This is the second book in my series where I clean up litter from a local wetland while reviewing a book shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. I'm still very new to making book videos, so I'd be really grateful for any feedback you might have. Thanks!
With the change to the monetisation rules, it feels like many of the youtube subreddits are full of people panicking and strategising for ways to get their 4000 watch hours and be grandfathered in under the current rules, when the requirement changes to 8000. I feel like a fish out of water. I am not monetised, and I can't imagine a situation where I ever would be. There must be other people making videos without the goal of monetisation, right?! I'm starting to feel like the only way to be a "real" youtuber, and the only legitimate reason to make content, is to make money. I have never dreamt of becoming a professional influencer, and I've never felt more alien in youtuber spaces. Please tell me I'm not alone!
What is the etiquette of tagging the author in your book review videos? I recently made my first book review video, and I tagged the author in the short version of the video on Instagram. He untagged himself and ignored the long form video on youtube.
I made an 11.5 minute long, really complimentary video, about a book that was very recently shortlisted for a conservation writing prize in England. The winner has not yet been announced. My channel is normally about my conservation actions, so I used b-roll of cleaning up litter from a wetland with voiceover for my review instead of just my face looking at the camera. I had kind of assumed it would be ok to tag him, because he is currently trying to gain momentum for the book before the winner of the prize is announced. Also, people are seldom offended by videos about picking up litter, especially conservationists! But the author untagged himself from the short version of the video and has entirely ignored the long version. I just wanted to check if I crossed a line by tagging him? Do people making book review videos usually tag the authors?
He has posted a couple of recent Instagram stories about how his book is receiving less attention than the others shortlisted and wondering if it is because he is neurodivergent. The book is published by Bloomsbury, so it's not exactly unheard of! But, my video is currently the only one reviewing it on youtube, and my review is on the first page of google when you search for the book's title. He has not asked me to take it down, but it is my worst performing video by a looooong way, so I could take it down if it's not ok.
I previously did a lot of beach cleaning, but I am currently living right by a wetland so I am now cleaning the wetland instead of a beach. I find myself in need of a net for scooping bottles out of swampy water. I tried making one with wire and paracord, but it was useless. Ideally I would prefer to make one (out of trash?) because I live in rural Chile and buying something is usually expensive and inconvenient. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I have an essentially limitless source of trash to repurpose, but none of the necessary design skills to come up with a design!
I am listening to the audiobook versions of the nominees for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing as I clean up litter from my local wetland, and then sharing my thoughts on the books with the videos of the clean up. I removed 4 bags of recycling bottles, 2 bags of landfill and the frame of a chair (?) in the time I listened to "Neurodivergent, by Nature". I think sharing a book review here is pushing the line of "related to environmental cleanup," even if almost all of the footage is litter picking, but this tiny video shows the 1st haul.
(Also, if you work in conservation, or have even a passing interest in neurodivergence or education, 100% pick up this book!)
I usually make videos about cleaning the beach and environmental stewardship, but I'm currently working on a short series about books from the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. This is the first review of a book from the shortlist. I would love feedback on anything you think I could do better. I will be making 7 of these in total, so I am hoping to progress.
My video is a book review of a book which was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. Instead of just looking at the camera while I present the book review, it's about 85% B-roll of me picking up litter from a wetland, the plants, animals and mushrooms I saw there and recycling all of the cans and bottles.
and I would be extremely grateful for feedback. https://youtu.be/x-unVIhxBTM
I just moved to a new area (Concepcion, Chile) and there are a couple of caches in the city. new My plan is to hide a couple of new caches in beautiful areas which have a litter problem, and encourage people searching for the caches to pick up e.g. 10 water bottles and take them to the recycling point on the way home. The first part of the cache would be in the beautiful area and the 2nd part quite far away at the recycling point. Is there a limit to how far apart the 2 parts can be? Is it "bad etiquette" to use geocaching in this way?
