Update for February
So, I've finished my first full month of being a full-time content creator. Some things I expected, other things I didn't. So for those that are interested, this is more or less a story of what my life has become now. For those not interested, skip down to the part about my upcoming episode on BASIC.
So my routine has pretty much been to get up at 6:30 in the morning and get ready, because I have to take my daughter to school. Then I come home and eat breakfast. Then I start answering emails. I usually have about 20 or 30 of them in the mornings. I used to do some of this when I was at work. I think it's important to answer as many emails as I can, unless they are stupid stuff like "can I have a free laptop" or "please help me with this error message on my MacBook Pro." Anything related to my actual channel or content I produce I try to answer.
Next thing is to ship any soundtrack CDs that sold overnight. At first there were 20 or 30 per day I would have to ship, which took a lot of time. I would also have to make a special trip to the post office. But now that the initial rush is over, I'm only shipping perhaps 1 or 2 per day. So I just stick those in the mailbox. I would have never in a million years thought my job would include autographing things every day.
So by this point it is usually around 9:30am when I start actually working on video stuff. And this is where things sort of caught me off guard. I would start work and other than breaks for eating, I would often work until 9:30pm. Granted, I used to do that anyway when I was working a regular job, but the difference is I wouldn't start work on video stuff until 6:00 or 7:00pm. But now I was doing it all day. I kept telling myself "Well, this is my job now." And I felt especially pressured after 4 or 5 days had gone by and no video was uploaded. After all, I had believed that if I quit my job that I could manage 2 videos per week. However, that turned out not to be true.
At first, I couldn't quite figure out why I couldn't make as much as I thought I could. I think part of it turned out to be that I did more than I realized when I was at work. I used to answer emails, write scripts, and do research on videos while at work. Sure, I couldn't film anything or do any editing, but I could do a lot of it. My job was a very relaxed job and I often had 2 or 3 hours of free time each day, so I tended to make use of that for my youtube channel. So while I have gained more time for video production, it wasn't quite as much as I thought I would.
Several other creators that I'm friends with, some who are here supporting me on Patreon, such as Techmoan and LGR told me I should not burn myself out. So after a couple of weeks of that, I pruposefully tried to slow down some. I decided 7:00pm would be my cut-off time and I would spend the rest of the day either going out for a walk, jog, or even watching TV. However, looking back at the month I think I did pretty well. I still managed to upload 6 episodes of The 8-Bit Guy and 2 episode of 8-Bit Keys during the month. And it was a short month. So really, that's 8 episodes total, even though some of those were in progress during January already.
So, I think I'm settled into a better routine now. And I'm going to shoot for 5 or 6 episodes per month at this point.
Speaking of... I'm working on a great episode right now on BASIC. It doesn't teach how to program in BASIC (That would be boring) but it talks about the proliferation of it, the history, and the impact it had. I've been planning this for 4 or 5 months now. It is going to feature 3 great guest stars, who have already filmed and submitted their parts. I have Clint from LGR, Ben Heck, and Lim Leonard (co-creator of Mobygames). This episode has sort of spiralled out of control. There was absolutely so much content I wanted to cover that the script ended up being over an hour long. So I had to cut and cut and cut some more. Each time I cut something I was annoyed because I really wanted to cover all of these different aspects. I am now down to about 30 minutes and the audio track is actually finished now. I'm just filling in the video track with scenes I have to film. However, I'm thinking about cutting it into two 15-minute episodes instead of one giant 30 minute. How do you guys feel about that?
Comments (52)
hello，I from the China，very like your video ，I know your video from the <a href="http://space.bilibili.com/633003,Thank" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://space.bilibili.com/633003,Thank</a> you for the videos ，Let me can know old technology，But because my English is not very good, so look at your video needs to wait for video translation，Very sad， Haha
Interesting. It appears somebody is pirating my videos in China.
I'm also all for more longer episodes. Esoteric details that you might consider cutting are actually some of the most interesting for me, and like Jaakko, I often just listen to portions of your episodes, so length isn't a big issue. Thanks again for what you do.
do the full video, youtube is moving fast toward longer form content. maybe split it into two parts with television length cuts (21-23 mins)
I'd prefer the longer "whole" episode but have no issue with it being broken up.
Multiple shorter videos is always best for YouTube.
Why not have the whole hour content split over 4 x 15 minute episodes? You could release them several weeks apart interspersed with other content if you were concerned that we'd be subject to BASIC overload :)
This was my first thought too.
I feel like you cut too much. To have a mini series consisting of four videos, each 10 - 20 minutes long, would be great. Similarly, if you think a single video is too long for your regular YouTube audience, consider publishing a longer "Creator's Cut" here on Patreon. A public post to an unlisted video should do the trick.
