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Episode 40 – Jay Swanson Built His Audience on YouTube
Jay Swanson moved to Paris for a job that turned out not to exist on a visa that no one had gotten before. He might just stay forever. He’s a sci-fi/fantasy writer who loves making videos and telling stories in any format available. Now he digs deeper into the history of Paris to use in my world (fantasy author here) and shares it through guiding tours around Paris and on his vlog.
* Jay works in Paris on a renewable 4-year talent visa, leading bike tours while waiting for a teaching job to materialize, but ended up making a living via YouTube, SuperChat and Patreon.
* The (honest) big YouTubers have no useful advice for becoming successful on YouTube. But if you can time travel… *thumbs up*
* Jay creates videos in his standard personal style for both daily vlogs and some instructional videos for Paris-centric topics which hit keywords from organic searches. Viewers find what they want but are drawn in by his personality and stick around because he doesn’t clickbait with his content.
* “You have to know what you want from all of this.” Knowing where you want to be down the road helps you make decisions now.
* Don’t focus on getting immediate views on content, engagement comes from consistency and authenticity.
* If you can be Christian Bale in The Prestige, be Christian Bale in The Prestige.
* Don’t try to build a social media presence to make money.
* Be authentic and you will cull an audience of people who like you and the things you find important. Jay even went so far as to talk about his bankruptcy filing and his audience was receptive and supportive.
* He hosted a meet-up and the entire group that showed up got along like old friends – Jay feels this speaks to the health of the following community he’s curated.
* The most you can ever ask for is that people stick with you.
* He hoped that he could create an interactive experience with his story Into the Nanten, investing about $13,000 into the first season, to disappointing return on investment.
* He kickstarted the second season and got the $6,500 goal he set but covered the rest of costs himself.
* The kickstarter for the third season didn’t fund, so it hasn’t happened (as of this recording).
* He hoped the artwork would make the story more shareable and discoverable.
* He kickstarted Couriers: Off Grid to build a community of excited participant-readers.
* A small percentage of his overall following came over to the new series because they enjoyed his writing
* Anytime you ask an audience to switch between stories, formats, and mediums, you lose a large chunk.
* 70% of his kickstarter backers were from the vlog, but less than 1% of his YouTube subscribers followed him to Kickstarter.
* Only a percentage of an audience is engaged, and only a percentage of that will be moved to action when you ask.
* Patreon is a bigger ask, and is a smaller audience.
* It’s a learning experience, and Jay continues to tweak his projects to maximize the results.
* Don’t give up, be consistent and persistent. Do it because you love it, not because you want to get paid for it.
* Jay’s vlog entries require a lot of time, which he’s willing to do because he is so passionate. He spends 2-4 hours editing, and that’s after videography of his Day in the Life series. He wasn’t looking to fill his time, he wanted to make high quality videos and was willing to sacrifice sleep to do them.
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Jay Swanson moved to Paris for a job that turned out not to exist on a visa that no one had gotten before. He might just stay forever. He’s a sci-fi/fantasy writer who loves making videos and telling stories in any format available. Now he digs deeper into the history of Paris to use in my world (fantasy author here) and shares it through guiding tours around Paris and on his vlog.
* Jay works in Paris on a renewable 4-year talent visa, leading bike tours while waiting for a teaching job to materialize, but ended up making a living via YouTube, SuperChat and Patreon.
* The (honest) big YouTubers have no useful advice for becoming successful on YouTube. But if you can time travel… *thumbs up*
* Jay creates videos in his standard personal style for both daily vlogs and some instructional videos for Paris-centric topics which hit keywords from organic searches. Viewers find what they want but are drawn in by his personality and stick around because he doesn’t clickbait with his content.
* “You have to know what you want from all of this.” Knowing where you want to be down the road helps you make decisions now.
* Don’t focus on getting immediate views on content, engagement comes from consistency and authenticity.
* If you can be Christian Bale in The Prestige, be Christian Bale in The Prestige.
* Don’t try to build a social media presence to make money.
* Be authentic and you will cull an audience of people who like you and the things you find important. Jay even went so far as to talk about his bankruptcy filing and his audience was receptive and supportive.
* He hosted a meet-up and the entire group that showed up got along like old friends – Jay feels this speaks to the health of the following community he’s curated.
* The most you can ever ask for is that people stick with you.
* He hoped that he could create an interactive experience with his story Into the Nanten, investing about $13,000 into the first season, to disappointing return on investment.
* He kickstarted the second season and got the $6,500 goal he set but covered the rest of costs himself.
* The kickstarter for the third season didn’t fund, so it hasn’t happened (as of this recording).
* He hoped the artwork would make the story more shareable and discoverable.
* He kickstarted Couriers: Off Grid to build a community of excited participant-readers.
* A small percentage of his overall following came over to the new series because they enjoyed his writing
* Anytime you ask an audience to switch between stories, formats, and mediums, you lose a large chunk.
* 70% of his kickstarter backers were from the vlog, but less than 1% of his YouTube subscribers followed him to Kickstarter.
* Only a percentage of an audience is engaged, and only a percentage of that will be moved to action when you ask.
* Patreon is a bigger ask, and is a smaller audience.
* It’s a learning experience, and Jay continues to tweak his projects to maximize the results.
* Don’t give up, be consistent and persistent. Do it because you love it, not because you want to get paid for it.
* Jay’s vlog entries require a lot of time, which he’s willing to do because he is so passionate. He spends 2-4 hours editing, and that’s after videography of his Day in the Life series. He wasn’t looking to fill his time, he wanted to make high quality videos and was willing to sacrifice sleep to do them.