My YouTube Channel

I posted a video from a TV show onto YouTube on my original channel called Xanapus several years ago and it went a little viral. When I say viral, I don’t mean it had millions of views, I mean it got about 20k views or so. Since then it has around 45k views. Anyway, when it had reached a certain number of views, YouTube handed me monetization on a silver platter. Wonderful, right? Well, today they took it away from me.

So here’s the new rule. In order for me to be monetized, I need 1000 subscribers and I  need to have 4,000+ watch time minutes per month. Well, I have the minute views, I just need the subscribers. I currently have 548 subscribers (as of right this very second) and I am sure that number will grow, eventually, but I don’t think it will go up if I don’t beg people to subscribe to my YouTube channel, so here I am, on bended knee, but not really because I have bad knees lol, but you know what I mean.

By the way, I am not relying on monetization for an income, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to receive a check for $100 every now and then. I’m on a very limited income with Disability, and I was getting $100 every few years from YouTube, and it did help when I was getting them because then I could actually afford to buy groceries. I am not dying of hunger though, so don’t feel obligated, I’m just saying everything helps, you know what I mean?

I cannot make good quality videos with the equipment I have because all I have is my phone, which apparently takes horrible grainy video in my bedroom. I have acceptable lighting with my desk light and my craft light and I have a cell phone mount that attaches to my desk. I don’t have an acceptable space to film since the only place I can record is my bedroom on the edge of my bed. My life partner of almost 24 years doesn’t take my vlogging seriously. In fact, he looks at me like he’s about to 5150 me every time he sees me talking to the phone lol. He thinks it’s OK for other people, but not me, so I literally have to wait for him to get on the phone with someone, sleep, or leave to be able to film. We have a good relationship, he just doesn’t take anything I do seriously. He didn’t even want me to write or publish my book. Besides all that, I have a brand new computer, so editing video doesn’t take forever like it used to, but I am terrible at editing and the video is still grainy from the phone, so my bad editing is another reason I have terrible videos.

All that said, I still ask that people subscribe to my boring bad quality, no good editing and no effects channel lol.

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE LOL.

Here’s my channel. www.YouTube.com/DiaryofaGayNerd. Thank you for your time and thank you for subscribing.

UPDATE: I have to make an update here because I do believe I have misunderstood the terms of monetization. Here is an email I received from YouTube explaining to me what criteria I must meet to be eligible.

As of today, your channel, Diary of a Gay Nerd will no longer have access to monetization tools associated with YPP because it doesn’t meet the new threshold of 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. If you meet the new threshold at some point in the future, you’ll be automatically re-evaluated for YPP. The reviews typically take 1-2 weeks.

So when I originally read the requirements, I wasn’t paying attention to the word hours, I thought it said minutes, and I assumed that because when I looked at the stats (screenshot from above) it shows minutes. When I saw the email today, I saw that it said hours and it gave me a little more of an understanding.

Here is a screenshot of the last years worth of views, and again, it only shows minutes, it doesn’t show hours.

I Googled how many hours is 54,894 minutes and the answer is 914.9 hours. So… I do not in fact meet the hours requirements. I bet if I had more videos (I currently have 97) and if I had more followers, those yearly watch time hours will rise to meet the requirement.

Again, not in any hurry. I’m not desperate, so no big deal.

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Video Editing

So this vlogging thing has been quite the experience, and I am learning so much from the editing perspective.

Let me just say that I absolutely hate my face lol. I know that’s a horrible thing to say, but it’s true. I hate the way I look because the right side of my face near my ear is sunken in and the left side of my face near my ear is bulging out. The reason is, as I’ve mentioned a couple times in my videos is that I had a calcium deposit stone in my Parotid gland, aka the saliva gland, and they had to do a Parotidectomy surgery to remove the entire gland to be able to get rid of the stone. The left side is bulging out because there is a stone in the left one now. I mention this because when I have to edit my video, I obviously have to look at my own face for the length of the video and I cringe lol.

Ok, now getting back to the editing part. I am learning so much about the editing process. First I was using Windows movie maker to edit my videos, and then I discovered Wondershare Video Editor, which is a great program with one huge downside. My computer is so old and so slow that when I watch the video to do the edit, the video plays at half the speed and it sounds horrible. For me to edit the words I say, I have to use Windows Movie Maker, then I import the videos into Wondershare to add the transitions and to add the outro image with my like and subscribe icons as well as the social media icons.

