 What's shakin? My name's Cam, welcome back to another video. First off, and before I say anything, I just want to say thank you for clicking on the video, I really do appreciate it. It means a lot to me that you would care enough to watch a video that is specifically about my YouTube channel, so thanks, you're a champion. Today is a bit more of a serious video, although not in like a super bad way or anything like that, it's nothing huge really. I've just got a bit of a change coming to this YouTube channel, something that's going to shake up pretty much how I've been doing things the whole time I've been on YouTube. And there's also something that I need to get off my chest in regards to being a YouTuber in general. So I don't want to waste your time, I don't want this video to be any longer than it has to be, so I'll just tell you straight up what the change is. I've just started a brand new YouTube channel where I will be uploading all of my reviews, video essays, and deep dives into fantasy and horror books. You might have seen that I've been doing a lot more of those videos on this channel recently, I've been getting back into reading in a really big way. The mix of not just writing videos but also reading videos has been a lot more like how it was when I first started. And I do want to keep doing that, I do want to keep making both of those types of videos. So the new channel is where all of my like reading related stuff will be and this channel will be all of the specifically writing related stuff. I will explain why I'm separating those two things because I wish it was like a good or a fun reason but it's just not, it's actually kind of a bummer. But for those only interested in knowing what the change is, new YouTube channel for all my reading related stuff, in-depth reviews and video essays on everything fantasy and horror. You can find a link to that channel in the description below or you can just search YouTube for Wolf the Story Nomad. Uh, Wolf with an E because I'm fancy. The first video is actually already up there, it's a big discussion video about the best fantasy book that I've read in years, literally years, it blew me away. I hope you enjoy or if you know other people that enjoy those types of videos, it really would mean a lot to me if you could show them as well. I want to be really, really clear though, please don't feel like you have to go check out that channel if that type of stuff just doesn't interest you. You really don't have to. If you're only here for videos about specifically writing then that's great as well because I'll still be doing that. I'll still be doing writing videos and weekly writing live streams right here on this channel. I'm just separating all of my writing onto this channel and all of my reading onto the new one. Now that brings me to explaining exactly why I'm doing this because I know it's a bit of an odd decision and it's something that I've been quite frankly kind of wrestling with for a little while. I was in a bit of a situation where I just, I literally didn't know what else to do. I just want to say first of all that I am extremely grateful that I have this channel and for all of the people who have subscribed, commented, liked and engaged in pretty much any way over the last nearly five years. I am well aware how lucky I am to have a YouTube channel with 13,000 subscribers. I really am. So I really don't want to seem like I'm saying that's not enough or anything like that because that's not what this is. There's so many people who have been watching my videos and that I've been talking with in the comments for years. People that I remember talking to years ago that still talk to me on my channel today. It's amazing and the truth is that I genuinely love making videos here. I do. With that said, it is really, really hard sometimes and I wish it wasn't the case but I've been feeling that a lot more than pretty much ever like recently. I'm talking for like the last couple of months, maybe six months before Christmas and I'm not talking about like YouTube a burnout or anything like that. It's not that I'm tired of doing this. It's something completely different. If you've watched me for a while, I would hope it shows that I put a lot of effort into my videos. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying that it does take a lot of effort and that's completely on me. That's a decision that I make. I generally don't care about views and all that too much. I really don't but I'm not going to lie and say that it doesn't sting sometimes when I spend multiple days working on a video and it tanks really hard. The thing is this has been happening quite a lot for like the last like a year or two. Even though my subscriber count has been slowly going up, my actual growth as a channel has been declining pretty hard. There's a lot of other variables involved and I've been wondering what it is that I'm doing wrong because I feel like the quality of my videos are good. Or I at least feel like they're on par with a lot of smaller channels that get like quadruple the views that I do. Views that they 150% deserve by the way. It's generally seen as bad form to care about how your channel performs and I used to take very little notice of it because it was all just a fun hobby and it still is. But when you put so much time into making content that you really want people to enjoy, it can hurt seeing all of those red arrows on your YouTube page. Anyway, I promise I'm not fishing for like pity or sympathy or anything like that. I think it's just important