Authortube Part 5

[InitialC]

Agreed. In the videos where she lists her goals, her writing goals always seem to come last. It’s always her follower count goals and subscribers and stuff listed first… and then her lifestyle tarot type stuff, and THEN her writing.

Feel kinda bad for the fans of her SD series. They aren’t going to get their finale for another year or two at this rate.

[_soulvomit]

When she set her super high goal for Camp Nano, soo many people talked about how it was too ambitious of a goal.

I don't watch her. What was her goal?

I think it was 60k, but don't quote me on that. Either way I'm pretty sure it was to write the entirety of the book during that one month. The book that she had been floundering away at since they moved into the Texas house - months at that point, the book she couldn't get ahead on, she was going to finish that book in one single month for Camp.

And people here were saying it wasn't going to happen, people in her comments sections were saying things like, wow, you go girl, that's really big, etc etc ... Hyping her up without coming out and saying it was maybe a little TOO much based on her recent track record.

And then I don't even know if she hit her daily word count goal at any point during the month. I wasn't following super closely, so it was just based on what came up on my IG feed, but every single time I saw her Nano daily check in posts, she hadn't hit her daily goal. But she'd found the time to put together a Reel with montage shots of her office and all her things.

At this point I've stopped watching her completely, and just keep up with whatever subject lines and titles get thrown my way via algorithms. I can't in good faith sit down and watch the same floundering over and over, when she used to be my favourite youtuber. What used to be real enthusiasm for her craft and process now comes across as that fake puppy-excitement that influencers trot out to sell snake oil. Just sad and artificial.

[Storyteller25]

I've noticed a lot of authortubers set really unrealistic goals, but they never talk about HOW they plan to accomplish that. I've never won Nanowrimo (closest I got was 47k), but that was because I didn't have a set writing schedule. Last month, I got almost 36k because I had a set writing time. Of course, some days were harder to get the words, I had to move the time around occasionally, etc but in my entire writing career, it was the easiest 36k I'd ever gotten!

Seriously, any authors/authortubers reading this, try writing at the same time every day. It's a game changer!

[Nefret]

Oh, I thought that goal was going to be way higher than 60k, tbh. I've written 75k in a Camp NaNo before. It takes a ton of dedication and a pretty fast typing speed, but it's not impossible.

Although it might have been too high for her, I don't follow her closely enough to know her average words per month.

[nonfriction]

Novel (ha) ahead:

I see a lot of authortubers conflate what they want to achieve with what they think they're going to be able to manage, and it's almost always to their detriment. Part of developing as a writer is being able to develop a sense of how you work as a writer - there's no golden rule for how to write and what is the best routine and whether you should write every day, etc - every writer has to discover an achievable routine for themselves. For some people with jobs, that might be writing 200 words after work every week, and being happy having written 1k a week. For some people it's not worrying about word counts at all - plenty of my traditionally published author friends base a good writing session on how they felt during and whether they were able to stay in the flow for a sustained period.

Personally, I love NaNoWriMo and can achieve it fairly easily almost every year. But part of that is understanding why it works for me. I can do that in November because it's a set goal someone else made, it's a novelty, it's like a holiday, the community and competition aspects work for me, etc. I look forward to NaNoWriMo, which is key. NaNo doesn't work for everyone but with the way my brain works, it's the best. Now, I could write 50k in another month if I really had to and wanted to - I know that because I've done NaNo so many times, but I'm under no illusions it would be as easy or fun or remotely the same. I can see myself failing easily because it would only be me setting that goal and working on it for myself outside of the NaNo structure and "holiday time" of November, and I'd be setting myself up for failure - and honestly I wouldn't want to! The other 11 months of the year I want to focus on a slower-paced writing routine where I'm more concerned with style, quality, pacing, etc. Even if I could theoretically churn out 50k each month, I wouldn't want to, because writing isn't only about word counts, and while NaNo works for me as a way of getting a super rough draft or "zero" draft down where I end up developing my plot and learning who my characters are and workshopping problems, I've never actually come away with anything resembling a clean manuscript - writing that way the rest of the year would be a waste of my time. (Also it goes without saying: In November I can tell the rest of my life to go to hell because it's NaNo holiday time! I carve out time, put certain things off, say no to things, let myself order takeout more than normal, and prepare as much as I can - I don't think NaNo requires nearly as much life prep as people say, but I do try to schedule a lot of social stuff for the end of October, for instance. You cannot put your entire life on hold forever. Doing NaNo 12 times a year would just...not...work.)

