The best videos don't always have the most views

The best videos don't always have the most views.

Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 45 seconds

Hello there. Welcome to the Curious Creator.

Monday is here and that means it's time for some insane creator knowledge.

1/ Creator Quote - Rick Rubin, the man with a very impressive beard.

2/ Bangers of the Week - One video. One podcast. One book.

3/ Weekly Ramble - It isn't all about the views.

Let's go...

Creator Tip

I’m reading a book...

A damn good book titled The Creative Act by Rick Rubin.

It’s mandatory reading for ‘creatives’ but for now, a quote from it.

“Oscar Wilde said that some things are too important to be taken seriously. Art is one of those things. Setting the bar low, especially to get started, frees you to play, explore, and test without attachment to results.”

YouTube feels very serious at the moment.

People becoming billionaires, the sole focus on views, and optimal strategies (yes, I suppose I’m part of the problem).

Where did the fun go?

There’s nothing wrong with having big goals but that shouldn’t come at the expense of enjoying the ride. Have fun.

Bangers of the Week

This is without a doubt the best video I’ve watched on storytelling.

Andrew Stanton was the 9th employee at Pixar and played a crucial role in the creation of Toy Story and WALL-E.

Need I say anymore?

I’m not a medical professional and this is not medical advice (I’ve always wanted to say that).

But this is worth it.

If any of you want to ‘optimise your creativity’ through practical tools and tips, this is the podcast for you.

It’s so good, it gets two mentions in today's newsletter.

Rick Rubin is a famous producer, creative and almost philosopher at this point.

His recent book The Creative Act is for anyone who deems themselves a ‘creative’.

Made up of a bunch of short lessons from his life, it can help you wherever you are in your creative journey.

You won’t regret reading it.

Weekly Ramble

Part of the MrBeast-ification of YouTube that has transcended his niche is the focus on view maximisation.

He's the leader of the ‘algorithm optimisation’ revolution, centring around the mentality of views at all costs.

Now look, there’s nothing wrong with this at all.

If you want to go and get the most amount of views and subscribers as possible, be my guest.

But what I want to emphasise today is, it’s not the only strategy.

Maximising views forces creators to focus on width, rather than depth.

Sacrificing the connection with a few, to appeal to many.

The beauty of the internet is you don’t need to do that. Regardless of how niche your content is, they'll be an audience for it. It might not be millions, but it'll exist.

As soon as you focus on maximising views, you have to neglect the niches and instead on focusing on what might appeal to the most amount of people.

“But views pay the bills!”

Wrong.

If you rely on typical monetisation techniques like AdSense, then yes. But if you focus on building a deep connection with a niche audience, monetisation is easy.

You can make products no one else is making or host events that don’t currently exist.

True fans will buy anything you sell.

And aside from money, true fans are just way better than casual fans.

They’re people that really f*ck with what you’re doing. Giving you the ability to build a strong community that resonates with what you’re trying to say.

And to me, that’s what making content is all about.

Thanks for reading. Jay Alto.

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