YouTube for Authors: How to Use YouTube to Grow Your Audience

When discussing platforms for book marketing, many people may point to social networks like Instagram or TikTok, but what about YouTube? While YouTube is a powerful search engine and is used for many purposes, it’s still a social media platform. It allows creators to connect with their audience and reach new readers in a way that wasn’t possible before and still isn’t on many other platforms. So, how can authors use YouTube to reach more readers and build their audience? Read on to find out!

Why use YouTube to grow your platform?

If you’re trying to build or grow your author platform and promote your books, and you enjoy making video content, YouTube (YT) can be an excellent choice! It allows you to engage/connect with your readers and give behind-the-scenes sneak peeks on your books, writing process, and publishing journey that fans love! It also allows you to connect with a community of writers (AuthorTube) and collaborate or support one another on your journeys. YT, unlike other social media platforms, is also a search engine, which means the videos you create–if optimized for search engines–can be found by readers years after you make them. This is called evergreen content, and it allows you to find new readers for your books long after you’ve posted and promoted your video, making this platform more powerful than the rest.

Questions to ask yourself before starting a YouTube channel

1. Do you want to be on YouTube? Building a platform on YT takes a lot of time, energy, and work, and if you are not careful, it could take away from time writing your books. Don’t do it unless you genuinely want to, not because someone else suggested it or you think you should because you’ve seen other authors do it.
2. Are you comfortable in front of the camera? This can take time to get used to, but it will get easier with each new video you create!
3. Do you have the time and energy to build and grow a YT channel?
4. Can you be consistent? Show up weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly? It’s harder to grow if you only post monthly, but quality is key. It is better to post good-quality videos that people will watch and engage with once a month than to post several low-quality videos that get few views or engagement every week.
5. Do you have enough content (video ideas) to create for a long time?

How to get started with your YouTube account

Before you can start uploading videos, you'll need to create a channel. YouTube will ask you to create a Google account if you don't have one already. Once your account is created, you will have the option to create either a personal channel or a channel for your brand. You may want to use a Brand Account if you'd like your author content to be separate from your personal content (for example, if you write under a pen name).

Tips to reach new audiences on YouTube

Branding

Make sure you have a clear, defined author brand. This is not just about colors and font, though that is part of it. Your voice—the way you communicate—and your personality are also part of your author branding. How much of your life do you want to share with your readers? Some authors may be comfortable sharing bits of their personal life or family with their audience, and others might not want to share anything personal at all. Either is fine. It’s up to you to decide. Do you like putting on a persona on camera and making funny, witty jokes? Do you use a lot of sarcasm and humor, or do you prefer to be more serious and straight to the point? Is there a certain way you like to open or close your videos? How do you greet or say goodbye to your audience? All of this is part of your author's voice. It’s how you communicate with your readers, which is as much a part of your branding as your logo, colors, or font.

Engage with the community

While YT is a tool that you can use to search for different topics and learn new things, it’s still a form of social media, and the purpose of these platforms is for users to engage and connect. Find other authors on YouTube within the BookTube and AuthorTube communities. Both communities are helpful to be a part of when you’re just getting started. Don’t just expect to post videos and call it a day. Watch other people’s videos, comment on them, and subscribe to ones you like. This engagement will allow others to get to know you and connect with you and can lead to amazing collaborations later on in your journey.

YouTube offers more features than just uploading videos, too! You can go live through YouTube Live, for example, and answer reader questions or host a live writing session. Authors can also upload YouTube Shorts (vertical videos under 3 minutes long) to attract more subscribers to their main channel.

Plan your video content

When planning your YT videos, figure out your strategy and what content you want to make early on. Do you want to create writing-related videos, such as sharing writing craft tips or your process? Or would you prefer to create book-related videos sharing your favorite recommendations, tropes, genres, etc.? Unless your ideal reader is also a writer, it’s probably better to stick to more book-related content. Do some research on content made by other creators in the community who write in your genre, see what resonates with you, and which videos get the most engagement. This can help you determine which videos you enjoy creating that your ideal readers will want to watch.

Find your own unique angle. Do you love writing historical fiction? Share some fun facts about the time period you’re writing about with your subscribers. Want to share how you create characters? Do a mock interview and answer questions as if you are your character. Whatever spin or angle you put in your videos, make sure you’re not imitating other popular creators. Be yourself.

A few last tips for planning your videos:

• Create “content buckets”–such as book trailers or writing craft tips–to make planning videos easier
• Group videos from your “content buckets” together into a playlist so viewers will engage with your content longer
• Learn how to use cards and end screens; they help with engagement by encouraging viewers to click on your other videos or subscribing to your channel
• Learn how the algorithm works and use it to your advantage
• Add graphics to your videos to keep viewers’ attention longer

Grab viewers with your thumbnail

You want to create thumbnails that are consistent with your brand (colors, fonts, style/types of poses, etc). Experiment with thumbnails to find what works best and then vary them slightly (poses/images), but keep them on brand. This will help viewers recognize your videos quickly while still making it clear these are different videos. Make sure your thumbnails (and video title) clearly indicate what your video is about. Viewers will be hesitant to click on a video if they’re not sure what it’s about.

Try not to add too much text to the thumbnail, as this can make it difficult to read when the image is smaller. You also don’t want to repeat your video title on your thumbnail. Instead, use something catchy or intriguing to draw viewers in. For example, if you create a book recommendation video and title it “10 Mystery Books with Surprising Twists,” rather than repeat that title in the thumbnail, you could put “Can You Guess the Killer?” or “Books That Will Keep You Guessing Till the End.”

Equipment

You may be concerned that creating a YouTube channel will be expensive, but you don’t need a lot of fancy tech equipment to get in front of the camera! There are many different cameras, microphones, lighting equipment, etc, that you can invest in and range in prices from $20-$1,000s no matter your budget. Still, many people start with what they have, usually just a smartphone and/or laptop or tablet.

If you plan on starting slowly and investing more as you go, here are some suggestions for what to buy first.

• Lighting is everything and can make all the difference in how much people engage with your videos. Good lighting should be one of the top priorities.
• Audio/sound should be the next priority. If your video is hard to see or hard to hear/understand, you increase the chances of viewers clicking off it pretty quickly.
• Editing software may be necessary early on if you’re using a PC, but if you have a Mac computer, you’ll already have iMovie installed. If you absolutely hate editing videos and can’t outsource this task at the moment, consider doing more livestreams on your channel. Livestreams allow you to skip past the editing stage.
• Cameras on smartphones have come a long way, and you can get good-quality video from most phones these days, which is why investing in a DSLR camera is at the bottom of this list. You can also use the camera in a newer iPad/tablet or laptop to film if you’re just getting started.

Ready to create YouTube videos?

Remember that creating content on YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint. It may take a while to grow and see success, but if you use the tips above, you’ll be on your way to building your platform on YT and connecting with your readers!