November is here, and there's no time for slowing down now! The year might be drawing to an end, but that just means we don't have time to waste as we draw that much closer to 2027. There's things to cross off the list, after all.
Before I get into that, though, I want to take a moment to give my usual shout out to the folks without whom I wouldn't be here, and couldn't keep doing what I'm doing:
- Chris Dundon (To Valhalla, my friend!)
- Brenton Ayres (You're doing more than your part to keep the wheels turning!)
- Tracy Bailey-Mathews (Hopefully some of what I write is helping with the campaign!)
- Joy Von Holle (One of my oldest and most appreciated supporters on this list!)
My patrons are what make these blogs possible... so if you want to make sure I keep putting out fresh posts, consider heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, and consider making a pledge today. Or, if you don't want a subscription, consider tossing a tip into my jar on The Literary Mercenary's Ko-Fi page instead!
But now, onto my positive announcement!
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| Because couldn't we just use a bit of good news right about now? |
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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!
It's Almost Payday For The A.L.I.C.E. Files! (Sort Of)
It's been about a year since I sat down and first started putting together episodes for the YouTube channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files, which I launched in partnership with Alice Liddell. For folks who haven't heard me talk about it before, it's an ongoing audio drama series where we dramatize a variety of fiction, while also following Alice at her new position at the mysterious Carroll Institute... so it's basically Alice in Wonderland pushed through the lens of The X-Files.
If that sounds like your thing, check out the trailer!
When Alice and I set out on this journey, our goal was to get this channel monetized. We love telling stories, making videos, seeing people comment, etc., but at the end of the day we have bills to pay, and there's only so many hours in the day. As such, if we want to focus on expanding a project, that project needs to at least cover the utility bills.
Now YouTube has two tiers of monetization for creators. I've talked about this before, but if you don't know, the first tier unlocks at 500 subscribers and 3,000 watch hours. At that level you can receive tips and subscriptions from your fans, you can create special badges for people to put on their profiles, and it generally gives you access to more tools. Then the second tier (the more important one, in my opinion) is the one that cuts you part of the ad revenue. That unlocks at 1,000 subscribers, and 4,000 watch hours.
And before you achieve those goals? Well, you're shit out of luck. Which means that Alice and I have been putting out a video a week for much of this year all because we're hoping to meet these goals... we haven't made a single red cent off this channel yet.
The good news is that, as of today, we're at 431 subscribers (meaning we only need 69 more, nice) and roughly 2,934 watch hours (meaning we only need 66 more) in order to unlock that first tier of monetization!
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| It wouldn't be much, but it would be an honest living... |
The challenge we're dealing with (as I've mentioned in other places) is that YouTube is going to move the goal posts come 2027. Once the new year hits you'll still need 1,000 subscribers, but you'll need 8,000 watch hours before they agree to share ad revenue with you. That is, frankly, absurd. It would mean you've acquired 22 watch hours a day, every day, for an entire year... because your watch hours only count within the past 365 days. After that, your balance starts rapidly dropping unless you're getting more views now than you did before.
So, what I'm asking of folks this week is to please subscribe to The A.L.I.C.E. Files, and give the first season of stories a watch, if nothing else. You can even put on this playlist to get them in order, if you just want to take a listen! Lastly, I've been sneaking in subtle references (and not so subtle ones) that offer some clue as to what's coming up in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for unusual blips, strange fonts, and more if you enjoy a little mystery!
We would love to hit that first level of monetization by the end of 2027... but hey, why not shoot for the moon? I know it isn't likely that 569 people will even read this blog post, but if we got that many people to hit the subscribe button, and each of them watched just the first season, we'd have all the subscribers we need, and enough bonus watch hours that we'd be well on our way to our first payout!
So please, just hit that button, and see whether the show is something you'd like to help support? It costs you nothing, and it might be the difference between us being able to expand and tell more stories, and having to put this project on the back burner for a while. We really don't want to do that, but we need help if we're going to keep it going.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. 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 the ongoing 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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
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