This is really helpful, thank you! I have been wondering what a lot of this stuff means and Google didn’t really clear it up for me. I am a bit obsessed with the follower numbers at the moment, but I’m new so maybe it’s just the excitement of it all.
I suppose, one day, I'll actually write something on this platform which isn't a response to something to wrote (or response to someone else's response to something you wrote), and, in that year, I'll probably never look at stats.
Way back when I was doing my YouTube tutorials I paid attention, because 1000 subs meant I could turn on monetization (and, over the years, I made a couple hundred bucks).
After that, didn't care.
I think, just before Covid, I realized I'd quietly gone from 1000 to over 5000 subs, which was amusing, as I'd not made a video in two years at that point.
Since then I did kinda pay attention to analytics, but would wait a month after releasing quite infrequent videos. Of course I had to laugh, because new videos would immediately lose me 100-200 subs. Which I figured was just someone remembering I existed and going, "Yeah, not using Hitfilm anymore, so don't need this."
Don't take it personally.
I did look at the YouTube analytics for that channel two months ago, but that was more because I was putting the channel in "archive" mode - unsubcribing from all the channels I was following which would never ever do relevant Hitfilm content again, and making sure channels I had wider interest in were subbed via my other account.
Oh, yeah, one of your YouTube unsubs in October was me. Didn't need you on both accounts, and, again, the odds of Simon Jones every doing another Hitfilm tutorial are down there with something really miniscule which I don't feel like finding a proper metaphor for.
Anyways... To my surprise, that channel is still picking up about 5 subs/month. Not bad for a dead channel full of obsolete tutorials for dead software. I mean I left it up on the off chance someone might find it useful.
Anyways, I've spent orders of magnitude longer on this comment than I have an analytics. As you said, it's not my JOB, so I don't care. My tutorials were useful at the relevant time for a couple thousand people. Good enough success.
Simon, thanks for the information. I was recently trying to figure out what “direct” and the like meant in Substack’s analytics. That stuff was overwhelming at first. Now, I’m able to sit quietly and study the information as necessary. I am paying attention and using it to inform what I do for growth.
Do you know Jason William Karpf? He’s also a Science Fiction Writer, here on Substack.
This is really helpful, thank you! I have been wondering what a lot of this stuff means and Google didn’t really clear it up for me. I am a bit obsessed with the follower numbers at the moment, but I’m new so maybe it’s just the excitement of it all.
“The sarcasm is strong in this one” Obi wan probably said. 👍👍👍
The Prisoner! That's exactly how Substack feels sometimes.
Love this post.
Thanks Simon. Very helpful and encouraging as I start on Substack.
I suppose, one day, I'll actually write something on this platform which isn't a response to something to wrote (or response to someone else's response to something you wrote), and, in that year, I'll probably never look at stats.
Way back when I was doing my YouTube tutorials I paid attention, because 1000 subs meant I could turn on monetization (and, over the years, I made a couple hundred bucks).
After that, didn't care.
I think, just before Covid, I realized I'd quietly gone from 1000 to over 5000 subs, which was amusing, as I'd not made a video in two years at that point.
Since then I did kinda pay attention to analytics, but would wait a month after releasing quite infrequent videos. Of course I had to laugh, because new videos would immediately lose me 100-200 subs. Which I figured was just someone remembering I existed and going, "Yeah, not using Hitfilm anymore, so don't need this."
Don't take it personally.
I did look at the YouTube analytics for that channel two months ago, but that was more because I was putting the channel in "archive" mode - unsubcribing from all the channels I was following which would never ever do relevant Hitfilm content again, and making sure channels I had wider interest in were subbed via my other account.
Oh, yeah, one of your YouTube unsubs in October was me. Didn't need you on both accounts, and, again, the odds of Simon Jones every doing another Hitfilm tutorial are down there with something really miniscule which I don't feel like finding a proper metaphor for.
Anyways... To my surprise, that channel is still picking up about 5 subs/month. Not bad for a dead channel full of obsolete tutorials for dead software. I mean I left it up on the off chance someone might find it useful.
Anyways, I've spent orders of magnitude longer on this comment than I have an analytics. As you said, it's not my JOB, so I don't care. My tutorials were useful at the relevant time for a couple thousand people. Good enough success.
Simon, thanks for the information. I was recently trying to figure out what “direct” and the like meant in Substack’s analytics. That stuff was overwhelming at first. Now, I’m able to sit quietly and study the information as necessary. I am paying attention and using it to inform what I do for growth.
Do you know Jason William Karpf? He’s also a Science Fiction Writer, here on Substack.