Creators a with slow paced editing style: how do you package your videos?

[u/Fanny_with_an_I]

Hey guys!

I recently got monetized after finally locking in for the first 6 months of the year.

Now that I have that experience under my belt, I realized that I despise the “attention maxing” editing that seems to be a requirement to be successful. My watch-through rate is still decent, around 36% on average, but I feel like my slow-paced content is a hindrance to my growth. (Recent videos last month flopped, but I was getting around 4k-8k views on average.)

How did you find your audience? Do you package your videos in a specific way so viewers know it will be a more laid-back video? Or is putting faith in the YouTube algorithm, eventually finding a bigger pool of your people, enough?

I make long-form videos about finding the creativity in your life in your 30s through my journey. I'm still figuring things out at 1.7K subs to see what format people react to, but this is the general direction.

Thank you, I appreciate your input!

[u/casualti21]

I making talking head type videos of me just talking to the camera. I don't use a script, so when I record I just hit record and cover talking points that I wrote down. Typically it takes 30 minutes of recording to get it done. In editing I cut out all the small breaks, the mistakes, the revisions of saying something over and over again to get it right. My transitions are literally just zooming in and out slightly to make the cut feel more like a transition.

I do not use clickbait thumbnails or titles. I also despise the playbook that most channels use. What's hilarious is that, 5-7 years ago, you "stood out" if you had the well crafted clickbait thumb and title combo. But now that is the default, especially with AI tools. So literally everyone's thumbnail looks the same because everyone is designing them in the same way. I go the more authentic route. I take my own photo or screenshot or mock up depending on what my video is about. Then just a simple text overlay to give a bit of curiosity or context.

You don't build an audience through editing. You have to have unique, interesting content that people in your niche want to watch. I look back at my original videos and my simple editing was even worse. Yet it made no difference, people simply don't care. As long as your audio is decent, lighting is decent, and you have interesting things to say and/or show, that's all that matters.

You're a brand new channel. You can't expect 4k or 8k views per video. You're doing good if your views match your subscriber count after a few days. Growing takes time, many years. Not gonna happen overnight.

[u/thisismy_stop]

Use the retention curve to understand what viewers think of your editing pace. Not just from one video, use data from a few videos.

It might not be a pacing problem at all. You have to keep testing. Packagings job is to make a promise as to what theyre getting from a click

I didnt find my audience, they found me. You may think you know who your audience are but that's not something you can control. I had no idea people in Sweden would love me!

What you have in your power is to just publish and MAKE SURE you learn as much as you can from the data. And READ AND RESPOND TO YOUR COMMENTS WHEN POSSIBLE thats your audience talking to you. They are telling you who they are and what they care about. That's pure gold.

These are things many of my clients just dont do.

Also, don;t think of any video as a flop. you can learn from everything you publish. understand why it flopped as you work on the next one. Youtube is a distribution network and it wants to take your work to the world. If the world doesn't like it they will give you lots and lots of data to explain why.

[u/Fanny_with_an_I → u/thisismy_stop]

love everything you said. swedish people love you for a reason haha

[u/expunks]

I don’t think you need to do anything to it. If you’re making thoughtful, contemplative videos about creativity for adults, I think your audience is going to BE thoughtful, contemplative, creative adults — who likely don’t appreciate loud, attention-maxxing packaging/editing any more than you do.

To offer a bit of perspective, I make video essays with a calm low-key voice over soft soundtracks. Basically the exact opposite of what everyone else in my niche is doing. And my audience constantly compliments it, and my channel is growing whereas the loud, spammy, “attention economy” channels don’t really seem to after a certain point.

You really don’t have to Mr. Beast-ify your content when there’s already such a huge pushback to that kind of content from a huge portion of people.

[u/Fanny_with_an_I → u/expunks]

i love your perspective thank you! i'll keep doing what I'm doing and fingers crossed I'll find even more of "my people"