What will NerdSync be in 2022? (Patreon)

Well, that was one hell of a year, huh? Definitely not how I thought it was going to go, especially the last 3-4 months. But I’m still here, still making videos, and still looking forward to new things 2022 has in store for NerdSync. Hopefully good things only!

Today, however, I want to reflect on everything that has happened with NerdSync in 2021. Things I think I did right, things I think I did wrong, and everything I’ve learned along the way.

Things I’m proud of

This year featured a lot of videos I’m proud that I made! I especially loved ranting about how the Scooby-Doo movies are in the wrong order, experimenting with collage through the lens of Jack Kirby, ranting about Steve Ditko’s bad politics, and laughing at the old 1966 Marvel cartoons… until I had to do the Iron Man one. But we’ll get back to that.

I’m also thrilled I got to collab with amazing channels like ThoughtSlime, Legal Eagle, Tulok the Barbrarian, Film Brain, Kevin from Arcadology, David J. Bradley, Laura Crone, OwenLikesComics, Sage from Just Write, and tons more! I was featured on other people’s videos, guested on a handful of podcasts, and even launched my own new podcast with Tristan Johnson from Step Back called It’s Probably (not) Aliens! It’s been a massive year of collaborating with others, and genuinely it always makes my videos so much better.

Something I wasn’t expecting to happen was that views have started getting higher on the channel overall. Maybe that’s from an increase in uploads, maybe it’s because I’m finally cultivating an audience who cares less about the topic I talk about and more about what I have to say about a topic in general, maybe I’m just getting better at titles and thumbnails. Probably some combination of all three, plus some luck thrown in there. Whatever reason, thank you to everyone who watched my videos this year! Especially if it wasn’t a topic you cared about, but you were interested in my specific voice regardless. And a massive thanks to anyone who shared my videos around. I can’t tell you how much that helps!

Subscribers are growing steadily. Nothing too wild, but I no longer lose hundreds of subscribers every time I upload a video, which is encouraging. I think that, again, points to having a better audience who doesn’t get annoyed if I upload a video about a comic one time then Scooby-Doo the next time. Hopefully it means I can explore more diverse topics next year. I’ve got some wild stuff planned haha!

Perhaps the biggest thing I learned about myself last year is that I have ADHD. Seems like a lot of creators found that out last year. And for the first time in my adult life, I am on medication for anxiety, depression, and improvement on my ADHD. Still early stages, and we’re still trying to find out the best medication for me, but I’m hopeful 2022 will be a little easier on my brain.

The biggest change in 2021

I pray this is the last time I have to mention this, but in case you are new here, from late 2019 - mid 2021, I worked as an editor for another YouTube channel not by choice, but out of necessity. During that time, I still made some great videos on NerdSync, but they were few and far between. Around May of 2021, I was finally allowed to work in my channel full time again, which has led to what some call the “NerdSync Revival” or “NerdSync Renaissance” or whatever you want to call it. I still worked under this other channel at the time, but when September hit, that was no longer the case. I suddenly became independent.

So, with your help, I began to rebuild NerdSync as its own business again. That’s meant a lot of challenges up front. Having to acquire new filming gear, build an entire home office setup in a cramped one-bedroom apartment, and generally figure out a lot of complicated things to keep everything moving forward. It was scary, it was stressful, and in a lot of ways I’m still recovering.

As of right now, the only kinds of videos I am physically able to make are ones where I’m sitting at my computer talking into a mic. Initially, I was worried that people might not want to watch my videos if I didn’t put a lot of production value into them, but I’m glad to find that that isn’t the case. Still, I hope I can go back to making higher-produced videos this coming year.

Improving video quality… slowly

And part of the plan to do that is to build an absolutely wild rig that has the camera, lights, and microphone all on one c-stand… on wheels! And all powered by big, beefy batteries! This project will cost a good amount to get setup, but once complete, I’ll be able to film anywhere in the apartment super easily, making a small space feel a little bigger. More importantly, it will allow me to get up from behind my desk to film different shots and angles depending on what the video calls for. I think that’s really exciting!

Like I said, it will cost a bit to get up and running, so I imagine I won’t be able to get started on it until at least the second quarter of 2022. So for the next few months, get used to me filming at my desk as I have been doing. Keeping it simple for now.

Similarly, I will finally make the jump away from editing videos with Adobe Premiere to editing with DaVinci Resolve. That will be a massive switch for me, and likely take A LOT of mental bandwidth to learn, but I think the switch will be worth it. If you follow me on twitter, you know that I suffer frequent crashes and export errors with Adobe stuff, and I really hate it. Ideally, Resolve will be more stable. 

I mention this because learning this new software will mean my next few videos will likely be even simpler than they have been. I have a lot to learn in Resolve, so forgive me for limiting my production value even further for a bit. I’ll still put in all the same level of research and writing you’ve come to expect from me.  In fact, even when I get back to doing high-production value videos, I plan to keep the occasional small scale one thrown in there as a permanent staple on the channel. You all seem to have grown to like them!

What is NerdSync in 2022?

That brings me to a big question. What is this channel going to look like next year? I’ve evolved my videos a lot over the years as I myself have grown as a creator. My roots will always be tied to the history of comic books, superheroes, and the people who create them. A couple people have told me recently that I’m one of the biggest names on YouTube for real-world comics history, if not THE biggest.

It’s weird. I simultaneously don’t give myself any credit for making anything of note, while also taking my research and writing super seriously to the point where I beat myself up for weeks if I misspeak or get something wrong in a video.  I’m still trying to find where the balance is there. Give myself credit while also cutting myself some slack. Hopefully the meds help with that.