Anyway, so you see authortubers thinking, "I've written X amount in a month before and I really need to finish this book now so I'll do that this month" or whatever, and it just doesn't work for them because goal setting doesn't work when you're setting goals you think you SHOULD set and not really thinking about a) maybe I've written 60k (or whatever) words in a month before, but what was my headspace that month? Was I struggling, or was that something I wanted to do and I was really in the flow with a new project? b) Where am I at right now? If I'm in a slump, is writing 2k words a day every single day realistic or am I setting myself up to then just feel like shit when I don't achieve what I want? c) Putting aside what I want the outcome to be, what's a goal that feels really doable to me? Is it writing 100 words every day for a month first thing when I wake up so I feel good about having been productive that day, and then letting anything else that happens to come that day be a bonus? Because sometimes those tiny micro goals are all that's realistic for the headspace you're in, and 3k words a month is better than 0k. Or maybe it's setting a 20 minute timer 6 days a week and sitting with the manuscript and taking no notice of word counts. Etc.

I'm hardly the first to voice this here, but the trouble comes when you're making money off YouTube. Part of what attracts viewers are concept videos that are completely at odds with maintaining a structured, personal, regular, week-in week-out writing routine. "I wrote like". "Can I write X words a month/week/day/year". Those things are what your viewers want, and click on, and stay for, and they're precisely why authortubers struggle to finish things. Focusing only on word counts ALL the time simply will not get a book finished because there's so much more to finishing a work of writing than word counts/writing sprints. You need time to sit quietly with the work, pull it apart, delete things, etc, but if your job is to make YouTube videos you don't have time to do that quiet work because you need to be making those clickable videos. So once you're powered through a first or second draft with writing sprints and quirky "I wrote like..." routines, you have to put that draft away to then start something new so you can keep making the videos people want to see, and there's no time to actually polish a work. I guess I started out thinking about what you were all saying about SC, and ended up thinking about KC, ha. I wish she'd build some quiet videos into her YouTube schedule, even if they don't perform as well. A weekly "write with me" video with no timer, no goal, no real intro or outro, barely any talking, just a cosy write with me video, once a week. Then she might get something done organically rather than trying to somehow complete a manuscript with brute force. But from a YouTube-as-a-business perspective, there's nothing in it for her. People don't watch those videos, at least nowhere as much as they watch the gimmicky videos.

[Storyteller25]

A weekly "write with me" video with no timer, no goal, no real intro or outro, barely any talking, just a cosy write with me video, once a week.

Here's my novel response lol:

I would love if she did that! Personally, though, I love her different writing routines, but that's because they give me ideas on how to shake up my routine so i don't get bored. I think why it works for me is because I stick to one routine for at least a week so I manage to work consistently on a few projects for that week.

My week is written out so I know what I'm working on in at least two hour chunks (aside from the days I'm too busy to sit down for more than two hours total, but fortunately I work for myself so I'm able to be flexible with most things). I don't allow myself to switch projects until I've spent at least one full hour on the first one. It doesn't matter if the words aren't coming. I need to have those "quiet moments" you mentioned.

Kate is one of my favorite authortubers, but her process drives me nuts! That is totally a me issue because everyone writes differently and their process is their process, but by now, Kate's process should be somewhat refined, or at the very least you think she'd be better at achieving goals she sets for herself. "Draft 1 is going to take X amount of time," "Draft 2 is going to take X amount," etc.

I, for one, as a viewer am a bit peeved that she has all these great ideas, has talked about them at length for however long, but she's STILL either drafting or endlessly revising the damn things. I feel cheated.

I'm an indie author. I completely understand being afraid to be like "Okay, this is the last revision!" After eight books, I don't think that'll ever completely go away, but it is unfair to my readers to get them hyped about a book and then not release it.

[nonfriction]

Personally, though, I love her different writing routines, but that's because they give me ideas on how to shake up my routine so i don't get bored. I think why it works for me is because I stick to one routine for at least a week so I manage to work consistently on a few projects for that week.

