Bug Books: Joey Paul Online: Authortube: Being Consistent

Monday 12 October 2020

Authortube: Being Consistent

AUTHORTUBE: BEING CONSISTENT

I've talked before about things that you need to do when it comes to Authortube (piece found here) and in that I mentioned the need for consistency, but I thought I would branch out and make it clearer and more detailed as to why, and how, you should strive to do that. A lot of people know me as someone who's very organised, and I just want to make it clear that I know that's not the case for everyone. I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I don't have any other job, I'm basically a full-time author without the pay cheque to go with it. So when I talked about making a schedule, I know that my situation is unique and doesn't apply to the majority of writers, or event hose on Authortube.

With that out of the way, let's talk about why it's important that you're consistent with your channel, and posting.

#1 VIEWERS KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT AND WHEN.
When it comes to the people who will subscribe and follow your channel, they'll expect to have regular content, unless otherwise stated on the channel. They'll want to know what they should be getting by clicking that red button and they come to the channel with that expectation in mind. Personally, I wasn't consistent when I started. I posted four videos a month and fitted them in where I could, without any planning that went into them, then I switched to a date that moved through the week every month, and finally hit the Thursday posting, and I'll be honest, the majority of my subs joined AFTER I stuck to the Thursday posting. They could expect to see content then, with the occasional bonus video on a Sunday and that made them more likely to watch.

#2 IT SENDS A MESSAGE OF YOUR BRAND.
A lot of the time, an authortube channel is started to both connect with the community and readers, and also to build a brand for yourself. I know Dal Cecil Runo hit that one out of the park when she branded herself an alien that never showed her face on camera. It works for her, and with the fact she mostly writes sci-fi, it gave her brand a boost.

For me, being organised was part of my brand, so knowing that unless I was unwell or in hospital, I would post every Thursday and keep on top of recording and the like, helped me a lot as both building my brand, and letting my viewers know they could rely on me to do what I said I would do.

#3 IT BUILDS UP SUBS
This is the final point really, the more consistent you are, and the better quality of what you're putting out, the more people who will return week after week to watch you content. This applies to livestreaming if that's your thing, as well as regular videos, though as someone who doesn't attend many livestreams and watches more regular videos, be sure to have a good mix of both!

And then onto the how do you stay consistent? These are just some of my tips, and like I said above, they may not apply or be possible for everyone.

#1 BATCH FILM/RECORD IN ADVANCE
It's no secret that a lot of authortubers will batch film, personally I record the videos a month in advance. It means that unless the video is time sensitive, by the end of the month, I have all the following month's videos done, uploaded, and captioned ready to just press publish when it's time to do that. I started out by doing extra filming the first month, and then just kept it up. If that's possible for you then I highly advise you do it. If it's not, the batch filming can be another good way to have some videos done in advance so that if life falls apart, you still have something to post on the right day.

#2 PLAN CONTENT IN ADVANCE
This is something that I think a lot of us do, we think up video topics, and write them down and then try and fit them into your schedule so that we know what we're filming next. That gives you a chance to write the script if you use one, and also just lets you think more on the subject before getting in front of the camera. Personally, I script and have a lot of my content planned, so will do the vlog scripts for the following month at the end of the last one, and then go from there.

#3 FIND TIMES THAT WORK FOR YOU
If you know that you want to post on a Wednesday but that the only time you can record and such is Monday or Tuesday, and you feel like you're always doing it right at the last minute and the whole process is stressing you out, then maybe you need to rethink things. Either you post on a different day, or you try to get ahead by batch filming and such. Personally, I like the Thursday posting and I'm already aware that I have time during the week to record and such if something were to go wrong and I had to change the video for that week.

I'm sure there are a lot of other points and tips that I could use, but if you have any lemme know in the comments!