I say all this to point out that I do want to go back to those roots. To talk about comic book context and dive into the “REAL Origins” of superheroes. But I think 2021 has shown that you all really love when I talk about specific comics creators and eras of comics history. It was fully unintentional that I made so many videos about Kirby, but here we are.

Those videos, however, have proven to be a source of a lot of contention. If I get even little bits of info wrong or I make silly jokes about certain comics creators, their extremely loyal fan base will let me know how much they don’t appreciate it. I mentioned this in my Ditko video, but I often antagonize the comment section, which only makes things worse. I’d love to actually look through and read comments more often without dreading it. Especially because I know most of you leave really thoughtful and funny things. I’ll try to get better at that.

I’ve also teased a lot that I want to go back and remake some of my older videos. Videos from a past version of me who didn’t want to be too political, and who wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt even if they had proven they didn’t deserve it. Videos that were 10-15 minutes back in the day, but would be full hour-long essays today.

One that’s been itching at me has been this idea of making what would effectively be the “definitive” video about the CCA and Fredric Wertham. I mention it a lot in enough videos, and I made a video about it ages ago, but there’s so much I never touched on that is unbelievably interesting! There’s so much history there. It could easily be my longest video yet if I let it.

I also made a video a while ago about Moon Knight and metal health that was initially well-received, but nowadays I would disagree with the take I originally landed on. And with the Moon Knight show coming up sometime next year, it seems like a good time to revisit a popular video with a fresh perspective.

2021 also showed me that you all really like when I talk about cartoons! With Scooby-Doo being a permanent success on my channel and the promise of a Danny Phantom analysis at some point. Not to mention the massive success of me discussing those old Marvel cartoons. I told you we’d get back to those.

Next year will see the release of Across the Spider-Verse and the She-Hulk show, and I think those would be perfect opportunities to revisit the old Marvel cartoon shows about Hulk and Spidey. Thankfully, those won’t come out until later in the year, so any lingering anxiety I have should ideally be manageable by then. Who knows? When either the Ironheart or Armor Wars show comes out, maybe I’ll revisit the script I already wrote for the Iron Man cartoon. I really do enjoy making those videos. I just want to do them right.

The Scooby videos won’t be stopping either! I have way too much I want to talk about, and I’m going to make that your problem. Scoobtober 2022 will be a treat! Just like every year! Because I do it ever year.

I want to continue experimenting with different topics and ideas, and I’d love it if you came along for the ride! I’ve got a lot of ideas, and I can’t wait to share them with you both on YouTube and on Nebula!

Patreon & Nebula plans

Oh yeah, speaking of Nebula, I’m super excited to have joined them! Thank you to everyone who has signed up to watch my stuff on there. It will be almost completely a net positive for everyone. Because videos need to be up on Nebula early and ad-free and sometimes with bonus content, it means I can do the same thing for Patreon! So whether you support me on Patreon or through a Nebula subscription, you’ll get the same ad-free videos, and you’ll get them earlier than they’ll be up on YouTube!

And coming to Patreon early in 2022 is a permanent tier for anyone to nab one of the limited edition “Wonderful Nerd” pins we gave out two years ago. You can’t get them through the NerdSync merch shop. You can only get these pins by supporting me at a certain tier on Patreon starting next year. I just want to give my long-time high-tier patrons an additional physical gift for supporting me, and I only have 50 or so pins left, so there will be a limited amount of spots available for that tier once it’s live. I’ll post more details about it once everything is finalized.

Em and I really enjoyed doing the Scooby-Doo commentary track special offer back in October, and I’d love to make Patreon Special Offers an annual event! It’ll be different every year, but still fun! We’ve got ideas cooking for 2022, so stay tuned for something unique just for you patrons!

And finally, something I’d like to try to do is breakdown exactly how I’ve been using Patreon funds every quarter or so. I know none of you are demanding that level of transparency, but I want to provide it because I think it’s important. We’ll see how it goes, but I’d like to at least provide expense reports. You’re patrons, after all. I think it’s fair you know where your support is going, spelled out in a nice graph with some nice numbers.

Other goals for 2022

Speaking of, I have a couple of numeric goals in mind for next year.

• I mentioned I made more videos this year, and that’s true! In 2020, I made 6 videos. In 2021, I made 14 (not including the occasional bonus video for Patreon)! Next year, I hope to make at least 20 videos here on YouTube! If I got to 25, I’d love that, but baby steps for now.
• Now that subscribers are growing steadily again, I’d love to reach 600k subs! That’s always been the number I’ve aimed for. I don’t know why. It just seems like a nice number that’s big but not too big, y’know? 
• The Patreon grew a lot this year as well, which has been so encouraging to see! Thank you!!! Currently we have about 750 patrons, and I’d love to hit 1000 patrons next year. That would allow this job to be fully sustainable through Patreon alone without having to worry about the unpredictable ebbs and flows of YouTube adsense. Hitting this goal would mean the world to me!

And, of course, more support there would mean the faster I get to invest in gear like that filming rig I described earlier, as well as a faster computer than the one I’m using that takes about 5-6 hours to export a video. Upgrades that will let me make better videos and faster.

I have some non-numeric goals as well. Things that aren’t super specific, but are just general things I want to do more or less of next year. I want to collab with a lot more people! I want to spend significantly less time on Twitter. And most importantly, I want to completely revamp and relaunch the NerdSync merch store. I have some ideas of what we’ll stock it with, but let me know what ideas you might want to have! 

More than anything, I just want to keep building NerdSync into a more sustainable business. It’s so wild that I get to do this for a living, and I want to keep doing it for as long as possible. I still have so much to say. So much that I want to do. And every year, I grow more and more thanks to your support! Thank you for watching my videos and believing in the things I make.

Here’s to a better 2022!

- Scott