YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts
Reviewed by Robert Pritchett
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Authors: Alan Lastufka, Michael W. Dean
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596521141/index.html
Released: Nov.
2008
Pages: 301
Requirements:
Access to video-making software for online viewing and a computer to edit
content with.
Strengths: Does a
good job promoting virility for video content in YouTube.
Weaknesses: These
guys donŐt use Macs. So here really is no treatment of Mac-based solutions
for doing this work.
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Introduction
Want to make a splash on
YouTube? Even go viral? You've come to the right place. This book is written by
two veteran 'Tubers who live their art and know what they're talking about --
especially Alan Lastufka, a.k.a. "fallofautumndistro," who has over
10,000 YouTube subscribers and millions of views. Alan and co-author Michael W.
Dean show you how to make a quality video, and how to optimize, encode, upload,
and promote it. This book can't promise you'll be rich and famous, but it can
tell you how to make great video art, and what you need to do to get your work
seen. You'll learn about:
á
Storytelling and directing
á
Shooting, editing, and
rendering
á
Creating your very own
channel
á
Broadcasting user-generated
content
á
Re-broadcasting commercial
content
á
Cultivating a devoted
audience
á
Fitting into the YouTube
community
á
Becoming a success story
Join
Alan, who makes part of his living from YouTube, and Michael, a successful
filmmaker, author, and D.I.Y. art pioneer. They'll take you from the basics of
gear to making it big on YouTube, with a focus on networking and interaction.
You'll also sit in on informative interviews with YouTube stars LisaNova, Hank
Green (vlogbrothers), WhatTheBuckShow, nalts, and liamkylesullivan.
Alan
and Michael understand viral marketing -- and they know what it takes to get
your work on everyone's YouTube radar. And, once you read this book, so will
you.
What I Learned
Okay, I was expecting something
a bit different than; "this book is better than all the others, because we
don't give you empty promises".
At least the authors are up
front about "you are not going to become rich off YouTube
video-making". The money there is will come in from GoogleAdSense (if you
allow it) and if you have enough viewers and volume and you might be possibly
considered for the YouTube Partnership Program, again assuming you have over
100K viewers watching what you produced. Yeah, right (in Bill Cosby
"Moses" voice).
The key is having enough
"umph" with your YouTube videos to get "there". The
"there" is through linking, networking, commenting on other sites,
responding to other videos with your video, you know, "social
networking" stuff and making a general nuisance of yourself online,
assuming you do not have a real life and like to live in virtual space. Oh, and
getting "viral". Friends, friends of friends, etc.
And this link -
http://viralvideowannabe.com/ytlinks
Conclusions
The book is a quick read and I'm
excited that they added the website, so the book doesn't obsolete itself
anytime soon. The fun begins by having content, making sure it doesnŐt violate
anybody's copyrighted material and permissions have been granted and bandwidth
has been allocated. I'm waiting for the likes of ComCast to step in and cabosh
this by having both us and you pay for capped bandwidth.
