Do you have a YouTube author channel?

[Finchbearer]

Haha...that sounds reasonable. Which do you think is worse, a voice actor with a foreign accent or a faultless AI voice?

What I go to YouTube for is the homemade aspect of the content, so I much prefer to watch a real person, or listen to a real voice. If fluency is an issue, then I would prefer to watch subtitles. English is the only language I speak, and I am always in awe of people who learn multiple second languages, so either way, there’s nothing that bothers me about hearing an accent.

When I see an AI generated video, I question whether there is a real person behind the screen or not, and it’s hard to tell if the text is AI generated or not, if you use an AI voice. At the end of the day it’s just personal preference, there are probably those who don’t mind watching AI generated content.

 

[pmmg]

Generally, if I know the content is AI, I click on the 'don't recommend channel' button, thus ending it now and for the future.

 

[weida]

Foreign accents rock.
But honesty, this is one area in which AI doesn't bother me so much; the cool, kinda dreamlike visuals and a DECENT ai voice are an acceptable way to turn audio into something YouTube worthy, as long as it isn't an AI voice that sounds like I'm trying to pay a bill and having to press 1 over and over.

It seems some companies should start producing AI voices with foreign accents.

But seriously, it might just be a matter of time before AI voices become indistinguishable from human voices.

 

[weida]

What I go to YouTube for is the homemade aspect of the content, so I much prefer to watch a real person, or listen to a real voice. If fluency is an issue, then I would prefer to watch subtitles. English is the only language I speak, and I am always in awe of people who learn multiple second languages, so either way, there’s nothing that bothers me about hearing an accent.

When I see an AI generated video, I question whether there is a real person behind the screen or not, and it’s hard to tell if the text is AI generated or not, if you use an AI voice. At the end of the day it’s just personal preference, there are probably those who don’t mind watching AI generated content.

If I go for it, I'll keep yours and pmmg's opinions in mind.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Some of just the high end samples of AI are impressive as hell, but there's a big caveat. A human needs to "direct" them to make them functional for a great many things. Of course, this is also being worked on. So, if someone uses AI voices and the listener is good, they'll be able to pick out AI just by the way it chooses to emphasize words. The longer the reading sample, the easier this will be. So much meaning can be enhanced or altered by emphasis and tone that AI by itself will flounder with anything complex. Minus a good director, that is.

But yes, an AI-generated YouTube video will put off lots of folks. It's the "real" aspect of such things that will keep people watching.

It seems some companies should start producing AI voices with foreign accents.

But seriously, it might just be a matter of time before AI voices become indistinguishable from human voices.

 

[Devor]

I follow a guy on TikTok who is wildly popular with millions of followers. His videos are on the most random stuff. But his TikTok channel lists him as an author, and he sometimes talks about how his book sales are his primary revenue stream.

According to him, it takes like ten thousand views to sell one book. It's higher in videos where he mentions his book, but those also get fewer views.

Having your own Social Media channel isn't the best way to sell books. You sell books by pitching it directly to people who review books and asking them to review yours. All the rest of it is just about looking good for the book reviewers who check you out online before deciding if they'll read your book or not.

 

[Jackarandajam]

It seems some companies should start producing AI voices with foreign accents.

But seriously, it might just be a matter of time before AI voices become indistinguishable from human voices.

The way I look at it, if I really wanna be a great writer, I (probably) can't also be a great video editor, artist, and audio tech. I would rather not put the time and energy into learning what there is to know to be successful at a visual medium when every ounce of energy I can muster would be better served going to writing.
I'm also broke as Nancy Kerrigan, so as much as I'd like to pay professionals to put content out there, maybe one day.
THAT is where AI, IMHO, is actually helpful to humanity at this stage. Instead of wasting time or spending lots of money on producing something that moves to look at in order to throw some writing up on a visual medium, I can do an AI visual thing. AI, in this case, is no more humanity-threatening than using a fancy font in the window of a shop to promote a sandwich instead of having somebody out on the street dressed as a sandwich flossing and pointing at the store.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I think this falls into the infinitely inclusive category of "It Depends." If you're putting out vids geared toward anyone, well, let's face it... reading is a niche pastime. Then, reduce that niche by the genre you write in. Now, if, by some freak chance, you could pull in a hundred thousand readers of your genre, you're going to be better off than having millions of nonreaders or people who read other genres. His approach is shotgun, and if books are his primary revenue, then by golly, it has worked, although inefficiently per contact. And if it costs him time and effort instead of $$ that's not a bad thing.