I'd totally watch the 1-hour long episode, I wouldn't want to miss a bit of it, but you're right that you should post the short version too for those who want something quicker. But I'm in for the 1-hour long explanation :)
I think your core audience (Patreon supports) could handle a 30 min episode. But the more average Youtube viewer might not watch a whole 30 min episode. For more views, you'd probably be better off making 2 15 min episodes.
Why stress about the number of episodes pr week / month? Quality is way more important than quantity. Looking forward to the episode on BASIC, the perspective you're using sounds very interesting! By the way, a similar perspective of history, branching, people involved etc would be great for episodes about early game development by "indie" one- and two-man teams, for platforms such as the C64 and ZX Spectrum -- if you're thinking about doing anything like that. Also, doing something on e.g. Hubbard, Galway, Follin or other "big name" early days game musicians would have been amazing -- just an idea. Anyway, keep up the good work, and don't worry about not being able to produce as much as you initially planned when going full-time. As long as the quality continues to be top notch, people should be grateful for your efforts.
I personally like 30 minutes episodes and actually would like to see two 30 minutes episodes on the subject of BASIC!
I do not know if this is possible to you but it seems to be a nice idea to upload the full 1 hour version AND the 15 minutes version in parallel. Then, you just list the short version, so people searching just find that one. At the beginning of the short video, you inform that this is just a short version. If the viewer is very interested in that topic and has the time, he can watch the other video instead. The reason is: There will be many people who really want to know like every detail. And there will be many people who just want to get a brief overview. I do not know if that "hide it from search index" thing is a good way. Maybe, you can add both to the index and have such an information at the beginning of both videos.
A feature like "collapsable" menus for video would have been nice. Expand to get all the features you want or just watch the highlights. However, it would require all content creators to spend nearly twice the amount of time and resources to cater for these demands. ut it would certainly be a wonderful feature for all parts. :)
I would've been fine with four 15 minute videos too, if you wanted to keep the whole hour of content, but I'd still much rather have two 15 minutes videos than one 30 minute video.
If it's an hour, I would rather have 2, 30 minute episodes. If you need to tighten them down to make them run better then I would rather have 2 episodes but not lose content. Either 2, 15 minutes or even longer. I feel healthy videos can go up to around 20-25 minutes without it being grueling if you need to add something back in. Don't slave yourself to a set minute number. Finally I like your new schedule. I check back with you every 4 days. You seem to be doing that. You might want to set a specific pattern such as mondays and fridays. If you get a video that is ready, set it aside, and keep it ready for your schedule. that way people know when to expect you. That way you can work on longer videos while putting out smaller pieces to keep people engaged on a regular schedule and then hit them with passion pieces such as your BASIC pieces coming up.
honestly I think 1 video a week is good enough. 30 minute vids are the best and if it's still too long you can do a 2-parter! :3
I love the idea of splitting it into 15 minute chunks. Actually I love the idea of a mini series on very interesting topics like this one 2-5 15 minute episodes
Thinking solely of how YouTube advertising metrics work, I think 2 x 15-minute videos would work out to more impressions in the long run -- just make sure you put a clickable link on the end of the first part once the second part is out, so that people can find the second part easily. (If I'm wrong about the metrics, someone please correct me!)
Well. if the chapter is too long you can always split like people says.. it will be a pitty to miss all that information, and you will be making 2 videos (better for you) ..but if still not convinced you can always post the full version as a bonus for you patrons. heheh
Split it into 2 15 min videos. While most here (including me) are fine with 30 min episodes, you might find less "hardcore" viewers on YouTube skip the longer version. More episodes probably means more ad revenue. ;-) I like the idea of 4 15 minute episodes with very little content cut better though.
A creator hitting burn-out is never a good thing IMO. You're videos are quality content and we sure as hell enjoy watching them as they come out. Just don't stress out by commiting to a quota that may end up costing you your enjoyment of this. I'm sure we can take not seeing a new video every week.
Go for the 30 mins, we're hardcore!
Either one I'm happy with. I'm glad that your doing this full time. The content that you've been putting out has and is always amazing.
