YouTube for Writers

Add one more income stream this year

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

I have written an article on this before. Here is the link.

10 years back when I first heard about self-publishing, all I could think of was to write books and make money from it.

I was imagining sitting near the window at night and writing all those books that I have jotted down on the back of the notebooks during my engineering classes. Many stories are still there, waiting for their turn.

At that time, I couldn’t think of any other way that an author can make money. Just two things — writing and publishing. Nothing else.

Write the book. Edit it many times. Make a decent-looking cover. Prepare metadata for it. That’s all. Hit publish!

But now we have more ways to earn money. And that is not limited to writing text. The world and technology have gone to the next level.

But now we have -

1. Audiobooks
2. Videos
3. Podcasts

When I started, I thought ebooks were enough for making a decent full-time income. But now I see why all writers on YouTube recommend having as much income stream as possible.

If one income stream goes down, then you have others to support you.

During my college days, I thought YouTube is only for entertainment and nothing else. I started using YouTube during the pandemic. Before then I didn’t even know that I already had an account there.

But now, anyone can learn anything on YouTube.

I learned Python programming from YouTube.

I learned how to edit my audio files from YouTube.

I even learned how to make ebook covers from YouTube.

I have already mentioned my YouTube channel before. It’s focused on developers for now.

The last time I uploaded to my YouTube channel was July 2022.

Screenshot By author

You must be thinking why do I keep on repeating that writers need to be on that platform? Well, the answer lies in the changes I am seeing on my YouTube dashboard.

Here are some things that I have noticed -

1. I am getting views on my old videos
2. I am gaining subscribers. It’s slow but I am getting some subscribers every month
3. I see an increase in watch time

So what does this mean?

1. Older videos don’t get lost. YouTube still promotes them from time to time.
2. YouTube as passive income. You’ll make money from older videos as well.
3. YouTube wants new creators. It understands the audience well.

And one more important thing. Now, we see Google recommends YouTube videos on the search engine too.

Screenshot By author

You’ll be getting views from YouTube.

You’ll be getting views from the search engine as well.

One Video. Multiple ways to reach an audience. And that makes multiple ways to monetize it.

So why should writers be on YouTube?

1. You will be adding one more income stream.
2. You can reuse your written content.
3. Use it for promoting your own books.

Writers can also go for affiliate programs but I see this as a very rare case, especially for fiction writers.

If you are interested in YouTube Automation/Faceless Voiceless Channel than you can join my free newsletter — Automate my YouTube

Why I Recommend Writers To Start Their Own YouTube Channel