It's day 8 of endless rain and I've had no electricity for 4 of the last 8 days. I film outside and I'm just waiting for a break in the storm to get out and film the last bit of my next video. It was supposed to be finished on Thursday, but obviously I've been delayed. While I wait for the rain to end, I'd love to know what motivates you to make videos.
I approach youtube in a "mission first" kind of way. I started out cleaning the beach and organising beach cleaning events, and then realised I could reach more people if I filmed what I was already doing. Now I make videos about beach cleaning and living in an eco-friendly way.
>!How did Sloan know how Liam died? Even Liam's squad didn't know it was Violet's "fault." How did Sloan even know he was dead? !<
>!Is it ever explained what Kaori's dragon is doing, saying and thinking while his rider is busy writing the world's least informative guide to dragonkind? Surely, unless that dragon is really stupid, s/he knows that Kaori is missing loads of information, has loads of mistakes etc. Is that dragon just sat in the back of him mind watching him struggle and laughing to themself? !<
>!Jesinia and her 2 scribe friends ride dragons to Aretia. Are they the only non-bonded riders we see riding dragons? It's casually glossed over like it's normal, but it's kind of insane. It's their first time even being close to dragons. Violet was scared of the dragons after crossing the parapet, and she had weeks before she had to be really close to them. The three scribes just get on the first dragons they meet?!!<
There is a flair for "litter cleanup" and the rules says that litter picking hauls are explicitly exempt from the ban on posting pictures of trash, but I've been trying to share a litter picking post since yesterday and it keeps getting rejected. Originally I shared a video, which they said was self promotion, which I understand, but then I rewrote it to remove the video and just show the litter and it's still being stopped as self promotion. I'm so confused!
The TikTok trend of Lucky Scoops is kind of my worst nightmare. It gamifies over consumption, is gambolling for children and they're selling dropshipped junk at insane markups. So I decided to make an eco-friendly version where each bead represents a different type of beach plastic instead of a different Aliexpress item. I would like to encourage everyone else to make a similar video and use the hashtag "LuckyScoop" to try to change what it means. If you have time to pick up some beach litter and make a video this weekend, please give it a go.
I live by the beach, so pretty much all of my detrashing is on the beach. Usually, I just find little things on the tide line or blowing on the sand, but this was a LOT of stuff. The way I filmed it makes it look like I had to carry it really far, but it's closer than all of the walking implies. Haha!
I am planning to make a video about the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, but I am struggling to figure out when. Can anyone who has made videos about literary prizes please give me some tips about what worked for you? The timeline for the prize is:
- 15th July: Longlist announced (last year this was 12 books)
- 5th August: Short list announced (last year this was 7 books)
- 17th September: Winner announced
I read about 1 book per week on average, so I don't think I can read 12 books between 15th July and 5th August. Is it "normal" to make a video about the longlist without having read them all yet? Or is it better to wait? The shortlist is probably more realistic. I'd be really unlucky if none of the books I read between 15th July and 5th August made it onto the short list, so I feel fairly confident I'd have enough time to read the remaining short listed books before the winner is announced.
When you're making videos about literary prizes, do you just talk about what you thought about the books, or also predict a winner? Do you make a longer book review about the winner after it is announced? If one of the books is related to the ocean, sand dunes, plastic pollution or litter, I'd probably make a video specifically about that one.
I've not made videos about books before, my videos are all about picking up beach litter, so I'd be really grateful for some tips from someone who has done this before!
One possible workaround for the longlist - shortlist 12 books in a month challenge is to try to make a collaboration. I haven't really come across any booktube collaborations. Is that something people do?
I am trying to connect with other creators making environmental content. I make videos about picking up litter from the beach in Chile, with a slant towards encouraging environmental stewardship. Would love to connect with other creators in the general area of environmentalism.
Title: I Found an Illegal Fly-Tipping Site on the Beach… So I Cleaned It Up
Summary: I make videos about cleaning the beach. Normally I just walk / kayak around picking up litter, but I found a dump site in the sand dunes with loooooads of trash, so I made a whole video about cleaning it up.