I see Youtube as a potential engagement machine to sell the author as much as their work. If/When I get around to my Youtube channel, it will pretty much be all about my books, series, and future books. With the cryptic Tomes of the Touched headers at the beginning of chapters, I have well over 100 built-in topics that are Sundering the Gods related. Nope, they probably won't get millions of views, but they will engage a % of my readers and catch the attention of readers who are far more likely to be into what I'm writing than some random millions on TikTok.

At this stage in the game—post gold-rush era of easy reader pickings—with tens of millions of books on Amazon, you need every avenue that you can handle to gain readers. Unless, of course, you have a quarter million to throw into marketing and promotion... Oh, and in that case, you'd probably still end up all over the place on blogs and youtube to help the promotion.

Pitching your book to reviewers sounds great, but where are they? They are inundated with writers pitching them. I've hit a few spikes from reviewers—in particular in Africa, oddly enough, and I didn't even pitch him—but how is that maintainable?

The way I see it right now, in a market even more saturated than when I entered it, is that profitability (outside of spending nothing) is the same for Indie Writers as it is for Big 5 Publishers... A Quality Backlist. It isn't 100% necessary, but it's the closest thing to a guarantee there is in this wicked game.

I follow a guy on TikTok who is wildly popular with millions of followers. His videos are on the most random stuff. But his TikTok channel lists him as an author, and he sometimes talks about how his book sales are his primary revenue stream.

According to him, it takes like ten thousand views to sell one book. It's higher in videos where he mentions his book, but those also get fewer views.

Having your own Social Media channel isn't the best way to sell books. You sell books by pitching it directly to people who review books and asking them to review yours. All the rest of it is just about looking good for the book reviewers who check you out online before deciding if they'll read your book or not.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I follow a guy on TikTok who is wildly popular with millions of followers. His videos are on the most random stuff. But his TikTok channel lists him as an author, and he sometimes talks about how his book sales are his primary revenue stream.

According to him, it takes like ten thousand views to sell one book. It's higher in videos where he mentions his book, but those also get fewer views.

Having your own Social Media channel isn't the best way to sell books. You sell books by pitching it directly to people who review books and asking them to review yours. All the rest of it is just about looking good for the book reviewers who check you out online before deciding if they'll read your book or not.

I don't think there is one best way to sell books.

At the moment, all channels are pretty saturated, which means that you need to get lucky and you need to work at it. A social media channel can definitely be a good way to sell books. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to get enough people to make it worth the effort. But people like Daniel Green and Shad M. Brooks (of the Shadiversity channel) managed to publish bestsellers and make good money by having a large youtube following.

An interesting thing to realize is that it doesn't take all that many books to rise pretty high in best-seller charts. 10.000 views per sale sounds like a lot, but if you put out 1 video a week, and they get 100.000 views, then you're selling about 2 books a day. That's enough to get you into the top 100 of some smaller genres on Amazon, which leads to more visibility.

Publish 2 videos a week, and get 500.000 views per video, and you're suddenly looking at 100 sales a week, which might well see you reach the top 10 in some smaller Amazon genres. With a bit of a push, you can launch a new book to the top of bestseller lists on bigger genres on Amazon, which then also gets you organic sales.

With those numbers, you also get better visibility in also-bought lists. Ads become more effective since you already have better visibility. And even with terrible read-through, if you have a decent backlist, those 100 sales a week might in reality be 200-500 sales a week if half of your readers buy 2 or more books.

That kind of reach is actually very hard to replicate with reaching out to reviewers. Even if you can find reviewers with a big enough reach and get them to review your books, then that's a one-time thing. It will give you a boost for a week or two (at most), but after that, you drop back down to your default level. And though selling 1.000 books in a day or two from a review, I would actually much rather sell 100 a week for a year.