I love her different writing routines and "I wrote like" and all of that kind of thing too and I actually love "I tried to write (insane amount) in one day/week" videos too! I think that's almost part of her problem - they're so successful, from a YouTuber perspective it makes sense to keep making the videos that people click on.

I wonder if a part of her doesn't really know HOW to "just write" anymore because as much as writing is ostensibly the majority of what she does, she's also constantly shaking up her routines, trying out different things, every week a new novelty routine or whatever - it means she's always getting stuff done, of course, but I feel like it's a completely different energy and headspace than a non-authortuber getting their butt in a chair and figuring out their own routine and just quietly getting things done with no audience. It must be really distracting to be thinking about challenges, etc rather than your actual project. Not to mention, when you don't have an audience, you can be a lot more free. You can get X amount into a draft - even finish one - and realise it's not working and scrap it. You can go weeks without writing because you need time away to reset, let things percolate, etc. You can take as long as you like on a project, whatever. Those things are all normal parts of the process, except seemingly when you're sharing your process.

Honestly, the majority of things I see authortubers criticised for on here - not finishing projects, scrapping them entirely, not hitting goals, taking time off, picking up different projects instead of focusing on another, getting X way into a draft then realising it isn't working, not publishing anything after a certain amount of time, all of that - those things are ONLY criticisms because the person is doing authortube and so has appeared, entirely unintentionally usually, to have entered some sort of unsaid "contract" with the audience to deliver on what they're saying they'll do. We want to see them finish things we started because as an audience we like a completed narrative. We don't like being told someone is going to try to write 60k in a month to see them quit 2 days in because that's not satisfying viewing - and is actually really frustrating. And we REALLY don't like seeing that pattern over and over again because then we wonder why the hell we're watching that authortuber continue to make "comeback/this time it's for real" posts to see them vanish for months or fail or whatever. (Being a BytheBrooke viewer was very tedious in that regard, even though I was always rooting for her and really liked her!)

But I just want to stress: these aren't real criticisms of writing or writers. All the things we talk shit about authortubers for, are all things successful, traditionally published authors do ALL THE TIME. I'm friends with a successful, traditionally published author of around 7 books - he's currently got a book deal for a book that refuses to be written, has scrapped the draft he's been working on for years because it wasn't going anywhere, has written a whole new book (and sold/published it!) in the time he was meant to be working on the other book he's under contract with...all the writers who have written the books in your bookshelves go through these things all. the. time. I know another, also successful traditionally published author who has had to go to her publisher and tell them the book she was under contract with just was never going to be written, which she could only really realise after trying to write it for a couple of years after she signed the book deal for 3 books - luckily they let her write something else instead of expecting her to pay back that part of her advance. I think the authortuber/viewer relationship thus is inherently a little....I don't know. Conflicting? Because when you're making content to be viewed, as a viewer, you have the right to expect an interesting and forward-moving narrative in the "story", which in authortube land means tangible writing progress. Because if you're not offering a satisfying viewing experience, why are you making videos for public consumption in the first place? Who are they for? But as just people expecting things of writers, the things we expect of authortubers as writers and not content creators, are insanely unrealistic.

[blackninetales]

Personally, though, I love her different writing routines, but that's because they give me ideas on how to shake up my routine so i don't get bored. I think why it works for me is because I stick to one routine for at least a week so I manage to work consistently on a few projects for that week.

I love her different writing routines and "I wrote like" and all of that kind of thing too and I actually love "I tried to write (insane amount) in one day/week" videos too! I think that's almost part of her problem - they're so successful, from a YouTuber perspective it makes sense to keep making the videos that people click on.

I wonder if a part of her doesn't really know HOW to "just write" anymore because as much as writing is ostensibly the majority of what she does, she's also constantly shaking up her routines, trying out different things, every week a new novelty routine or whatever - it means she's always getting stuff done, of course, but I feel like it's a completely different energy and headspace than a non-authortuber getting their butt in a chair and figuring out their own routine and just quietly getting things done with no audience. It must be really distracting to be thinking about challenges, etc rather than your actual project. Not to mention, when you don't have an audience, you can be a lot more free. You can get X amount into a draft - even finish one - and realise it's not working and scrap it. You can go weeks without writing because you need time away to reset, let things percolate, etc. You can take as long as you like on a project, whatever. Those things are all normal parts of the process, except seemingly when you're sharing your process.