TLDR: This probably isn't the thread for you!
My day job is teaching, so I have a horse in this race. I see how short my student's attention spans have become. There has been a decline for a LOOOOOONG time. Even back in 2014, newspapers started using "long read" as an exciting way to get people to read longer articles again. But the quality and length of students' attention has plummeted exponentially since then. Now, I meet students who physically cannot pay attention at all. Just to give you one example from my own career, when I first started teaching, I showed a Human Planet documentary episode with a 60 minute run time, and the entire class were transfixed the whole time. Today, a class of the same age struggle to pay attention for a 90 second clip. I teach teenagers, not kindergarten. Most of them have never experienced a flow state, as they tend to want instant gratification and are unwilling to pursue excellence in anything because it requires effort.
I worry that we're creating a society where the difference between being capable of sustained thinking or incapable of sustained thinking is going to become THE new criteria for predicting future success. There are very few careers available for people who can't concentrate for more than 90 seconds. But it's more than that. So many people gain fulfilment and satisfaction from music, art, sport etc, all of which require tolerance of delayed gratification, extended concentration and flow state. Can you have a satisfying, happy, healthy life if you can't pay attention to anything?
I refuse to cater to brain rot with my videos, but my videos are about cleaning the beach which is not a niche likely to appeal to people with no attention span anyway. This isn't really something which impacts me directly as a creator, but it is something I think about a lot. So, do you think content creators have any kind of moral obligation to use the skills / creativity / time they spend making videos to help their viewers, or at least avoid damaging their brains more? Should we care about the impact our videos have on shaping our cultural norms?
I don't know if this video is allowed. It's definitely self-promotion! I did a challenge where I picked up plastic from the beach everyday for 49 days. I noticed a surprising number of people who stopped me on the beach, thanked me for my work, told me how much they love the beach, what passionate surfers they are and how lucky we are to live here... and left their litter where they had been sitting when they went home. This video is trying to figure out what that is all about. The footage is mostly litter I picked up, which is why I hope it's allowed here, but there's also some cute dogs and some pretty beach scenery.
TLDR: I met a a couple at a public lecture. I had a nice conversation with the woman and we had a lot in common. It turned out they are Youtubers with a bigger channel (about 2000 subs) than mine (about 100 subs) but in a similar niche. I suggested we meet up in future for a non-Youtube event, because I wanted to become friends. They said they didn't want to come, because they're only working with bigger creators to grow their channel, but that I should look them up, subscribe and comment on their videos because I am their "ideal subscriber." I'm offended!
I live in a very small town in a rural part of Chile, but I was recently in Santiago because I was on TV talking about my beach cleaning project. My Youtube channel is still very, very small (113 subscribers) but I have been on a couple of TV news segments and in some magazines and radio shows, talking about my beach cleaning project.
While I was in Santiago for the TV thing, I also went to a public lecture / demo about filming. There were a lot of Youtubers there, as you'd expect. I met a couple where she is Australian and he lived there for years too, but they moved back to his home in Chile to build an eco homestead on his families' land. They were the only other people speaking English, and by coincidence, they're also making videos in an eco niche and live pretty close to me. If you know the shape of Chile and the concentration of people (especially foreigners) in Santiago, you'll know how insanely unlikely that is. I wanted to make friends.
I suggested they come to my town and we walk our dogs together on the beach and invited them to attend my beach public cleaning event and BBQ in a couple of weeks. I didn't suggest filming together, just meeting up. I actually explained that the combination of families with small children and pro surfers with stalker groupies who attend the beach clean means that I don't ever film there at all. I was hoping they'd come and I'd talk to them at the BBQ and make an English-speaking friend, because I'm not really good enough at Spanish for it to be easy for me to make new friends in Spanish. They said no because they're prioritising only working with bigger Youtube channels at the moment to grow their following. But they encouraged me to find them on Youtube, subscribe and write comments because I'm their "ideal subscriber". I was trying to make friends! I'm kind of offended / upset that this was their reaction. Would you interpret this response as an insult?