that I be honest with you. I think I know what the issue is, why my videos have been doing so poorly for so long now. It could be that maybe my videos just aren't as good as I think they are. I hope that's not the case, but I'm well aware that that's a possibility. However, I do have another theory. For it to make sense, I'm gonna have to kind of explain a bit of YouTube analytics like the YouTube creator side of things. If you aren't a creator, it might not make a whole lot of sense, but I'll do my best to make it clear, you know, just bear with me. So after looking through my analytics with like a magnifying glass, trying to figure out what it is that I'm doing wrong, I found that the major issue is that my videos aren't being recommended to people, like almost at all. And I don't just mean people that aren't subscribed to me. I mean people that are subscribed to me as well won't see me as regularly on their homepage or in the recommended tab when you're watching other people's videos. And a while ago, I would have guessed that it was because every time I say a naughty word on here, my video gets absolutely railed. And that's... that's mostly true. But I found something else as well. YouTube determines if your video is worth recommending to other people based on three major factors. And that's engagement, watch time, and CTR or click-through rate. The third one here is the big issue. CTR or click-through rate is the percentage of people that are clicking on your video after they see your thumbnail, like recommended to them or in their subscription feed. And my percentage share is bad, like really, really bad. Recently it's been sitting at around 2% or 3% and I'm almost certain that that's why YouTube isn't recommending my videos. I feel pretty good about how my thumbnails look and my video titles. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong there, I could just be completely off the mark. But I think they look at least okay, right? And if that's true, what this means is that subscribers are seeing my video in their subscription feed and they're just scrolling past, likely because they aren't interested in the content of the video itself. And to be clear, that is completely fine. You are not obligated to watch my videos if you aren't interested in doing so. If the reason you subscribed to this channel was purely for writing videos and not, you know, reviews and video essays on books, that kind of stuff, I completely understand why you would give that a miss. You as the viewer do not owe me anything. I just want that to be clear. With that said, I think I know why so few of my subscribers click on my videos. I think it's because most of you are here for writing videos and a large portion of you are here for the reading videos. And a very small percentage are interested in both. The sad realization I had, and it kind of was a sad realization, was that basically every video I upload, no matter what it is or how good I think it is, it won't appeal to one big chunk of my subscribers. And because of that, my CTR goes down, down, down. The video doesn't get recommended to anyone else, and it tanks. So that's my theory, anyway, on what's been giving me issues for, like, years now. Since I started on YouTube like five years ago, I've done both reading and writing videos. Booktube and AuthorTube. In fact, it's a thing called being a hybrid in the community. And to be honest, I think it might have been a mistake. I know being a hybrid channel does work for some people on here, but most often they are massive channels that already have an audience that are gonna watch whatever they upload no matter what it is. I wish I didn't care, but it's bumming me out seeing my channel effectively slowly die. So that is why I've decided to do all of my writing videos on here on Page Nomad, and all of my book review and video essay videos over on Wolf the Story Nomad. I would love to say that I'm excited about the change up, about having a second channel and new channel, but to be honest, it just feels a lot like starting from scratch, and after five years, it's a bit rough. I'm all good though. Like I said, I'm not looking for like pity or sympathy or anything like that. YouTube isn't my whole life. I just like being open and honest on here, and this is something that has been... It's been kind of a big deal to me. I have a lot of really great and fun videos planned for both of these channels. So if you're just here for the writing, fantastic. Great. If you like really in-depth videos about fantasy and horror books, then hey, the new channel might be for you. Or if you enjoy both of those things just as much as each other, then that's fantastic as well. I'm more than happy to talk to you on both of these channels. If I leave this video on any note, I want it to be that I will always appreciate all of the love and support that I've gotten on here over the last like nearly five years, just because I feel like my videos could be reaching more people. It doesn't mean I'm not grateful for those that are already here watching. There are a lot of people who have been silently and vocally supporting me in my writing and my videos much longer than I deserve. So it means the world to me. That's about it. Links in the description below. Thanks for watching the video. I hope it wasn't too weird. I hope it wasn't too much of a bummer or anything like that. And thanks for watching all the way through. You're an absolute champion. Much more fun stuff to come. I promise the future videos will be a lot more entertaining. Catch you.