Day 3 - The Problem with YouTube Teachers
As I’ve been researching for this project, I’ve discovered there are a MILLION self-publishing educators online. Do you look them up before or after you watch their videos? At all? Do you ask, “What qualifications does this person have?” I do. I look up almost every writer I watch on YouTube. You know what I find? Omitting the rare super beast, almost ALL of them have one to two books published. That’s it. Having one book published makes you competent. It doesn’t make you a pro. Even if that book sold twenty-thousand copies and has a zillion reviews on every platform, you are still not a pro. One of the fundamental problems with the internet is unskilled teachers acting as though they’ve earned a four-year degree by doing very little. Let’s look at an example: If my friend knits one scarf and then teaches a class on the subject of knitting - it’s not that she doesn’t know how to do it, she’s just not a pro. The old adage must still be true: Those who can’t do, teach. I wouldn’t expect my friend to sell courses on how to knit because she completed one scarf. Is it even a good scarf? I must buy it to find out. Honestly, who will buy the books of every YouTube teacher they come across? Most of us just watch the video and move on. Maybe some people stick around. I won’t.
This is where critical thinking comes into play. A lot of YouTube educators say things like, “I’m going to show you how I published my book” or “I’m going to help you publish your book.“ Think about that for a second. That’s not misleading, but it positions them as an authority on the subject. I did it, so can you. By positioning yourself as a teacher you gain credibility because we trust teachers. Wait! You’re thinking, They don’t call themselves teachers. They call themselves “coaches” or “consultants.” You know why? The words coach and consultant make us think about guidance and they’re less formal. Anyone can call themselves a consultant and no one is claiming to teach, they’re just passing along friendly information - for $250 bucks an hour and a decent paycheck from YouTube. Capitalizing on naïve writers is gross.
There is a dizzying amount of courses out there. Who are these coaches? Why are we listening to them? Because they claim to have tons of subscribers and sales and we want tons of subscribers and sales. We believe in them. It sounds good, their numbers look legit. It’s marketing. Just the way Coca Cola convinces us we need it in our life; that it’s necessary for happiness. Perhaps some authors are great at marketing and only semi-decent at writing. It takes many hours to plan, record, and edit a YouTube video. You’re telling me these writers are putting up daily and weekly videos AND managing a successful e-pub business? Really? Why isn’t their hair falling out? What exlir of vitality are they consuming? Or are they losing their shit behind the scenes?
Watching these perfect animals leads to “not good enough-itis” which we all experience at one point or another. We can’t compete with tens of thousands of subscribers. Most of us struggle to put one book up. When the kids are screaming and the house hasn’t been dusted in a month, how the hell am I supposed to write a series and manage twelve social media accounts? And then, am I supposed to start a YouTube channel too? All while looking adorable with ring flash lighting dressed in cute clothes and sitting in front of cool furniture that wasn’t picked up on a curb? Oh shit. What about taxes and business plans and return on investment? What about my day job? I’m ignoring my family! I just want to be a writer. Is this what it means to be a writer in 2019?
Calm down, Melanie.
The big question here is: Why does anyone think completing a thing makes them qualified to teach? Like with the friend/scarf analogy. My friend might be great at making scarves, but is she an expert scarf maker? Shouldn’t she qualify as a novice or amateur? The unscrupulous part is, none of these authors tell you they’re novices. They want you to believe they’re pros. And maybe they believe they are, but are they? Do they have degrees in creative writing? Secondary degrees in marketing? Teaching credentials? What, exactly, qualifies them to capitalize on teaching after one book? What, in their minds, allows them to write one fiction novel, sell ten thousand copies, and then peddle $250 courses on e-book publishing? No seriously. Think about it: Would you take a master class from J. K. Rowling? Hell yeah! John Smith who wrote a 50 Shades knock off and got lucky? Maybe John Smith is just a kick ass marketer. Maybe all ten thousand of his “sales” weren’t sales at all. Maybe he did a free giveaway. Maybe he bought all those email addresses. How do we know? We don’t. Isn’t omitting the truth the same as lying?
Choose your information wisely. Don’t fall for novice teachers making less money on books and more money on courses. It’s a racket and it’s pissing me off. Why? Because, while I think my friend could technically teach a class on knitting scarves, she doesn’t claim to be an expert. And maybe these YouTubers don’t exactly claim to be experts, they often omit the fact they’ve only written one book. With the democratization of the internet comes an infestation of unskilled educators. And we’re just taking their word for it. Perhaps it’s because self-publishing is not easy and they feel all that blood sweat and tears must amount to more than one moderately popular book. They have to make a living, don’t they?
