Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
After more than six years of making videos and live streams, the writing channel is finally monetized on YouTube. I’m not expecting to make a lot of money as AdSense isn’t the end-all-be-all of monetization. But it’s still quite exciting to get a few bucks each month.
Since starting the writing channel back in 2018, I’ve helped a lot of people find their paths. One of my favorite moments of the day is when I see a comment about how I’ve impacted someone in a positive way. And those moments are worth more to me than money.
However, I wouldn’t mind making a few extra dollars here and there in the process.
My ultimate goal is to get to a point where I don’t have to worry about clients. Currently, they make up more than 97% of my income. If I can drop that percentage down below 50%, I can afford to move on and work solely on the blogs, videos, and books.
Of course, that’s going to take a lot of effort.
How Much Do I Expect to Make?
Since advertisements were enabled this morning, I really don’t have solid data to estimate income. However, YouTube uses AdSense for video. And AdSense is what I’ve been using on the blog for several years.
So, if I take the average this blog makes per view, which is about $0.00752 ($7.52 RPM / 1000), then currently, the channel will make about $1.76 per day (6,556 views / 28 days).
That’s about three times what the blog generates.
Estimating 31 days in January, the channel could make as much as $54.56. In reality, most of the biggest channels on YouTube rely less on ad revenue and more on store sales, sponsorships, and memberships.
Keep in mind that this is basing the numbers on AdSense for websites. I don’t know what the RPM for a writing channel on YouTube generates. I’ll have a much better idea by the time January rolls around. It could be more or less.
Still, I can make an extra $56 go pretty far with what I want to build in 2025.
What’s the Plan for the Writing Income?
While I will be tempted to pay a bill or two with YouTube income from the writing channel, I’d rather reinvest it into building the channel up a bit. At the moment, I can afford to reinvest the money as my client income pays for virtually everything.
Remember, though, my plan is to eventually retire as a freelance writer. That means putting money into something that helps me get to that point is a priority.
Paying for New Content
First, there are a lot of products and services I would love to review that cost quite a bit of money. Sure, I can probably review the free versions of those tools, but it wouldn’t have the same impact.
For instance, I would really love to dive into a review for World Anvil. But a lot of the tools I want to highlight in the review are locked behind a paywall. That means I don’t know if the manuscript writing function is any good, but it’s a high selling point for fantasy authors.
Marketing services, graphic designers for book covers, editing tools…I’d like to review as much as I can. After all, reviews are the top type of content on most blogs and YouTube channels.
Affording a New Camera
I’ve been using an Aluratek “4K” web camera for several years now. And although the quality between it and the Logitech is night and day, I would love a more professional quality.
There are quite a few out there, and since the cheapest is around $800, I need to be a bit anal about buying one. I really don’t have an extra $800 that I can just toss around in the hopes the camera will be what I need.
In any case, a new camera is easily second on my list of things I want to buy for the writing channel.
Adding an Online Store Through Fourthwall
Now that I hit the second tier of monetization for YouTube, I can add a store. One of the options for connecting a store is Fourthwall. And I’ve been wanting to give Fourthwall a try for more than a year now.
Of course, that means I need to get off my butt and start designing something nice for the merch.
As I said, if done right, merch sales usually surpass ad revenue. Also, keep in mind that I am new to the YouTube monetization thing, so it might be completely different for a writing channel.
Putting a Bit Away for Investments
In order for me to generate more than $5,000 per month in dividends, I need to invest approximately $400,000 in stocks. It’s one of my goals to generate enough income from monthly dividend payouts to make up a full-time income.
I’ve got a very long way to go. Still, long-term stocks often yield better returns than most savings accounts.
Keep in mind that I am not an investment guru. The stock market can be extremely fickle, especially in the current state of the world. But it’s something I enjoy doing and usually make a bit of money in the process.
Well, at least I did back in 2019. This is the first chance I’ve had to start rebuilding my portfolio after selling everything off due to family emergencies.
Why Did the YouTube Channel Take So Long to Grow?
A writing channel doesn’t generate the interest that most other niches achieve. Helping people with freelancing, blogging, and self-publishing often doesn’t have the reach that something like gaming or fitness channels have.
Now, there are some outliers who wind up doing exceptionally well with writing channels. Most of them, though, are…shall we say…visually pleasing to watch. I’m sorry to point it out but attractive people often get the most attention. That’s just a way of life.
Another key element to building a writing channel centers around consistency. When you don’t publish regular videos of topics people actually want to know about, it takes longer to get momentum going for the channel.
Topic choices themselves will greatly impact your viewership.
For instance, the number one video for views in the last 28 days on my channel is the video showing how to set up a book in Reedsy Studio with 686 views. The number 10 video is the new step-by-step guide for writing and publishing through Reedsy sitting at 88 views.
The difference between the number one and ten spots is vast, meaning the rest of the videos just aren’t as interesting or engaging for viewership. And I have 796 videos on the channel.
Not to mention that most of my videos are tutorials. Once someone learns how to do something, it’s less likely they’ll return. They got what they need and have no reason to hang around.
Using tools like vidIQ can make a world of difference in what videos you produce. vidIQ will scan through your channel and use what works best for your audience to provide some ideas about what you should create next. In fact, vidIQ’s ideas are some of my top-performing writing videos.
What’s the Next Milestone?
I have a few different milestones I’d like to hit for the channel in 2025. It’s good to have certain goals, especially if you take the time to break them down into something actionable.
For instance, 1500 views in 48 hours would be nice. But how am I going to accomplish that? You can’t force people to watch your videos. Instead, the goal would be to research some of the best keyphrases or topics for the channel and create a video people want to watch.
With that being said, I wouldn’t mind hitting the 1500-view mark inside of 48 hours. Based on the AdSense numbers from the blog, that would all but guarantee a $100 payout every month.
Based on the performance of my videos, that means more reviews and tutorials.
Blog vs Vlog Content Starts in January
Starting at the end of January, I’m going to publish a blog vs vlog series for the year. It’ll be similar to the ones I’ve done in the past as we pit a writing blog against a writing channel to see which grows the fastest. Since both of my platforms produce similar content, it’ll be a virtual one-to-one comparison.
It’ll be interesting to see which one grows based on the same three-per-week schedule.
When all is said and done, I am betting the channel will grow faster. Google’s algorithm for website content is growing more anal every year, making it far more difficult to succeed as a blogger. So, it’s going to be interesting nonetheless.
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