewatch to see if the flow is right, etc.
- hahamrfunnyguy 3y ago
  Exactly, selecting what to put in the video is incredibly time consuming if you have a lot of footage. That's not evening mentioning editing. Every time I watch a section of video I would find things that can be improved. At a certain point, you need to stop polishing and just finish it.
inconceivable 3y ago
import the video from your device. cut out/speed up the boring parts. add a voice over or music or corrections to dialog. add intro screens, cut screens, transitions, titles. tweak the audio, censor curse words if required. insert images or screenshots you reference. insert labels/graphics. export it. re-export it because you screwed something up. upload to youtube. fill out their required forms. write description, timestamps, link cards, end cards. create affiliate links if that's what you're doing. follow up on social media. etc. etc. etc. you're probably thinking of streaming, which involves less work, but you have to do it in real time with OBS or whatever. maybe you're talented and can do it yourself, but sometimes that involves a second person at the controls. sure you can just upload a raw video straight from your device. but this is exceedingly rare, because you've grown accustomed to at least the basic round of editing - you likely don't even realize what edits have happened. raw video is incredibly boring. will anyone watch it? if not, then what are you even doing that for? you should try both sometime, it's not quite as easy or fast as it sounds.
- amelius 3y ago

_davebennett 3y ago

I think DIY content is so hard to make. For me, it usually involves building stuff that I find interesting, but that is usually super niche and doesn’t appeal to a mainstream audience. Thus, less views which makes the whole time spent on making the video feel wasted compared to other projects I could be doing. On the other hand, I could try to build projects that might be more mainstream for the better views, but then I’m spending time creating stuff I don’t want to make.

MaxikCZ 3y ago
As a consoomer I find interesting that the production quality has bigger say over which DIY projects I watch than if the thing they are building aligns to my interest. For example JohnnyQ90 is filming himself creating very high quality RC cars from scratch, and despite me not having interest in machining/rc cars I still watch basically all his videos. Your interest being niche may not matter as much as you may think.
- _davebennett 3y ago
  That’s a good point! Though, I would still argue that things like RC cars are more mainstream then a video about building a RISC-V emulator or re-implementing an existing protocol.
  - MaxikCZ 3y ago
    You are right. Such concepts are truly abstract, such for illustrations are hard to make. The matches may not be perfect, but examples in this case come to mind: [0]braintruffle - took the concept of computer fluid simulation as main topic over detailing specific implementation, few videos a year. [1]Reducible - His explanation of GJK algo, even after reading papers on it, made me appreciate it. Both utilise extensive animation skills, mastering meaning of video. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXs_vkc8hpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXs_vkc8hpY [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajv46BSqcK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajv46BSqcK4
SkyPuncher 3y ago

chongli 3y ago

Making videos taking time away from actually making stuff and making the projects take 10X longer. So I stopped. Check out Kenji Lopez-Alt [1]. He’s an award-winning chef who makes cooking videos by strapping a GoPro to his head and going to work in his home kitchen. He has basically none of the fancy production you see on cooking TV shows. Yet his videos are very popular because he’s a great chef and he tells you the why in addition to the what and how. I’m pretty sure he’s made his setup just about as close to optimal as possible in terms of minimizing the time he spends on the video production part while still looking great. I think his one bit of fancy production is that he has a nice spot by the window to set a cooked dish for his thumbnail photograph. I think a bunch of his cooking videos also do double duty to supply photographs for his cookbooks, but that’s unnecessary for the vast majority of video creators. [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/kenjialt https://www.youtube.com/user/kenjialt

SkyPuncher 3y ago
Kenji isn't really representative of the path most people can take. His reputation is almost exclusively from his superb cooking articles (and recipes). The Youtube channel is a side dish, not the main course.
- chongli 3y ago
  I said his videos are very popular because he’s a great chef. Nowhere did I imply that you can go from nothing to famous person by strapping a GoPro to your head. I mentioned Kenji because he’s an example of someone who makes great videos with absolute bare minimum production effort. The person I replied to talked about how video production had gotten in the way of the enjoyment of the craft. I think Kenji’s videos are a perfect example of how to avoid that problem. That doesn’t mean following this advice will lead to instant wealth and fame. Ultimately, there is no formula for fame because audiences are fickle and trends are fleeting.
drBonkers 3y ago
Do you reckon he uses the built-in microphone, or an external? This channel is amazing. I learn best by simply watching others do, and this will surely help me advance my culinary art!

okr 3y ago

I wonder, what would come out, if all these editing things can also be automated and optimized by an AI. Leaving the video intact, but doing the cuts, translation, timestamps, colorizing, densing, audio gaining, lighting, so it all looks compared to things out there.

Gigachad 3y ago

I really want to get in to video editing and posting on YouTube, but I just can’t come up with something to record as all I really know is programming which doesn’t make for great video content.