What's in store for NerdSync in 2021? (Patreon)

Hey, you wonderful Patrons! Just wanted to do a (hopefully) quick post about what we all accomplished this year and what is ahead for me and my videos in 2021. First up, a little refresher of what supporting me on Patreon really means.

What supporting NerdSync on Patreon means.

I recently tweeted about how I was able to pay off some credit card debt thanks to your support on Patreon. While most people were excited and supportive, there was at least one person who went on a small rant about how that was "evil" of me to use Patreon money to, y'know, be able to live.

So just to reiterate something I've always been vocal about, supporting me here on Patreon means making sure that I am able to pay rent, feed myself and my cats, and generally try to have enough financial stability that I can make videos without having to worry about money. Beyond that, your money goes into props and new equipment for making videos even better. All those paint supplies for my Bob Ross video, the dice and books for my D&D video, the literary philosophy books that I read for research in my Scooby-Doo videos, etc. The reason those videos turned out as good as they are is because of your support here on Patreon!

I also keep the total amount of money I'm making from Patreon public so everyone can see exactly what NerdSync is making every month thanks to your support. It should be clear that while your generosity is amazing and always appreciated, NerdSync isn't exactly bringing in massive amounts of wealth that I'm just hoarding away. If I can be painfully truthful — and I don't think this comes as a surprise to most of you — I've been in a rough financial space for the past few years thanks to terrible spending decisions I made while I was just starting out with YouTube. I am making great progress at getting my life back on track thanks to you and your support here on Patreon, but there's still a ways to go before I feel completely financially secure.

Plus, I just found out that my parents are drowning in medical bills (mom's still paying off chemo and step-dad recently broke his hand in 3 places) and they both can't find jobs, so I'm planning on using some of my income to help them out each month. And if that makes you uncomfortable with the idea that some of your Patreon money might not go directly to the production of new videos but might instead to go me paying rent or helping my parents, then I totally get if you want to end your support for 2021. No worries at all! I'm just trying my best to be as open and transparent about where your money goes as possible. 

In fact, next year I would like to do a thing that I've seen other creators do on Patreon where at the end of the year they break down exactly where all the Patreon money went towards for the past 12 months. If that's something you'd all be interested in, let me know in the comments along with any other questions or concerns you may have. But now let's move on to what we accomplished in 2020 and what 2021 will look like!

What we accomplished in 2020.

So, I had stated at the start of the year that this year would be a slow year for NerdSync. I knew from the beginning that I would only be able to publish a video about every other month for a total of only 6 videos this year. While I didn't exactly stick to that schedule, I did manage to make exactly 6 videos this year, and holy cow they were some of my best videos!

The giant Scooby-Doo analysis was met with some of the best support I've ever experienced from viewers and fellow creators! The D&D video led me to making incredible friends in the TTRPG space and inspired a lot of people to give D&D a shot for the first time, which is unbelievably cool! The Bob Ross documentary is arguably the best video I've ever made. I knew it wasn't gonna get many views, but the comments under that video are so wholesome and supportive and genuinely lovely!

We launched a special offer in August for Wonderful Nerd pins that turned out amazing! So many new patrons and the pins look SO GOOD! I couldn't be happier! And I would love to do another special offer next year!

All of that great stuff being said, I also struggled a lot this year with incorrectly prioritizing my videos over my personal life. Finishing up this Bob Ross video before Christmas made me pull multiple all-nighters and strained relationships. I worked and worked and worked to a toxic degree and I don't want to do that again.

All in all, this year was filled with tons of dramatic highs and also deep, deep lows. I would like 2021 to be a little more chill and consistent. So let's see what next year is gonna be about.

What's in store for NerdSync in 2021.

Short answer, I don't know yet. I know! I know! Terrible answer. But let me explain.

If you didn't know, I am currently the editor for another channel called SuperCarlinBrothers. That is why I haven't been able to make many videos this year. It was meant to be a temporary thing until they found a new editor, and that looked like it was gonna happen at the start of 2021. But 2020 had one last little trick to play on us and we're still looking for someone to take over editing SCB full time. 

I still plan on making more NerdSync videos in 2021. But until we can find a new full-time editor, my time will always be divided between NerdSync and SCB.

That being said, I hope to get on a better schedule next year of making AT LEAST 10 videos that are all under 40 minutes preferably haha. And I'll be back to talking about comics and superheroes more often. Which is not to say I'll be giving up talking about weird niche stuff that only appeals to me, but I'll probably do a 2/1 ratio. For every 2 videos about comics and superheroes, I'll make a video about something totally off the wall like what I made this year. Gradually rope people in, y'know?

Some topics I have planned out this year are:

• Why Jimmy Olsen is the best comic book character, period.
• How Marvel accidentally invented ankle monitors
• Finding the scariest episode of Scooby-Doo
• The tragic REAL Origin of Lois Lane
• Analyzing the Fleischer Superman Cartoons (that are actually garbage)
• A video about the Studio Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart

And unless someone has already done this:

• A documentary about that famous that trial the broke the comic book industry

I might not get to all of these, but these are the ones that interest me right now, plus a few other secret ones I'm plotting and planning haha!

So that's where I'm at. That's where NerdSync is at. And that's where this Patreon is currently at. New videos to look forward to, hopefully a new special offer sometime in 2021, and hopefully at some point the opportunity for me to commit to NerdSync full time again!

I cannot express how much I appreciate your support through all this. 2020 has been a wild year for so many reasons (including one very big one, obviously) but I adore you all who have stuck by me as I take big wild swings at random video topics. I tried a lot of new stuff this year, and you supported me through it all. So I would like to take a deep breath in, fill my lungs, and shout as loud as I can...

THAAAAAAANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More to come in 2021. Just you wait...

- Scott