Honestly, the majority of things I see authortubers criticised for on here - not finishing projects, scrapping them entirely, not hitting goals, taking time off, picking up different projects instead of focusing on another, getting X way into a draft then realising it isn't working, not publishing anything after a certain amount of time, all of that - those things are ONLY criticisms because the person is doing authortube and so has appeared, entirely unintentionally usually, to have entered some sort of unsaid "contract" with the audience to deliver on what they're saying they'll do. We want to see them finish things we started because as an audience we like a completed narrative. We don't like being told someone is going to try to write 60k in a month to see them quit 2 days in because that's not satisfying viewing - and is actually really frustrating. And we REALLY don't like seeing that pattern over and over again because then we wonder why the hell we're watching that authortuber continue to make "comeback/this time it's for real" posts to see them vanish for months or fail or whatever. (Being a BytheBrooke viewer was very tedious in that regard, even though I was always rooting for her and really liked her!)

But I just want to stress: these aren't real criticisms of writing or writers. All the things we talk shit about authortubers for, are all things successful, traditionally published authors do ALL THE TIME. I'm friends with a successful, traditionally published author of around 7 books - he's currently got a book deal for a book that refuses to be written, has scrapped the draft he's been working on for years because it wasn't going anywhere, has written a whole new book (and sold/published it!) in the time he was meant to be working on the other book he's under contract with...all the writers who have written the books in your bookshelves go through these things all. the. time. I know another, also successful traditionally published author who has had to go to her publisher and tell them the book she was under contract with just was never going to be written, which she could only really realise after trying to write it for a couple of years after she signed the book deal for 3 books - luckily they let her write something else instead of expecting her to pay back that part of her advance. I think the authortuber/viewer relationship thus is inherently a little....I don't know. Conflicting? Because when you're making content to be viewed, as a viewer, you have the right to expect an interesting and forward-moving narrative in the "story", which in authortube land means tangible writing progress. Because if you're not offering a satisfying viewing experience, why are you making videos for public consumption in the first place? Who are they for? But as just people expecting things of writers, the things we expect of authortubers as writers and not content creators, are insanely unrealistic.

Ehhh, is it?

I can only speak for myself of course, but I have no issues with authors putting things down. The difference between authortubers we've been mentioning and, say, your traditionally published friend is that 1) your friend has proven himself capable multiple times before, presumably he knows when to trust his process and gut and scrap a work and when to power through, and 2) he's not over here trying to be an influencer as a main career and saying otherwise OR hawk a course promising us he'll make our author dreams come true.

I would argue those criticisms you listed are only for authortubers who call themselves authortubers without actually writing books..

If Michelle Schusterman turned around tomorrow and said she was scrapping all of her latest project, i doubt anyone would bat an eye because we know she knows her process. She's also not doing authortube to make a career... She and the authortubers I personally like (Alexa Donne, Chris Fox, Brandon McNulty, Jane Kalmes) are authors first and foremost, youtubers second, and I think that's one of the benefits of waiting to start an authortube account until after you've actually published a book. I'm certainly not saying there's anything wrong with wanting to "share your process" or whatever... I like Kris MF as well, and as far as I'm aware she has yet to publish. But, I think it adds pressure: I like watching Kris because she shows growth.

I don't think it's insanely unrealistic to expect writers to show some kind of growth or to finish their work when they've made the decision to put their process out there, and particularly when, as in the case of SC and KC, they've made a fair amount of profit off their social media presence. And it's not a matter of anyone turning around and saying, "you don't deserve to be here!" No one here's said that. But no one is obliged to watch a person's youtube videos, and if an authortuber isn't showing some kind of growth, what am i getting from watching them? If I'm going to watch your videos, I absolutely expect some narrative, good editing, and some growth and, as the above people I listed have proved, that's not unrealistic at all, in fact it's very doable... if you've taken time to learn your process before sharing it. Or, in the case of Kris, you're focused on being a writer first and foremost, and youtuber second. She's not pumping out videos or doing challenges or streaming at regular intervals...she writes, then shares her progress as it comes. And she's certainly not selling me anything.

