Experiments in Video

Terrified

This entry is most likely going to end up being a transcript of my first appearance in online video.

The truth is, I am terrified of video. I've thought about wading into that medium before now, but I've always shied away from it. I'm a writer, I thought, what do I need to make videos for?

And so, other than my totally awesome book trailers, I've kept out of the vlogging scene. And not only because I think my voice recorded is the weirdest sounding thing I've ever heard. Also because it seems to be that it's a saturated medium. You could say the same for print, but at least there I know I've got unique, original, interesting thoughts and stories to share. It seemed whenever self-published authors start making videos, it's all about how to interest your sales. And they use the same tactics they just outlined to try and get you to buy some course about how to increase your book sales. That's one hamster wheel I'm just dying to not be on.

Force the Issue

However, now that I've decided that I'm going to launch a Patreon campaign, it's time to say hello to video. Also, I've been invited to join a Google+ Hangout during Nanowrimo to talk about authorly type things. And so it's time for me to suck it up, start honing my public image, and get comfortable with being on camera.

So, I think basically what I'm going to do is aim for a video once a week, and really just talk about the things that I've always talked about: stuff that interests me. If you've been reading my blog regularly, you'll know that this includes speculative fiction (since that's what I write), philosophy, music, popular culture sometimes, robots, automation, artificial intelligence, classic literature, and maybe even theoretical physics.

That's it. That's my introduction to my videos, vlogs, YouTube channel. Whatever you want to call it. Welcome and I'll work on this. We'll talk more later.

(Thank god I already have some video editing skills. At least I don't have to reinvent the wheel on that one!)

Okay, here's the video version:


I'm going to keep them unlisted, and not going to enable comments on YouTube. Not comfortable with that yet. But hey, free feel to comment here! Bye!