Let me repeat that: THIS IS NOT EASY. This is hard as hell and it sucks your soul out through your skin. So why do it? If you’re writing to make money, you’re in the wrong business. I write because (I swear to God) if I don’t, I’ll die. And it’ll be a slow, painful death. It’s been this way my whole life. I am knowingly throwing myself into the hellfire of self publishing because I’m curious. That’s all. I just like to see what’s around the next corner. Am I a master? Hell no. Do I know what I’m doing? I already told you I don’t. Can I teach you about story structure? I can teach you what I know. I know plenty about the technical side of writing and I have good tools in my tool belt, but I am not an expert. I am a skilled novice. If my Dad teaches me how to adjust a timing belt, does that make him a teacher or someone sharing a skill set? Here’s the difference: My dad isn’t teaching me to make a buck. He’s teaching me because sharing information is a fundamental part of being human. It’s how we learn. Mom didn’t teach me how to talk when I was a baby because she wanted to capitalize on talking babies. I don’t know. Maybe she did. If I make a dollar from selling Lessons in Love, I’ll be super stoked. I’m not here for the money. I’m sharing because I think readers will find this information valuable. I also really like sharing and blogging. If I’m real, I like the attention. I’ve been blogging for many years in various capacities. Does that make me an expert? It means I know a lot, but I’m not an expert. I’m also not trying to pass myself off as an educator and I’m not selling a six-week course.
Truth is, the self publishing world has been exploited to death. As I understand it, the self-publishing gold rush was around 2013. It’s now 2019 and the market isn’t just flooded; it’s Katrina-level flooded. This goes for all creative industries. Online consultants make it look easy: Publish Your Book in Ten Steps! I can tell you, now on Day 3, there are over ten steps. Try, ten thousand.
So what qualifies someone as an expert? To become an elementary school teacher, you need at least a bachelor's degree - although some institutions require supplemental certification and child development credits. At bare minimum, that’s four years to teach little kids about basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. So when an author spends six months to a year contending with the self publishing world, puts a Lightning Thief rehash online, sells a bunch of copies, and realizes there’s more money to be made in selling how-tos…it begs the question: Are you even a writer anymore?
The self-publishing field seems to have more burn outs than successes, but you still have to out-dance the future burn outs. If you make it to the finish line, you’re awesome - but you’re not qualified to teach. Not yet. One piece of advice I often come across is to promote your book by promoting your website. How? Blogging. One way authors get new likes and subscribers is by sharing information - like I’m doing. You want to keep those eyeballs on your product and viewing those pop up offers. If you can get readers back to learn more from you, they’re likely to buy your books. Logically, it makes sense, but I don’t know. Others ahead of me reflect on the gauntlet they’ve just completed and think, I got it done. I need blog content. I can share what I learned! I’m not saying authors start out to scam you, but the result of the grueling effort to publish a book must make dividends somehow - and if it ain’t through book sales, it’s through knowledge sharing.
One book is a great accomplishment and I don’t want to diminish that. However, there needs to be more truth in advertising. When you see a YouTuber has 100k subscribers, ask yourself why. Vet your teachers like you would a doctor. Your career is on the line and time is precious. I will help you weed through it. Together we will scythe through the thicket and find our bliss together. Writing is about bliss. Don’t be discouraged by the sheer (insane) number of self publishing authors. Just keep swimming. When you see a YouTuber teaching others how to sell books online, look them up. Make sure they’re as skilled as they act. Don’t just take their word for it. Of course, no one is going to say, “Hey y’all. I just published one mediocre book! Pay me money to teach you how!” Be discerning.
Just remember, self-publishing a book on Amazon makes you smart, but doesn’t make you Stephen King. It just means you successfully navigated the video-game like maze of the e-pub world - with each level getting harder and harder as you go along. It doesn’t mean you suck, but it can’t mean you’re a pro. It just means you’re capable of sticking it out. Hooray for you. You get a cookie. This leads to a whole other topic of what success actually is. I can sum that up very easily: Success is not giving up. I just saved you fifteen minutes watching a TED Talk. You’re welcome.
Agree? Disagree? Agree to disagree? I welcome your feedback because part of learning is listening to other opinions.
What I did today:
Watched: How to Format a Book in Word | A Step-by-Step Tutorial Very helpful. Vivien has one book listed on Amazon and claims to have quit her job to become a full time writer. From one book? Anyway, she’s decent at formatting and the video is helpful. I assume she’s realized there’s more $$$ in YouTube than writing.
On the train - Listened to Self Publishing School SPS 028: Getting Your First 10,000 Readers with Nick Stephenson - Looking into for more information. Nick has 10+ books listed on Amazon and seems to have switched gears to teaching.
Spent more time on this blog post today than anything else. Probably not a smart idea. I’m in school and felt a little overwhelmed today.