I think it's very realistic and doable to want authortubers to write and finish.

[darcybones]

bascially everyone i hang out with IRL is a traditionally published full time author, and if they scraped projects like some of these authortubers they'd never pay their bills. it's like blackninetales said, there's a big difference between being an author who has shown that they can deliver but has realized that this project just isn't happening, and being an authortuber who is so busy selling the noun of being a Writer that they never seal the deal on the writing part.

[nonfriction]

I guess for me this comes down to the fact that I don't necessarily think that authortube = author. I think the fact that it's ended up being called that is kind of weird and silly, and just comes down to the fact that "writertube" or whatever just never took off. People start authortube channels all the time for all sorts of reasons, and for lots of them it's "here's my journey to becoming a self-published author" and in those cases, sure, if that's what you're telling me the channel is, that's what I want to see and it's reasonable for me to expect that. But a lot of people just conflate "authortube" with "writingtube" and make an authortube channel just to share their writing journey, whatever that is to them - trying to write a novel, writing short stories, doing NaNoWriMo. They're trying to finish things but I don't know why we'd have the expectation that they will do so other than them expressing their desire to do it. (I follow so many people on TikTok who I'm sure want to "make it" as comedians and actors - I don't really expect any/many of them to become household names, lol.) I don't think having an authortube channel necessarily means that you're inherently promising that you're going to become a published (self or traditional) author. Nor do I think publication is or should be every writer's goal.

It's very realistic to expect authortubers to write. And it's very realistic to expect any YouTube channel you subscribe to, to post consistently - and in terms of authortubers, that means it's reasonable to expect a lot of writing, since that's what their channels are about. To expect them to finish their projects? Not so much, at least not in the case of every single authortuber. (Though there are plenty where that's a reasonable thing to expect - i.e if the authortuber is a self-published author whose channel is specifically about publication and maintaining a career as an author.) Finished projects is part of what I personally like to see as a viewer, sure, but it's not how every writing project goes - and more importantly, in most authortube channel cases (again, not all), these people aren't authors. Why would we expect them to know how to write a draft to completion when they've never done it before? Why should we expect them to have any editing skills? Why should we expect them to know what makes a good beta reader? Why should we expect them to complete a novel in a set amount of time when it sometimes takes traditionally published, experienced authors who DO know what they're doing more than five years to complete each of their books? Why should I have any expectation that KC, for instance - someone I just came across on YouTube one day - has any idea what she's doing? She's allowed to just have a YouTube channel where she tries out things and figures it out and gets it wrong and fails because that's life! I think sometimes what I see both on authortube and on here is a conflation of SO many ideas and expectations. Writing and YouTube are separate pursuits. Writing, and writing as a bill-paying career are separate pursuits. (I don't live in the US so the publishing industry where I live is going to be different - but the friends I mentioned who are traditionally published with numbers of books under their belt? TThey're very well regarded and have won or been shortlisted for prestigious prizes. They have wikipedia pages. They're largely writing literary fiction, which means....they're not making their money publishing books, lol. Their books are not paying their bills! They all have other jobs. Again, for them, they write books because they want to, and they have successful writing careers, but writing careers don't always = how you make your money, and almost NEVER in my country can a writer earn their living that way no matter what they're publishing, unless they're publishing genre fiction and happen to get very lucky.) And YouTube viewers and a readership are two different things as well. KC isn't "denying her readers" a book she has promised them. She doesn't have a book. She doesn't even have a book deal or a book that's available for preorder. She doesn't have readers! All she has are followers who are watching her try to write a book. As someone fairly experienced in the writing world, I have never had any expectation that a huge majority of the AuthorTuber accounts I follow who are not yet published will ever finish and publish a book. I do think that KC might get there one day because she's very dedicated and one of very few authortubers that has never disappeared for a random length of time and come back and said that she hasn't written in months, but her journey will probably take WAY longer than we'd all find satisfying. I do expect certain authors I follow to complete things because they've shown they already have so they've earned that trust from me (Becca C Smith, Natalia Leigh etc.) But did I ever feel "betrayed" that Brooke from BTB (as an example) kept "failing" at their self-made drafting and publishing goals? Or LauraWrites? The idea is kind of hilarious to me. We're talking, largely, about people with no background in writing, who have never shown any interest in learning about writing in the real world (classes, festivals, workshops), who like reading, and watching other authortuber videos, and probably were praised at school for their writing, and they've thought, "I can do that!" and "Starting my own authortube chanel looks fun!" So many times when authortubers mention that they love authortube because they like to meet other writers and become a part of the writing community, it's the hugest of red flags to me because it means they're not engaging in their local writing scene and have never done so.

