An update to the channel (creation process) (Patreon)

I just wanted to write an update to everybody who was currently supporting me on Patreon (thanks by the way) to keep you in the know about how the channel is going, what stuff might be changing, and how I'll be reacting to those changes.

It may not be clear from the outside, but viewership on the channel has been going steadily down since I stopped doing majority Payday 2 content. I know that's what a lot of people subscribed for, and they may not be as interested in reviews of other games. It is also likely due to the fact that I cannot get content out as fast as I once did. That speed-dip is due to a number of factors, one is that I'm working full-time now. When this channel blew up, I was working almost sub-part time at a food service job that I didn't particularly enjoy. I had a lot of free time on my hands to get projects done, but I also pretty much lived from paycheck to paycheck,  and my standard of living was pretty sub-par. I now have a much better job that I actually enjoy, and I've actually been able to make long-term plans, put money into savings, cool stuff like that. It is also in large part to your patronage that this has been able to happen, and I cannot thank you all enough. Youtube has been a big part of my life, and it has been successful to enough of a degree that I've been able to invest in the channel itself using money that the channel makes. 

One of the downsides of having a pretty decent job with pretty decent hours is that I've had to spend a lot of time working, and not making videos, and that has, arguably, hurt channel growth. I want to identify what has been working and what hasn't in this whole process, and one area that I want to improve for the channel (and have been wanting to improve for at least a year now) is being able to put videos out more frequently, and in a more timely manner. My video on Kingdom Come took around a month to come out, and I was not happy at how it performed. I took a lot of time and effort to work on that video, but that time had to be stretched out over my free hours, and that slowed the whole process down. This story has been repeated for more videos than I have wanted it to, and each time it happens, I'm disappointed. I'm also not willing to sacrifice 'quality', or the degree to which I do editing and post production for any given video.

I know that one of the incentives for people giving money on Patreon was that I would be able to get more content out, more frequently, but it seems like the further along I get, the fewer videos I've been able to put out. To the end of being able to reward supporters, to get more videos out and have them be more relevant, and to "stimulate" channel growth, I have decided to DO A THING. I have decided to contract for an editor.

This was not something that I thought of with my own smart-ass brain, it was actually an unexpected situation that is actually still evolving. I was approached by someone I knew through the channel, who's work I had always enjoyed, who said that he was actually in a monetary crisis after losing a job, and requested my help. After some discussion, we agreed that he would be able to do some editing work for the channel, and I would pay him a reasonable editing wage, so that I could help him out, he could help me out, and everything would be cool. Unfortunately, at this point I've actually been out of contact with him for around a week, and I'm not certain if he is still up for the idea. It did, however, get me thinking about the concept of having someone help with some of the editing process. Because the person I originally had in mind had not been in contact with me, until I hear back from him, I decided to start talking to another person that I knew through the channel, and he seems receptive to the idea. It's not finalized yet, but within the week, the channel might have a second person helping out behind the scenes.

Now, ideally, the only difference that would be noticeable would be an increase in video releases. I will still be the person primarily editing for the channel, as well as doing the scripts and the voice-overs. Any edits that are made for a video I would be personally approving, and in some cases, making adjustments to. Again, you should only notice an increase in volume, not quantity, which should appeal to everybody, right? I just wanted to make this contracting business clear so that you guys weren't paying for something that you didn't know you were agreeing to. This way, if you hate the idea or if the content going forward isn't up to whatever par you think I should be held to, you can express that more clearly, and if having a second person doing some editing here and there is something that you totally hate for whatever reason, you can be more informed. I'm actually excited about being able to get more work done one the channel, get more scripts out, and actually having time to get some more of the bigger and more complex scripts out of the door (we're working on one year now for the Gage Western Pack video, which is still in production).

I know that I'm not the best about frequent communication through this platform, but I wanted to make sure people knew ahead of time about this one thing. I certainly hope you're all having a fantastic America day, and if you wanted to talk to me, feel free to send me a message here or on my Discord.