 So before we get into all the dreary depressing stuff just a reminder that this plushie campaign is currently ongoing so follow the link in the pinned comment to get yourself one. They're limited edition and we need 200 orders to actually put them into production so chop chop get to it unless you're one of my patrons then go to my patreon page there's a special link there where you can get a discount. So some of you might be concerned after seeing the title so I'm just gonna get the short part out of the way real quick the all the important information just as quick as I can basically it is no secret that my channel has not been doing super well lately I do not know why but so many of my videos are just not even breaking 10,000 views and looking through comments and stuff on them it seems like it's just not being recommended to people now you should still be checking your sub boxes I don't know why so many people don't do that but it's just not being recommended to people so they're thinking wow James never uploads but I do it every week and it has steadily been getting worse and so I was considering it over the weekend because my my latest video on Breathe the edgy Lorax ripoff is just not doing super hot and that's when I spent a lot of time and effort on uh so I am just thinking of how to restructure things and from now on I am instead of releasing videos on Saturday mornings because that's when a lot of other people are releasing stuff and I think part of the reason my stuff isn't getting seen is because I'm being crowded out so from now on I'm gonna try releasing on Wednesday evenings instead so around uh five o'clock mountain time which is where I live so whatever that is your local time that'll be the main thing to keep in mind I'm also going to be utilizing shorts a bit more often like you may have seen I posted one about red queen uh because I am working on that series I finished the first book I'm part way through the second don't worry um and I'm gonna mostly be using that for updates and stuff uh so like I talked a little bit about the first red queen book and my thoughts on that now part two and three I'll be talking about the other ones before I do like an actual bigger video on it uh which won't be a normal big long review for me it'll it'll be something a little bit different because I wanted to try that uh and also I might start using shorts to do like really short reviews because there's a lot of books I read that I don't have that much to say on that don't warrant a full video so maybe I'll maybe I'll try something like that who knows uh and I do want to try streaming a little bit more often like I know I've mentioned that before uh but I've just never really committed to it and I'm going to try that now so now on the weekends either Saturday or Sunday depending on how things work out uh I'm going to try streaming those days in the morning or early afternoons so stay tuned for all that those are going to be the changes uh right now it's Monday and this should be uploaded before I go to sleep tonight uh so next video is going to be on Wednesday you're going to be getting a bunch of stuff right next to each other congrats everybody so that's all the important stuff the rest of this is basically just going to be me trying to explain why I'm changing and why this is just it's just immensely frustrating you know because whenever stuff doesn't do well I have no real way of knowing why you know was it the content I made was it just not that good did it was it good but it didn't appeal to that many people is it a problem with the title or the thumbnail and if so what can I do to fix that like I mean you may have seen the Lorax video I did change the thumbnail and the newer one does seem to attract a little bit more attention so I guess it's a good thing I did that but still uh I I just I don't know like I and I know that subscriber count is becoming less and less relevant on YouTube but it is still shocking and well to put it lightly annoying that I have 125,000 subs and less than 10 percent sometimes like less than five percent are even seeing my videos like I don't know why I don't know how and I really really hate when YouTubers complain about just the algorithm because it's just a fucking boogeyman at this point like sure there have been points where the algorithm has genuinely caused issues and it has negatively impacted a lot of people but complaining about it probably won't change much number one and number two it's just such a convenient scapegoat for people to avoid doing any sort of introspection and any sort of hey what can I change to try and help this and I maybe it is algorithmic changes which cause this maybe I just got lucky a couple of times doing this and really this was just a bad time to release my stuff always or I have a bad schedule or something I don't know but just I have to try something different you know no matter what I do I can't change the system that this all exists in so I like I have to try and adapt to it you know like there's no other choice it's either that or I just get swept away my channel has had down periods before like you know times of a month or two where stuff just doesn't get that many views I don't get that much attention but it always has jumped back up and that's just not happening this time and the down period has been most of this year you know I think I put out a couple of videos at the beginning of the year which did okay like my video unmatched did reasonably well and my video on evermore did okay but considering how much time I spent on that evermore video it is a bit of a disappointing performance to be honest and then I did a world-building analysis video those always do really well this one did pretty well last I checked it had about 80,000 views which is good like that's the most I've gotten this year but for world-building analysis stuff that is pretty low I think this is all because of like the recommendation stuff again like I was saying like people don't really check their subscription feeds