[kajagougou]

The assumption that it’s just a hobby so if they’re failing at it, it's not a big deal is a reasonable one in most of those cases but not all of them. SC is selling people a course based on managing tasks and accomplishing goals - her own advice that she can’t follow.
In KC’s case, we’re talking about someone who has been writing full time for years and talking about publishing for just as long. The expectations aren’t coming out of nowhere or some hilarious place of misjudgement. It’s also reasonable to say her different writing routines and Authortube videos are affecting her writing career. It's just obvious.

[blackninetales]

I guess for me this comes down to the fact that I don't necessarily think that authortube = author. I think the fact that it's ended up being called that is kind of weird and silly, and just comes down to the fact that "writertube" or whatever just never took off. People start authortube channels all the time for all sorts of reasons, and for lots of them it's "here's my journey to becoming a self-published author" and in those cases, sure, if that's what you're telling me the channel is, that's what I want to see and it's reasonable for me to expect that. But a lot of people just conflate "authortube" with "writingtube" and make an authortube channel just to share their writing journey, whatever that is to them - trying to write a novel, writing short stories, doing NaNoWriMo. They're trying to finish things but I don't know why we'd have the expectation that they will do so other than them expressing their desire to do it. (I follow so many people on TikTok who I'm sure want to "make it" as comedians and actors - I don't really expect any/many of them to become household names, lol.) I don't think having an authortube channel necessarily means that you're inherently promising that you're going to become a published (self or traditional) author. Nor do I think publication is or should be every writer's goal.

Ah fair enough. I agree that starting an authortube channel isn't an inherent promise...but I only have seen authortubers who expressly want to at one point be published. In fact, I'd argue most writers are sharing their journey because, at some point, whether they're published or not, they want someone to read their work. Otherwise, why bother sharing? Why not keep it a private journey? So that's why that expectation is there for me at least.

TBF, i think we're probably referring to very different spheres of authortube. I only watch the channels I mentioned before, and can't stand vloggy "watch-me-while-i-type-fast-to-music", "follow-me-while-I-buy-a-coffee", "a-productive-autumn-day!" type videos, which means I don't watch a lot of smaller authortubers, the ones who perhaps you're referring to, who start up just to share their writing journey, whatever that may look like.

Finished projects is part of what I personally like to see as a viewer, sure, but it's not how every writing project goes - and more importantly, in most authortube channel cases (again, not all), these people aren't authors. Why would we expect them to know how to write a draft to completion when they've never done it before? Why should we expect them to have any editing skills? Why should we expect them to know what makes a good beta reader? Why should we expect them to complete a novel in a set amount of time when it sometimes takes traditionally published, experienced authors who DO know what they're doing more than five years to complete each of their books? Why should I have any expectation that KC, for instance - someone I just came across on YouTube one day - has any idea what she's doing?

It's not that I expect every person who signs up to authortube to know how to fully write a novel. I have no problem with watching people experiment and fail and try again more knowledgeable, and I'm not alone -- a lot of KC's success is built around this.

Again, I'm not saying anyone's not allowed. I want to stress that everyone should feel free to share their process as they like! All I can offer is my perspective on why those smaller authortubers might not be as successful and why the larger ones might be facing a bit of a disgruntled viewer-base after years of not making much progress. There's no expectation in the sense that anyone who does or does not do xyz is "true" authortube, but as a viewer I am allowed to have expectations on what I will and will not spend my time watching, and watching someone with every opportunity to succeed just rehash the same thing over and over is not interesting to me.

She's allowed to just have a YouTube channel where she tries out things and figures it out and gets it wrong and fails because that's life!