Up until now, the videos have looked pixelated because I was letting it shrink the video down to 1280×720. The videos looked horrible, so because I wanted a better looking video, I was editing them with Windows Movie Maker for awhile, and then I stopped making videos because it was hot, but also because I’m terrible at editing.

So I just decided to start using a different method when editing video because I want the video to have better quality, so I changed it from the way I’ve been doing it which was a recommended way for YouTube to “video for PS3.” They don’t have video for PS4 for some reason, but these are the new specs for my most recent video.

I think I remember why I was using the video for YouTube method before. It would probably take maybe 10 minutes to render a 10 minute video. This video was 26 minutes and 4 seconds, and it took the entire night to render. I started it at probably 2am and I woke up at 8am and it was still going. I went back to sleep and woke up just less than 2 hours later and it was STILL going. I think it finished at 11:30am.

Even though I don’t like that it took such a long time to render a 26 minute video, I would much rather allow it to take almost 10 hours to render if it’s great quality. I’m not quite sure I would say it was great quality because it still seemed a bit off, but it is what it is. So my videos will look better from now on. Now if I can only learn how to add funny sounds and silly movie clips and have more energy. I need some go-go juice.

Check out my latest video.

YouTube

So… have you been watching my YouTube videos? What? You didn’t know I was on YouTube? Well, better late than never, eh? Check me out. http://www.YouTube.com/DiaryofaGayNerd.  I’m a sensation! Ok, so I’m not a YouTube sensation, but I’m working on it lol.

I think as with anything, my personality is shy in the beginning, then I start coming out of my candy coated shell until eventually I’m singing and dancing with a lampshade on my head. I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but I’m much more comfortable on camera, and I’m not even editing anymore. When I say editing, I mean editing out the parts where I start whining how I can’t do this and how I can’t think straight. Now I can literally talk for 20 minutes until I realize OMG I’ve been talking nonstop for 20 minutes! My first few dozen videos were about 10 minutes or less, now I’m like crap it’s going too long lol.

So check me out when you get the chance and see my personality in action. No, really, I need the views, likes and subs lol. PLEASE check me out lol.

Wondershare Video Editing Software

As a new vlogger, I feel like if I don’t have good editing and effects for my videos, perhaps no one will take me seriously on YouTube. I actually don’t expect anyone to take me seriously. Here’s my philosophy, expect the worst, but hope for the best. That’s just the way my life has always been for me. When I was expecting the best, I ended up in a shit storm, so I figure why bother expecting anything good to happen. If good happens, then yay.

So today I was editing this video of our friend Audrey Chavez at Martin’s Meats and I thought to myself, I cannot edit this video without being able to add pictures to the screen. It wouldn’t be right to not show in an image with picture in picture what she was talking about. I also don’t have any way to add a like and subscribe icon, icons of social media and add a video in the screen at the same time. The only way I can do that is with picture in picture. I bought a program that I really wanted on Steam, but it wouldn’t install, so luckily Steam gave me a refund. I ended up buying Wondershare Video Editor from Amazon for only $39.99 as a digital download. I actually downloaded Wondershare’s newest editing software, but my computer is so slow, that I couldn’t watch the video I was editing, I needed an older software.

Wondershare Video Editor is just what I was looking for. It’s easy enough for me to use and it allows 3 pictures in picture. I was able to have the video of Audrey talking and I had a picture on her left and her right. That’s exactly what I needed. Microsoft’s free editor didn’t have picture in picture and other programs that I tried that did have a picture in picture feature didn’t give you the option of having more than 1 image. I was also able to resize the image, and maintain it’s aspect and move it around the screen to the perfect spot. The only thing I could not do was type text. It has a text feature, I just haven’t figured that out yet lol.

I still have much more to learn, but at least I have an idea of what I’m doing so I can edit better looking videos for YouTube. I even bought 20 more mini DVD-r’s so I could continue vlogging for as long as I want. I can do 2 to 3 vlogs per disc. The only problem is the quality of the video. My DVD Camcorder is grainy. I would love a new camera, but that’s in the future.