 

[Devor]

So, yes, it is entirely possible to have a niche Youtube channel that is integrated with your book so heavily that it boosts sales significantly without having millions of viewers. Shadiversity did it by appealing to medieval weapons aficionados. There are some other obvious avenues for doing this:

- Appeal directly to other fantasy writers
- Appeal directly to fans of D&D (if you book is the sort of fantasy that has similar elements)
- Appeal directly to fans of other big names, like ASOIAF, LOTR, Harry Potter, Anime, Airbender, or even stuff like the old Xena/Hercules shows

The challenges here are twofold:

The first: Your book has to appeal directly to the niche that your Youtube channel is hitting. That isn't always as easy as it sounds. For instance, are you writing a LOTR clone? Is your book as good as LOTR? It doesn't work as well if you gather up an audience of LOTR fans and try to sell them, say, a Steampunk novel. And even if your book does fit nicely into a niche, do you really want to spend that much time and effort locking yourself into it?

Second: Are you a writer or an influencer? They're very different skill sets. Building an audience on Youtube is just as hard as building an audience for your book, and the leaders here put as much or more effort into their videos as they do into their books - I mean, Shadiversity sold a book as a way of monetizing the youtube channel, but you guys are wanting to do it the other way around. And, the best way to build a Youtube channel is by networking with other Youtubers, so you don't really get to skip that networking step anyways if you want your channel to be successful.

I really think, that if you want to build an audience for your novel, these things are red herrings. The only reason to chase them is from a fear of having to engage in the primary role of a business. If we busy ourselves with social media marketing, maybe we can skip the job of selling the product. And it just doesn't work that way.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I really think, that if you want to build an audience for your novel, these things are red herrings.

I know, and I largely agree with you, as I mentioned earlier in this thread.

Running a youtube (or other social media) channel is a full-time job, as much as being a writer is. Doing both at the same time takes a lot of time and effort and learning. Anyone who thinks they can do it on the side and have it be wildly succesful is either very lucky or lying to themselves.

However, if you do get the ball rolling, then it can be a succesful way of marketing your books (and other stuff). Call it monetizing your Youtube channel if you want, but the fact remains that Shadiversity's salesnumbers are much higher than almost anyone here on the site (if not everyone). So it works if you can pull it off.

Also, with a broader view of social media, Tiktok works for plenty of people (though it's slightly more Romance oriented). And for them it is the best way to market their book. It is easier to scale and more constant than book reviewers for them.

There is no single best way to market a book. All ways take a lot of time and effort these days. This is one approach. Just as approaching reviewers is one.

 

[pmmg]

Yeah....One thing I am very guarded about is my energy. Too many things are out there to steal it, and I fiercely don't let them. Its too much to try to do both, run a channel or some other marketing outlet, and write and make ready for production, the story. When one is done, I will move into the other, but not before.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I will only Youtube if and when I want to, I see it as something that can help maintain contact, and people will tend to buy from people they "get to know" more than a faceless stranger. As a primary sales contact, I'm not even going there.

Yeah....One thing I am very guarded about is my energy. Too many things are out there to steal it, and I fiercely don't let them. Its too much to try to do both, run a channel or some other marketing outlet, and write and make ready for production, the story. When one is done, I will move into the other, but not before.

 

[Devor]

There is no single best way to market a book. All ways take a lot of time and effort these days. This is one approach. Just as approaching reviewers is one.

I was onboard with everything you said until you got to this one word that I bolded. Marketing and sales are two fundamentally different things, and if you want to be successful, there is no way to skip the selling part. If you aren't selling, then no amount of marketing is going to work for you.

Approaching reviewers is a way of selling. Not only that, but it's a way of getting them to sell your books for you. That is how books sell whether it's through the New York Times bestseller list or on the TikTok shop. Marketing isn't enough. Maybe there are other ways to sell, but there is no way to skip the selling.

And, how many people do you think Shadiversity had to approach and sell on his YouTube channel to get it where it is?

 

[Finchbearer]

You wouldn’t be able to casually have a YouTube channel and expect that to generate sales (through marketing). You would have to post regularly and make it a committed thing. Instagram could be less committal, but TikTok has overtaken Instagram for book marketing by far, and you’d have to be committed to that too.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

All in all, I'd rather hire a publicist, heh heh.