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 Forum index » Chaotic Fiction » Slender Man Mythos
On recognizing and embracing our audience size
Moderators: ChildOfAtom, Cougar Draven, DavFlamerock, Dixie_Wolf, ndemeter
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zbeeblebrox
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Joined: 10 Nov 2010
Posts: 420

 		On recognizing and embracing our audience size
Slenderman: well-known, yes, but not the freshest of memes any more
I decided to start this topic because summer is winding down, and with the end of summer comes exciting new trailheads, blogs, and youtube series inspired by the scariest game of Where's Waldo ever. And with that surge in new series comes the inevitable crash - the youtube channels abandoned on a cliffhanger, blog domains left to expire, sudden disappearances but not the exciting kind. We've seen it happen before, and we'll see it again I'm sure: a really promising narrative comes along by a group of super creative people. They post a dozen or so brilliant uploads, and...then it dies out soon after. Why? Often, the reason is right there under the video player: because so few people are watching.

But you have to understand, this is not a viewership problem. We are creating inside a relatively small niche which itself is in a relatively small niche. At some point, we have to accept that if you're gonna do this thing, it's got to be as a passion project. Which probably seems obvious, "Duh zbeeblebrox! If I wanted to be a big youtuber I would've started a Let's Play channel where I pretend to freak out over stuff like Slend...heey waitaminute" And that's all well and good, but it stops being obvious that you want to commit to a passion project REAL fast when you start seeing those views not roll in. We want to believe we're above wanting popularity, but there's no better demotivator than an indifferent audience.

This isn't just true here, but in ALL forms of creative expression. I mean, 9 times out of 10, you'll see a better performance from a comedian playing to an empty room than you will from the same comedian playing to a noisy lounge where nobody's paying attention.

Now, I'm not saying this to discourage anyone. On the contrary! I feel like many people come at this just really wanting to give it a shot, and they don't really care who sees...but at the same time, they have assumptions base on how the big popular vlogs did back in the day, and they reasonably think they'll probably do a tenth as well as them. Well...this is where I think it's important to get the facts front and center in order to move forward.

You see, you won't do a tenth as well.

You won't do a tenth of a tenth as well.

What you'll do, is struggle to reach even a tiny fraction of that past audience.

It's not because you suck; it has nothing to do with quality at all.

It just is.

But that doesn't mean people don't care, it's not a silent request from the masses to give up! As long as places like this exist, there will be people who root for every trailhead that comes along. It won't be a lot of people - the reality is, it never WAS a lot of people to begin with and now it's even fewer. But those people are more important than view counts. They're more important than page views. Because nobody started doing this to be popular or get famous - not even the the first group - we all started doing this because we loved it. Full stop. The concept, the mythology it brings along, the creative opportunities it offers. When we get distracted by poorly performing videos and metrics, it's just that: a distraction.

And what it's distracting from is you seeing your project through. It's tempting you into giving up, trying something else. Don't! Walk your path. Find its conclusion.

Complete your damn series. ;P

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 4:42 am
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Waldron96
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Joined: 10 May 2015
Posts: 140

 		Well said

PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:54 pm
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IanStebbins
Greenhorn

Joined: 01 Nov 2013
Posts: 4
Location: Oregon

 		This is precisely why I haven't started a series out of the blue. I want to make something really good. Even if development takes forever. I was thinking about starting one when I was 15 (I'm glad I didn't).

PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 6:23 pm
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Ristar
Decorated


Joined: 22 Feb 2013
Posts: 236

 		Well said, but i would like to encourage people to RECORD THEIR SHIT BEFORE RELEASING IT!

As a YouTuber myself wich name i will not mention i can say from experience that recording material and then deciding when it will be released it's a blessing, not only you do not deal with the constant thought of ''Oh shit i have to come up with an idea or i am going to start losing viewers!''

Consistency is the key

What i mean by this is to encourage others to release videos in a schedule, one, two per week, 4 a month. I'm speaking only about how to gain notoriety in YouTube and how to keep your subscribers interested we have seen millions of series unfinished because they think they are not doing good while in reality even if the material is good, they still go down due to low production values

PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 8:53 pm
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zbeeblebrox
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Joined: 10 Nov 2010
Posts: 420
Ristar wrote:
Well said, but i would like to encourage people to RECORD THEIR SHIT BEFORE RELEASING IT!


Also excellent advice! Even if you're confident in your storyline and know exactly what you intend to film, it's still really important to have a buffer, because you never know what will come up that might postpone filming. It could be as simple as someone getting the flu or a car breaking down. Murphy's Law is real and it WILL conspire against you! Razz

PostPosted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:57 am
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Cougar DravenModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 30 Oct 2010
Posts: 1190
Location: Potentially everywhere.

 		Everything here is...well, it's decent advice, but I think we're missing something: if you're making content for an audience, you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

There are over a billion users on Youtube, and I would argue that in the next three years, those billion users will watch an amount of video that surpasses the age of the universe.

You are a speck in an impossibly vast ocean, and it is important that you understand that. If you make a video, make a video that you enjoy, that maybe only you will ever watch. Don't make things for other people. Make them for yourself. That way, when you are the only view you ever get, you still know that you had a good time doing it.
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:05 pm
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zbeeblebrox
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Joined: 10 Nov 2010
Posts: 420
Cougar Draven wrote:
if you're making content for an audience, you're doing it for the wrong reasons.


That is a good tl;dr of what's been said here, yes.

PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:18 am
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