"The A.L.I.C.E. Files" Had Our First AMA, And We're Gearing Up For Season 2!

We're coming up on a year since I started putting together the trailer and first episode for The A.L.I.C.E. Files, the audio drama series I launched on YouTube in partnership with Alice Liddell which is best described as Alice in Wonderland pushed through the filter of The X-Files. It's been a year of learning a bunch of new audio and video editing tricks, writing scripts, plotting the overarching story, and trying to reach out to find an audience who is willing to dive into the world of these strange stories to see where it is we're going.

We recently finished Season 1, and we're digging into episodes for Season 2, I wanted to let folks know that we put together an Ask Me Anything to wrap up our initial collection of stories. I also wanted to take a moment to talk to folks who made it this far, because we really need your help in keeping this project going right now.

Don't worry, we aren't asking for money. We just need you to click a few buttons on our behalf... shouldn't take more than 30 seconds or so, and it would make a huge difference to us!

So come on in, and let's see if our tales can entice you!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Answering Some Questions (And Making A Simple Request)

To begin at the beginning, after the Season 1 finale we first put out a video from Director Harrington, asking as many folks to give us their questions and curiosities as possible. And while we did have to prod a couple members of our audience, we did get quite a selection of queries when all was said and done!

And once we had all of those questions (and we collected a few others from social media posts and the comment sections of our other videos) Alice and I sat down in front of the camera and decided to give our viewers what they wanted... as best we could, at any rate!

While we're making good progress (in my opinion, at least), we've got a long way to go before YouTube actually starts sharing revenue with us... and that is where the favor I have to ask comes in.

For folks who don't know, when I proposed this YouTube collaboration between Alice and myself about a year ago, my hope was that we'd be able to get the YouTube channel monetized, and that we could turn it into a legitimate source of income. These things take time, but my hope was that after a season of stories we'd have built up some momentum, and we'd be close to hitting a couple of goals. If it took us a little longer, well, that was okay, because we had plenty of time and ideas to go through.

Well... it turns out that time is something that isn't actually on our side anymore.

First and foremost, to get a channel partially monetized (which gives you access to super fan tips, subscriptions, etc.), YouTube requires you to have 500 subscribers, and 3,000 watched hours in a single 365 day span. To get a channel fully monetized (which is all the previous stuff and you now get a cut of the ad revenue on your videos) YouTube requires you to have 1,000 subscribers, and 4,000 watched hours of content in a single 365 day span.

At time of writing we have 396 subscribers, and somewhere around 2,100 watched hours. So if we keep a steady pace, we should clear that first hurdle by the end of 2026... unfortunately, things are changing in January 2027.

And it is giving us a MASSIVE headache...

I wrote about this over on my sister blog The Literary Mercenary in the post Thanks To YouTube's Recent Announced Changes, The A.L.I.C.E. Files Needs Your Help!, but if you didn't see it, the short version is that YT is doubling the amount of watched hours it takes to get fully monetized. So instead of 4,000 hours (which already takes something going at least a little viral to actually clear), you'll now need 8,000 hours in a single 365 day span... or 22 hours a day, every day, without fail, for an entire goddamn year!

If that sounds like they're just trying to avoid ever paying smaller creators a part of the revenue the site rakes in from advertising... yeah, that's basically what's going on.

And while that is bad enough, there's even more difficulties on our horizon. Because the real Alice is being forced to relocate herself rather rapidly, and moving on practically no notice is expensive. I gave the details on how folks can help in Author and RPG Designer Alice Liddell Is Moving, And Really Needs Our Help To Make It Happen!, however, the short version is that she needs as many income streams as she can possibly get to try to land on her feet.

So if you want to make sure this project gets to at least finish the second season, and that we can keep the lights on and food in the cabinets, please go to The A.L.I.C.E. Files on YouTube, subscribe to the channel, and give Season 1 a watch! Because if we can get at least 104 more subscribers, and just under 1,000 more hours, we'll at least be able to eke out enough to keep telling more stories in the short-term.

Thank you in advance to everyone who can help. We're strained to our seams over here at the moment, but I'm hoping that if we call the banners we can get enough folks to rally behind us that we can storm YouTube's battlements, and actually make them share the bounty that we're earning!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Table Talk. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my more involved audio drama channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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