Happy New Year! (Channel Update & Plans for 2022)

Hey Readers!

Hope you all had a chill and safe holiday season! I'm writing this for everyone who watches the channel -- patron or otherwise -- because I'm definitely due for an update on where things are and where they're going as we head into 2022!

So, first of all, I apologize for the impromptu week and a half long break I decided to take from posting videos in the later half of December. I had every intention to at least post a video for the Wednesday after my Spider-Man movie ranking video, but nothing popped up and I didn't want to force myself to come up with something just to meet a deadline. Coincidentally enough, fellow YouTuber F.D. Signifier released a video that week critiquing other YouTubers that qualify as BreadTube, featured my Candyman video essay, and evaluated via his time and expertise on the platform that the reason why my viewer count doesn't necessarily reflect my subscriber count may be because I'm cranking out too much content whenever I succeed in meeting my traditional upload schedule.

So after a bit of reflection, I decided for 2022 to trim down the amount of my monthly video releases to less than half.

Previously, I released videos every Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday (an average of 7-8 regular and 2-3 special videos a month), and I've done so going on 6 years and some change. Now the plan is to release a traditional video Wednesdays at 3pm EST, with the third Wednesday of the month reserved for either video essays or a Proper Movie Trilogy installment for a 6pm EST premiere. I'll also be slightly switching up the format of the traditional videos, in order to better flow with how I want to approach my video topics, present my thesis, and showcase affiliation and sponsorship opportunities.

This will allow me to produce longer videos on topics that are more in-depth than the 10 to 12 minutes I usually dedicate for them, since I'll have more time (and energy) to properly flesh them out. And with these videos being planned ahead of time, there's a chance that my usual, my reactionary/theory videos that are traditionally shorter will be easier for me to produce if I just feel compelled to make one on a popular/trending subject/topic that week as well. Those videos will more than likely be released Mondays at 3pm EST if that's the case.

That doesn't mean the Film Friday segment is going away, though! I have every intention on continuing that segment! However, as you've seen with the last four that I produced in 2021, I will be refining it to match my take on critique/analysis take as opposed to the Channel Awesome/Red Letter Media angles that initially inspired the segment to begin with.

But if you feel that you'll miss my shorter opinion pieces or want to see my thoughts on geek and nerd stuff as its released, then I'm happy to announce that plans to bring back the Readus 101 website in January are currently underway!

While there's no schedule regarding how often they'll be released as of now, I do plan on releasing written opinion pieces for news and thoughts regarding the current happenings in geek and nerd culture that would otherwise be a video. I'm in the process of getting a newsletter going for those who want to keep up to date with any new content released there traditionally, but updates across my social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, specifically) will be promoting whenever a new article is released there!

And for my patrons, thank you so much for financially contributing for as long as you have! The decision to put my full effort into Readus 101 and all the plans I have for both the channel and Readus Entertainment overall is thanks to your support giving me the confidence necessary to do so. With that being said, I know my changes to the content I'm creating for 2022 will need to be properly reflected in the reward tiers for the page, and I'm in the process of seeing what I need to add and subtract to make them worthwhile.

I also know that there are a few that I haven't completely committed to -- whether out of depression/burnout fatigue, or all-around laziness/forgetfulness -- and I deeply apologize. If there's anything you'd like to either see added or better implemented to the tiers your part of or want to be part of, feel free to reply to this post with them. Hopefully enough input will be generated to where I can appropriately adjust the tiers by the time February hits, and the way I'm better handling content distribution will allow me to properly follow up on everything!

I think that about wraps up everything as far as announcements goes, though! Once again, thank you all so much for your support. Whether its financially through Patreon, random donations and merchandise, or just watching, liking, and sharing my videos to the masses! Every little bit counts as I take my first step forward in this journey, and I'm incredibly thankful that you're all part of it!

Class Dismissed!