Yes, cut down on the self induced stress. It's probably hard because I think you are like me, and want to please the audience and make sure they feel their patreon support actually yield something, but if you burn out, it's not benefitting anybody. The 5-6 a month is probably a good call, quality before quantity. And divide content into several shorter episodes. Working recipe that's proven to be successful by others! The core supporters are with you all the way, I'm 100% sure about this. Keep up the good work and take breaks, physical and mental ones - especially workouts, the best thing you can do for your body. I have to do it when composing too, otherwise I'd be off the wall. :)
I hate it when "enter" submits a comment. What I wanted to add was that I can also see the benefit of breaking it down to shorter episodes - you probably end up with more user engagement, and I suspect that's more beneficial for your channel. However, please don't dumb it down, or make it short just to cater for those with short attention spans; I love the detail you go in to and the way you explain the tech stuff. Keep up the good work.
I prefer longer videos - if I can't see it all at one time - the time I had got up to is remembered anyway.
I prefer long videos. Im Germany a German podcast about retro computing is quize famous. And this podcast is up to 6 hours long! Mostly 2-3 hours. So a 30min video is good!
Return it to an hour duration and split it into four parts. If you have the material, do not waste it. Your audience is not the general public; they will appreciate it.
I would say 30 minutes would be an upper limit for me, and a series at 15 minutes would be my preference. Though that said if you had other topics you had to cut from that 1 hour version I hope there will be some follow-up videos on those down the road! And as for schedule, loving the increased content, the videos, and everything else. Look forward to the future videos as they come. I also love updates like this giving us an insight into what is going on.
While I like longer videos I have little problem with multi part videos if they are +10 minutes long.
I believe 2 episodes would pull more viewers. It can be daunting to see an episode much over 15 minutes and one can be reluctant to commit. Even with two episodes, if it's interesting, one tends to watch both in a row anyway, but it's just easier to commit.
2 episodes FTW
Either way is the same for me really (split up vs. not split up). If you split up, that keeps people coming back for more!
Also, I'm really enjoying your videos. I started with a VIC20 and now I spend every day building million dollar cloud racks of computers. It's so much fun to see all the stuff I missed back then and to understand it now as I probably couldn't have then.
I prefer longer episodes to shorter ones. I tend to let youtube roll while doing other things on the computer. So I like it when people like eevblog, as he would say it, winge on for a while about things. Also, isn't there a bonus to longer videos now that YouTubeRed is here? From what I've heard Brady and Grey talk about on Hello Internet podcast it sounds like that is the case.
1st. I really liked you started full time work on your channel. I was really happy every time a new movie was uploaded. The amount of episode shows was great I think. 2nd. I 'hate' movies above approx. 15 minutes. 3th keep up the good work! You're really doing well!
I wouldn't mind a 30-minute episode.
I think two 15 min episodes would fit more the viewing habits of most of the people.
I prefer shorterepisodes as long as there is a natural break. But in the end, if the content is great (which it always is), the video length doesnt matter. Super excited for the basic video.
I'm probably in the minority, but I would happily watch a 1-hour video on BASIC in one sitting.
I prefer longer videos.
I'm really looking forward for the BASIC episodes. And honestly 5-6 episodes with such great quality in content and arrangement is awesome and I cannot expect you to do more than this, so don't butn out! Weather you do two 15 or one 30 is not that important to me.
I don't mind either way whether its one 30 min episode or 2 15min episodes. I would prefer multiple videos if it means there is more content to watch, rather than it all crammed in one video though.
I'm happy with a longer episode, but if there's a natural break point to subdivide it, that's cool too.
By the way, nothing at all wrong with working long hours when you love what you do - but please don't burn out :-)
I don't mind longer videos at all (I love techmoan's epic videos!) but I suspect many would be put off. So I'd say if there is a place where it could naturally be split, it might be the best option.
Definitely relate to those feelings of adjusting to workflow once you make YouTube full-time. I did the same thing for years with LGR before going full-time, where I did lots of video work while at work. Took a good few months of adjustment to get to a solid routine and being able to figure out just how much work I could reasonably do each week. A lot of that was spacing out videos of differing styles, because as you know some can be finished up relatively simply and others will take dozens of hours longer, so I try to do one smaller video a week alongside my bigger episodes. Once I nailed that down, I took the show from one to two episodes a week, and it's been working nicely since then. Although yeah, I still find myself working a LOT more than maybe I should some weeks. I'm sure you'll get into a nice groove soon, and I am wishing you luck! Also, I am fond of long episodes if it's focused on a single, detailed topic. Unless it naturally divides into more than one episode for sake of subject matter, but with online video I see no reason to limit myself for time. Of course that's always up to one's own judgement while editing, and sometimes having a two-parter does result in more views if the second part is equally as captivating. Either way, looking forward to it :)
I like long-form content, but I know many don't. It will probably be better for the YouTube ducats with two episodes.
I like long single episodes. I look forward to it as much as any other episode of TV. Just me though.
Two episodes would be better. Look forward to it.