so it's just recommended to them and if they don't click on one video because it doesn't interest them that much so if I have one that doesn't do that well then they're not going to get recommended the next couple after that I think is what's happening and because I do cover stuff that's more niche like I cover less popular books and stuff and I just talk about things that aren't uh that appealing to a broad audience I guess they'll see one of my well performing videos and like it just fine and be excited for whatever I have next but then they won't be interested in that next one and then the one after that even if it's something they would have liked is just never shown to them like I think that's what's going on but I really don't know and there is no getting around the fact that I need the money from this channel I really hate talking about money in this way because it always sounds like I'm begging for it and I I'm not I really hope it doesn't come across like I'm being needy or anything but I am not like on the verge of starving or being kicked out of my apartment don't worry about that but if it continues at this pace for a while then I will not be able to continue living here and it is just getting worse and worse and worse like videos are performing worse and worse and worse no matter how much time I put into them and they're like like I'm saying it's I'm not making that much from all these this summer has been abysmal but the month of July especially like I'm filming this July 31st but this whole month has just been one train wreck after another and I don't really know how to fix it other than do some big change with the schedule like this because in terms of like the actual content I make I don't know what I would be able to shift to that would that would appeal to more people or anything nor do I particularly want to have a massive shift in what I make because at that point like if I'm not passionate about what it is and it's not something I enjoy doing then at that point it becomes just another job and well why even fucking bother at that stage look there's no getting around it I have a full-time job on top of YouTube okay like if you didn't know that you know now um and so this is something I do like I spend a lot of what could be spare time on this and again I do enjoy doing it don't get me wrong but it's a lot of time a lot of effort a lot of energy like and this month I've been stressing so much about what I can do and will this work and everything and I've just been hoping like okay the next one will do better the next one will do better the next one will do better and the uh edgy lorex video performing as it has has just broken the camel's back like I I don't want to say I snapped but like I'm I'm realizing like okay I have been tired and stressed out and distracted for weeks now like when I'm with my family or friends I am not completely there and I don't like that they they deserve better than that uh and I I think the how good my content could be has suffered a bit because of that too like if you saw my stream from just a couple of days ago and by the way if you miss any of my streams they're all on a playlist in my channel like there I unlist them after they're done because otherwise it the fuck's your channel in the algorithm but like it they are there you can check them out if you want but if you saw that the other day I you can tell I'm very tired and out of it while I'm doing it like I I'm having fun I'm enjoying it but I am just not at my best while doing it uh and I had to do it at some point during the week because I was thinking okay if I do it in the weekend that's like too close to when my video is releasing uh so that will might cannibalize some of that they might cannibalize each other but I just I I don't know for sure but that's why I'm saying I'm gonna try streaming on weekends instead because I'll have more energy then and I'm sorry this is getting kind of unfocused I think it was unfocused to begin with like I said I I'm just tired and stressed and this is affecting other parts of my life and I frankly do not want to move back in with either roommates or my parents uh so I just want this to start working out better you know and if this new schedule I choose doesn't work out I'm gonna try it out for at least a couple of months but if it continues failing or starts doing even worse then I'm just gonna have to try a different one where I might just switch to uploading every two weeks uh and see that maybe having a longer gap will I don't know recharge me in the algorithm or something and if that doesn't happen like maybe once a month or less and just make like bigger videos that I can spend a lot of time on and people can get hyped for I I really don't know but this is for the time being what's what I'm trying to do and fix on so you know if you watch this far thanks I really appreciate it if you want to support me and the channel uh rating commenting sharing subscribing that's that's always great uh if you want to do more please don't feel obligated but again you can try funding the plushie campaign you can also fund me on patreon uh you can send me tips on paypal I have down there uh there are super thanks and if I'm streaming super chats here on youtube and you can be a youtube channel member I don't really advertise it because there's not much benefit to it for the people that do it but it is a little simpler than like if you don't want to make a patreon account and everything you already have some on youtube it's a little simpler that's that's just why I went with that but you know and anything at all is appreciated even if you're just watching that's super appreciated and uh suggestions I guess are also welcome I'm not necessarily going to listen to them because some of you are idiots let's be real I love you but some of you are idiots and uh that yeah that's all I'll see in a couple of days for uh review of a youtuber book is coming up next actually and after that we'll just uh we'll just see so thanks for listening goodbye