Yes. But everyday life isn't, for me personally, fodder for compelling videos. You're allowed to have a youtube channel about more or less whatever you like, but no one is entitled to viewership. I'm really not trying to hate on any authortuber here at all, by the way, just in case it comes off like that, I have no personal gripe with KC or the smaller authortubes I don't watch.

I think sometimes what I see both on authortube and on here is a conflation of SO many ideas and expectations. Writing and YouTube are separate pursuits. Writing, and writing as a bill-paying career are separate pursuits. (I don't live in the US so the publishing industry where I live is going to be different - but the friends I mentioned who are traditionally published with numbers of books under their belt? TThey're very well regarded and have won or been shortlisted for prestigious prizes. They have wikipedia pages. They're largely writing literary fiction, which means....they're not making their money publishing books, lol. Their books are not paying their bills! They all have other jobs. Again, for them, they write books because they want to, and they have successful writing careers, but writing careers don't always = how you make your money, and almost NEVER in my country can a writer earn their living that way no matter what they're publishing, unless they're publishing genre fiction and happen to get very lucky.)

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Again, I can only refer to KC here because I don't watch a lot of smaller authortubers, it isn't intended to single her out. I don't think anyone's sitting there going, "she's been doing this for so long, why isn't she on the NY bestseller's list yet?" I don't think there's any expectation, that I've seen anyway, that every authortuber has to be a "full time writer" or even "successful". Viewers are mostly just interested in some kind of growth.

And YouTube viewers and a readership are two different things as well. KC isn't "denying her readers" a book she has promised them. She doesn't have a book. She doesn't even have a book deal or a book that's available for preorder. She doesn't have readers! All she has are followers who are watching her try to write a book.

They are! I personally can't comment on that, as I don't feel that way. I really don't feel that strongly about any of it lol.

As someone fairly experienced in the writing world, I have never had any expectation that a huge majority of the AuthorTuber accounts I follow who are not yet published will ever finish and publish a book.

That's fair! I happen to agree. But people are allowed to have other expectations when they choose what they spend their time viewing. Sadly one of the drawbacks to putting yourself out there: people will come with their own opinions and expectations, and they're totally valid.

But did I ever feel "betrayed" that Brooke from BTB (as an example) kept "failing" at their self-made drafting and publishing goals? Or LauraWrites? The idea is kind of hilarious to me.

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Oh yeah no I don't get that either. KC doesn't owe anyone anything, none of them do in the sense of producing books or content. In fact, I don't remember seeing comments like that on this board? Where are you getting this from? (I hold my hands up and say I haven't re-read all the thread recently though so I could be wrong!)

So in short... I mean yeah, there are expectations on content. Different for everyone, of course. But people are allowed to come to authortube with expectations and allowed to unsubscribe when those expectations are let down. What we shouldn't be doing of course is sending hate or personal vitriol to authortubers, but that's a popular opinion around here.

[blackninetales]

The assumption that it’s just a hobby so if they’re failing at it, it's not a big deal is a reasonable one in most of those cases but not all of them. SC is selling people a course based on managing tasks and accomplishing goals - her own advice that she can’t follow.
In KC’s case, we’re talking about someone who has been writing full time for years and talking about publishing for just as long. The expectations aren’t coming out of nowhere or some hilarious place of misjudgement. It’s also reasonable to say her different writing routines and Authortube videos are affecting her writing career. It's just obvious.

And that's where the frustration comes from for me personally, as far as KC goes. SC I've already done to death lol but I agree with what you said 100%. KC knows that social media hinders her progress. She's been honest about it, which I admire, and obviously the girl has to pay the bills! What's just a bit frustrating is watching her keep coming back to it even though she knows it doesn't help. It gives the impression--rightly or wrongly--that she values being an influencer more than being a writer.

She's totally allowed to do whatever she likes with her channel of course, and I think everyone here really wishes her the best! If she does publish openly under her own name I will definitely pick up a copy to support her! But it's also totally fair that her veering away from being an author and into being a lifestyle vlogger/influencer will lose her viewership among those who, y'know, want authortube content from someone who wants to put writing first.

[WriteWithMe]

So Sara Lubratt is a full-time content creator?
I have to say I loved that she filmed the process of her quitting, I hope she is successful in all of her endeavors. I hope to see a book from her soon now that's shes full time working for herself.

