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Looking for Alaska Movie (BUT BETTER) and YouTuber Things

2018-05-11 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, self promotion

Celebrating news that Looking for Alaska will become an eight-episode Hulu miniseries, Hank reflects on twelve years of Vlogbrothers: success needs idea, work, luck and resources at once, view counts must not become a measure of how much you matter, and nothing beats joy in making things within a great community.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Looking for Alaska becomes an eight-episode Hulu miniseries; you never know when hard work pays off

  • ★★★ Hank says John's first book, published two years before John proposed making video blogs on YouTube, kept doing better and, now 13 years old, is becoming an eight-episode Hulu miniseries. — 00:00:01 · John Green, Looking for Alaska (novel), YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says it's not a movie but better than a movie, because there's more of it; he knows John has waited a very long time, is really excited and just wants to watch it. (playful) — 00:00:27
  • ★★★ Hank says it reminds him that you never know how things will go or when, or whether, hard work will pay off: it might never, but it might just take a while. — 00:00:35

00:00:50 — The YouTube Creator Summit, feeling old in season 12, and how anyone gets popular on YouTube

  • ★★ Hank attended the YouTube Creator Summit last week (week of 30 April 2018), where YouTube flies YouTubers to a fancy hotel and they, basically, yell at YouTube. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:50 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank half-expected to be seen as what he is, old, useless and yesterday's news, but says he's not down about it. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:56
  • ★★ Hank says he has a book, which is very exciting, and Crash Course and SciShow are doing amazingly well. — 00:01:05 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Crash Course, SciShow
  • ★★ Hank says it's season 12 on Vlogbrothers, something that doesn't happen in TV. — 00:01:08 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★ Hank notes rising YouTubers often make feature films seven days a week, while he sits before the same bookshelf as back when shawty first pulled on her apple-bottom jeans and furry boots; how is this still working? (playful) — 00:01:13 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank knows next to nothing about getting popular on YouTube except that it's hard and rare, and happens not from a great idea, hard work, luck or resources alone but when all coincide. — 00:01:29 · YouTube
  • ★ Hank says the last time he created a YouTube channel from scratch, smartphones didn't exist. (playful) — 00:01:45 · YouTube

00:01:53 — Mistakes, highs and lows, numbers as a surrogate for self-worth, worry and hope for younger creators

  • ★★ Hank says he does know mistakes he and other creators have made, what to do once you have an audience, and what to do when it may not last forever. — 00:01:53
  • ★★ Hank calls creating a fantastic job he loves and wants as many people as possible to have, but its highs can be very high and its lows very low. — 00:02:06
  • ★★★ Hank says view, like and dislike counts on YouTube and all social media are so objective and concrete that it's easy to let them become a surrogate for how much you matter. — 00:02:12 · YouTube
  • ★★ What goes up must come down: on Vlogbrothers the brothers have seen enough ups and downs not to tie their self-worth to it, though getting there was a process. — 00:02:28 · What goes up must come down, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank worries a lot about younger creators, big and small, but also has a lot of hope. — 00:02:38
  • ★★★ Hank thinks a growing percentage of people will be able to be professional creators because of the fracturing of fame and the rise of new patronage models. (hedged) — 00:02:41 · celebrity
  • ★★ Seeing many pitfalls on that path, Hank wants to do anything he personally can to make it easier for others and hopes that becomes a bigger part of his professional life. (hedged) — 00:02:51

00:03:11 — VidCon: the Community Track signing lottery and Hank's Creator Track talk

  • ★★ Hank is headed to VidCon soon; the Community Track signing lottery is open and closing, so viewers who want signings need to buy tickets very soon. — 00:03:11 · VidCon
  • ★★ Hank is working on his VidCon Creator Track talk, part of why he has been thinking about this; advice is hard because creators differ so much. — 00:03:23 · VidCon

00:03:26 — Advice: a Hulu series is rare, but joy in making, community and faith in humanity matter more

  • ★★★ A Hulu series is very cool and happens to basically no one, but Hank tells John nothing they have done beats finding joy in making stuff, a great community to make it in, and maybe some faith in humanity. (hedged) — 00:03:31 · John Green

00:03:52 — Congratulations, sign-off and the end-screen song

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank gets really scared hearing that something like 90% of kids want to be YouTubers: a good job, but one not everyone can or should have. (hedged) — video description · YouTube
  • ★★ The description says that when we want something too much we end up doing it even when we don't actually like it, or doing it in an unhealthy way. (hedged) — video description
  • ★★ Hank notices that the recent creators he loves have developed a craft, such as filmmaking and storytelling, or other skills and knowledge that let them build a channel as a professional gamer, artist, animator, linguist or engineer. — video description · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says that path is still hard, but needs less work and a less cut-throat attitude, because smaller niches can still be great, supportive and exciting. — video description
  • ★★ After a crazy run on the platform and in the public eye, Hank thinks he came out with a stable identity and a healthy attitude, and hopes to help others deal with both getting big and not getting big. (hedged) — video description · celebrity

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Looking for Alaska (miniseries) · self-esteem

Also: People: Jason Derulo

Projects: Crash Course · SciShow · VidCon

Works: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing · Low

Organizations: Hulu · YouTube

Concepts: celebrity · crowdfunding

Events: YouTube Creator Summit

Memes: What goes up must come down

Only in the description or credits: Looking for Alaska (novel)

Also centred on Looking for Alaska (miniseries): The Looking for Alaska Thing · Going Home with Alaska and Miles · Question Tuesday with Miles and the Colonel: Manolo! · Looking for Alaska (...with Alaska) · I'm Having a Lot of Feelings

Also centred on self-esteem: What Boys Look For in Girls · You're Not Good Enough · Some Rough Advice for the "Real World" · My Earthquake Story - (And Thoughts About Numbers) · What Matters · What Helped Through Depression

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