Hello there, everyone. This is Aira, and I just want to say
Wow
Just just wow I am
Absolutely blown away by the events of the past few days
For those of you who may not be aware
I've been working hard on this channel for a few years now
Making videos when I can, doing lots of let's plays
plenty of Minecraft, the occasional song, and a few game critiques and reviews
Those critiques and reviews will be more common pretty soon, too.
I'm working on a really in-depth critique of a game right now
Which I hope will be out really soon
I'm afraid I tend to be kind of rambley and I know this update might get a little longer than I mean it to so
Let me just quickly give you all the "too long; didn't read" version of the video without the details
One: welcome, all newcomers! Thank you so much. I'm so pleased to have you here, you have no idea
Two: the video upload schedule for this channel will stay the same for now
Which is Wednesdays and Fridays with occasional Mondays, but after the school year ends there will be a lot more content
As I will be making big changes to my job and my schedule
Three: I have a new Discord server (link below) and Patreon (link below)
I'm currently trying to raise enough money for a modded Minecraft server for me and my mom and
Higher level patrons will be able to play on there with us once we get it up and running
Okay, that's the short version now on to the long version with all the intimate details you could ask for
For the past couple of years I've been doing this as a labor of love. This is a hobby for me
I have never made one single cent from any of this
I've just been doing it because I enjoyed it and wanted to do it, and I'm a grown up
and I can make videos if I want and
Yes, by the way there have been a few comments recently implying that I am a small child
I'm a grown woman
not a small child. Woman, not child, just to clear that up
As of last Friday morning, I had
127 subscribers. I know the exact number because I check it every day
And I celebrate every time I get a new one
You can't imagine the joy that I felt every time that number ticked up
And I realized that all my hard work, all the stuff that I love making, is good enough
That another person wanted to come back for more
Well, folks, that all changed Friday afternoon when Everything, the game, was released and my subscribership
tripled in 24 hours
I was very fortunate in that I was able to get an advance copy of the game
(thanks to my day job)
And I was able to play it, analyze it, and prepare a nice review before it even came out
That put me in a position to have a video ready the moment in unlocked in the Steam store and get a sudden massive
influx of traffic
I was hoping to get a few new subscribers out of that
But I was in no way expecting a turnout like this. As of the moment I'm recording this, that video has
1108 Views
That may not sound like much to those of you who are used to big-name YouTubers with millions of subscribers
But up until this point, I've averaged around 15 to 20 views per video I post. This is such an
unbelievably huge jump in views that I am just completely blown away
So hello new Subscribers!
Hello new audience of lovely people who watched my review of Everything and liked or commented or subscribed. The overwhelming majority of you wrote
Truly lovely things and I am touched and honored that you hold such a high opinion of my work
I really put a lot of hours into that review and it is
Incredibly validating to see it so well received
I did see a lot of comments from people saying that they were surprised by how few subscribers
I have and hope that I would find more success soon
First of all thank you, oh my God
Thank you. In case any of you are genuinely interested in why someone who creates quality content would not find success
Well, there are just too many people on YouTube, plain and simple. You usually find the videos you watch by searching for keywords
But Youtube's results are not curated. The top search results are generated based on how popular the videos already are
How many views, comments, likes, even dislikes they have
the most popular videos are the easiest to find which means if you're not already popular it can be almost impossible to be found
A terribly made video by an already popular Youtuber with a hundred thousand views is always going to be easier to find than
a really well made video by someone with only a handful of followers. That's just the way it works
Finding success is largely a matter of luck. You usually can't be successful if your content isn't good
But having good content is hardly a guarantee of success
which makes me all the more grateful to have all of you here now
and since so many of you are new, please allow me to introduce myself properly
I'm Aira. I grew up in America, but I live in Central Europe now
I make my living as an English as a foreign language teacher
and as a writer and an editor
sadly these jobs take most of my time and energy, especially teaching, which is so
Incredibly draining it's difficult to describe to someone who hasn't experienced it
This is actually the main thing holding me back from making more videos right now. In fact
I made a decision a little while ago: this is my last year of teaching. I love the job
I love my students, but I just do not have the energy to do it anymore
I've already worked things out with my writing and editing job
And I'm going to work more there, more at home, and this will leave me with enough energy to devote to my videos
This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I'm finally in a position to do it
And I'm just super excited at how things are going to change after the school year ends in a couple of months
So for the time being my upload schedule is going to remain the same
regular videos on Wednesdays and Fridays barring illness or some other kind of catastrophe and
Occasional videos on Mondays just whenever I can find the energy to get them up
As I mentioned before I'm going to be doing more reviews and critiques and of course
I'll keep doing in my let's plays, especially of Minecraft
Which is one of my favorite games to play and also the most popular one for videos
Regarding Minecraft there's something I've really been wanting to do for a long time
But I didn't have the means: I want to get a private modded server hosted for me
And my mom to play on and use for videos
We have a lot of technical issues at the moment because I'm hosting our games from a single player world. I live in Europe
She lives in America, we're six time zones apart, we have to coordinate our play time, which usually only amounts to a few hours
per month
And we have pretty nasty lag issues sometimes because it's just not possible to get a very fast internet connection where I live now
We've been discussing the possibility of hiring a server for a while, but to get one capable of hosting the Modpack
We're using, which is Foolcraft at the moment, it was just too expensive
we can't afford it without help. So with this influx of lovely new people I've decided to take a chance and start a
Patreon. There is a link in the description of this video and another link on my main channel page
It's a small icon in the bottom right of the header image
It doesn't look like much just yet
But I'll keep working on the page and the rewards. As of right now
If you support me with a dollar or more per month you get a rank with some privileges in my new Discord server
Yes, new Discord server, more on that in a moment
If you support me with five dollars or more per month you get a higher rank on Discord as well as the right to join
Me and mom on our multiplayer server once it's up and running. This reward will take some time. First
We need to raise enough money, it'll be forty dollars a month
So that's my first patreon goal, and once we get close to that I'll start setting up the server
I'll be adding more rewards and levels and stuff in the future
But that's what I have for a start
I can tell you that once I reach that forty dollar goal
And we finally have our server the next goal will be to raise enough money to hire a dedicated
subtitler to subtitle all of my videos
Subtitles are really, really important to me. I just don't have time to write them
For most of my videos. It really bothers me that I can't do that
And it's a very high priority to make that happen
For the time being if any of you guys want to volunteer to help write subtitles
You are absolutely welcome to do so and I would greatly appreciate any help
So that's Patreon. Hooray!
As I mentioned I also have a new Discord server up and running. The address for that is down in the video description as well
Like the Patreon it's still pretty basic
But there are a few channels in there
Including one for patrons only, and I will be active on there and happy to chat with you guys
There's a place to be suggestions and make requests as well, and I will be paying a lot of attention to that channel
I make these videos because I love it
And I would keep making them even if no one was watching but it's also important to me that you guys enjoy watching them
So if there's something you really want to see don't hesitate to let me know. I really want hear from you
Well, I think that's everything for now
thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and just... just thanks for everything. Seriously, guys, and
This is from the heart: for the first time in my life
I have a large group of people encouraging me to pursue a creative endeavor
Which I care a lot about and which brings me just great joy. You have no idea
How much it means to me to have you here, and I look forward to seeing you all again in the next one