[Storyteller25]

I think where my frustration is coming from is that a few authortubers write with the goal of being published, quit to write full time, have all these plans and then either execute them poorly or just don't execute them at all. I have absolutely no problem with authortubers shelving a project because it's not working. I've had that happen many times. But the constant looping of jumping from idea to shiny new idea without finishing anything gets tiring after a while. It would be nice to see them finish something.

I understand Natalia is busy with EIP. I don't find myself frustrated with her because she's shown growth in her time as an authortuber. I really hope she can find the time to write because she seems happiest (at least she did to me in her latest writing vlog) when working on her own books.

[BasicBooktuber1]

It's really interesting to hear from people who watch different authortubers than me. One of my favourite channels Rachel Writes primarily talks about a series she says she'll never publish. But I'm still emotionally invested in her work and enjoy seeing her journey. I think that's why authors not publishing never really bothered me. I'm more invested in them as writers than actually reading the final product. Especially because a lot of authortubers I watch don't write in the genrea I read.

[kajagougou]

Don’t know about other people here but once again, to me, this is not about being invested in a final product, it's about how people like KC set expectations.

I never expected to read KC because she’s been very clear about not revealing her pen names. But I do know she’s been talking about her goals for as long as she’s been doing this - to keep getting better at writing, to publish more novels, etc. So it’s about her journey and not about the results.

However, I do feel frustration watching her. Just because she’s documenting the process doesn’t mean she didn’t set expectations that she will try to achieve her goals. When someone is talking about getting better at writing, I don’t expect this person to keep drafting the same story over and over again, especially knowing she’s writing full time.

If her goals had been very different from the beginning - “I will draft this story as long as I want to, for many years” then alrighty then, I wouldn’t feel frustrated but the expectations are set in such a way that I can’t help but feel disappointed.

And this is where the whole “authortube can be just a hobby for sure but if you are really serious about writing and publishing, and you talked about how serious you are, you might reconsider how you do this” discussion is coming from. It's very reasonable

[darcybones]

One of my favourite channels Rachel Writes primarily talks about a series she says she'll never publish. But I'm still emotionally invested in her work and enjoy seeing her journey. I think that's why authors not publishing never really bothered me. I'm more invested in them as writers than actually reading the final product.

But in this case you're not being sold a product that'll never deliver. She's up front about the fact that what you're watching is her writing process and not her road to publication. The authortubers most of us bitch about never completing projects are very much *not* selling a ~journey. SC who has recently been the focus of the ire keeps telling her audience and her readers that a new book is coming out and then showing us how not true that is. Over and over. Not only do these authortubers position themselves as Authors who are going to Publish - or who are published. But they set themselves up as experts who have authority from which to dispense lessons to their audience. Some of them stick to doing that just in list videos and some of them go ahead and charge 1000$ for a course on how to write your book using a method that they have admitted that they have never finished a book using.

No I will never get over Rachael's course lol

[Nefret]

But in this case you're not being sold a product that'll never deliver. She's up front about the fact that what you're watching is her writing process and not her road to publication. The authortubers most of us bitch about never completing projects are very much *not* selling a ~journey. SC who has recently been the focus of the ire keeps telling her audience and her readers that a new book is coming out and then showing us how not true that is. Over and over. Not only do these authortubers position themselves as Authors who are going to Publish - or who are published. But they set themselves up as experts who have authority from which to dispense lessons to their audience. Some of them stick to doing that just in list videos and some of them go ahead and charge 1000$ for a course on how to write your book using a method that they have admitted that they have never finished a book using.

No I will never get over Rachael's course lol

THIS. If all authortubers had the vibe of just being hobbyists and "follow me on my journey" there wouldn't be a problem. It's not unfair of us to look critically at people who claim to be authorities giving out advice. You should ALWAYS double check someone's credentials on a subject whenever they start charging you money for it.

[hypnicjerk]

Do you guys think Kate should have her own thread? It seems like a lot of the time we end up specifying "I'm talking about KC" or "I'm not talking about KC". Would it be easier if she were separate, or do you think it's not worth it? She doesn't have much "drama" but we do have a lot of thoughts about her. Lol.