I launched my YouTube channel in 2012, probably to go along with the books I was publishing. I don’t remember. This was over a decade ago, and I’ve long purged whatever those videos were. It was part of the same blitz that had me buying my own domain here at mcoorlim.com, and getting my mailing list set up.
I don’t think I did much with the YouTube site… reading excerpts from my book, random vlogging, segments of podcasts that I either guested on or hosted. I tried to be part of AuthorTube, an informal network of authors who tubed, but I didn’t see much point in marketing to other authors if I wasn’t selling “How to Write” nonfiction.
When I pivoted from fiction to game dev a few years ago I started using the channel for devlogs and gameplay trailers. That was a little more successful, I guess, bringing me from a dozen or two subscribers to almost 80. Still, I didn’t invest a lot of time in the channel – I liked making videos, but was focused on the Blown Cartridges retrogaming channel and the Baby Got Back Issues comic book history channel – both of which amassed hundreds of subscribers in about a year. Not strong enough growth to become anything more than hobbies.
Accordingly, when the time came to buckle down the job hunt, I put both of those on indefinite hiatus. The devlogs and trailers on my main “Michael Coorlim” channel counted as portfolio material, so I kept doing them as I made small games on the side.
A month ago I decided that narrative analysis essays might also do my portfolio some good, so I set off on that – first doing a video on the ancient graphical adventure Mission: Asteroid, and then an analytical playthrough of 1982’s Ultima I.
That, for whatever, blew up. Commenters praised my voice, my measured delivery, my explanation of the game as I played through it. In three weeks I’d earned 30,000 views and 800 new subscribers. Then a thousand, meeting the criteria for a YouTube monetization.
Not entirely sure what to do with this, I’ve planned to cover Ultima II and III, and then cover a few other games of the mid 80s before returning for Ultimas IV, V, and VI. We’ll see how it grows, see how it goes. If there’s some utility here beyond hosting for portfolio pieces.