I first started watching book-related content on YouTube about a year ago, and was instantly hooked. Even though most of the creators I regularly watch rarely talk about books I’m actually interested in reading (which is good for preventing me from buying too many new books…), I still really enjoy watching videos were they talk about them.

Early on in my viewing experience, I had a fleeting thought that it might be fun to create some book-related content on YouTube myself, though I didn’t entertain it as a remotely serious idea at the time. I assumed it would be a lot of work, using skills I don’t have – and I wasn’t enthusiastic enough about it to look into it.

Fast forward to about a month ago, when I was watching a video by one of my favourite creators. I paused it, turned to Dave and said something like: “This is so great and I think I might really enjoy doing something similar, but I really wouldn’t know where to start.” I unpaused the video and there was immediately a sponsored segment, in which the creator said something like: “If you’re enjoying this content, maybe you’ve thought about starting your own channel but really don’t know where to start. This is where today’s sponsor, Skillshare, comes in…”

And the seed of my YouTube channel was born…

I signed up for a month’s free access to Skillshare courses and started watching some about how to get started on YouTube. Alongside that, my over-excited brain kept coming up with ideas for:

• What types of videos I could do
• How many videos I could do a month
• What the schedule would be
• How the videos would be structured
• What my USPs might look like
• How I could fit this new project into my routine

The idea took root in a major way, and I’ve been largely obsessed with it ever since.

And it turns out, it’s really not that difficult! We already had all the equipment I might need (because Dave has done filming for various projects in the past), I already had all the ideas I might possibly need (based on a year’s worth of consuming the type of content I want to make), I already possessed most of the required skills (lots of podcast production experience – and, surprisingly, it’s much easier to edit video than it is to edit audio), and I already had a slot in my schedule for some of the work (I’m transferring over Reviews Revisited from the podcast to YouTube).

And – OMG – it’s SO MUCH FUN!!

I’ve already filmed and edited my first two videos – an introduction to the channel and one where I pick the books I’m going to read in May, using prompts from a TBR jar.

And I’ve got so many plans lined up for future videos – at least until the start of July.

There are two potential issues I can foresee at the moment.

Firstly, that my level of obsession and over-excitement regarding this project is higher than it’s been for many a year – and that concerns me. It’s interrupting my sleep fairly regularly and I’m very aware of being generally a bit manic and on edge. I don’t think it’s a major problem at the moment – but I’m keeping a careful eye on myself, scheduling rest and relaxation, making sure I spend time on other things (paid work, for example – which hasn’t been difficult to motivate myself to do, to be fair), and trying to stay on as much of an even keel as I can. The worse possible outcome for this venture is that my enthusiasm fizzles out in a few months and it starts to feel like a chore. If that happens, I am very well aware that I can just give it up at any time and nobody is really going to care. But I’m hoping to be able to maintain the enjoyment and the motivation long term.

Secondly, the production of the videos ongoing depends very much on me actually reading some books! That’s absolutely not a problem, since I’m reading a lot at the moment and reading is definitely something I love spending time on. Plus, I’m being quite conservative in terms of what I’m committing myself to reading on a monthly basis, because I figure it’s always better to set a small goal and exceed it, than it is to set an unrealistic goal and fail. But – I’m really enjoying the filming process at the moment and I’ve got ahead of schedule – so I can’t actually film any more material until I’ve finished some books! A nice problem to have – but the last thing I want to do is put pressure on my reading (which is something I very easily fall into anyway) in a way that stops if from being fun.

So – things to be aware of (and being aware of them already helps in mitigating them).

I guess the only other part of it that is a potential concern is actually finding an audience. I haven’t had much luck in that area with the podcast, my newsletter or with the books I’ve written, so I can’t imagine I’m suddenly going to be able to get thousands of subscribers on YouTube, either… But, at the end of the day, I’m having fun and that’s the main thing. I’m certainly never expecting to make any money from this project – though it would be nice to get some views here and there, and a nice comment or two every now and then.

That’s where the focus of my continued research will be – though I’m not planning to put a huge amount of time and effort into it, since it’s not something that massively interests me and I don’t want any aspect of this venture to be anything other than fun.

I’ll be posting the introductory video and the first two main videos (May TBR picks and April wrap-up) at the start of May – so watch this space!

 

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