People Connect More to Video Than to Words

            It’s a painful thing to admit as a book writer, but there’s a reason why movies and television are more popular storytelling formats than any type of written material.  The reason is simply because visual mediums appeal to multiple senses; primarily sight and sound.  They more easily and effectively manipulate our emotions.  And, perhaps most importantly, they can be enjoyed in groups.  While reading a book or a short story is an intimate moment between reader and writer, visual productions can bring together multiple audience members at the same time and cause them to all feel the same thing at the same moment.

            An example of this is John Green of the Vlog Brothers on Youtube.  He speaks poetically and quite well about how reading is a shared experience between author and reader.  However, even he has to admit that his fame came not through his books, but through his program with his brother.  It was once the audience could see him, hear him, and get a sense of his feelings through his expressions that they connected with him, and wanted to know more about what he was writing.

            Books that have been made into movies always do better than before they were put on film.  Even though the movies ruin the endings and every secret in these books, people become curious about what’s in the book in addition to the film.  Not only is there a lot of free advertising, but once people have heard voices of the characters, even though it’s stolen away their ability to make their own voices, more readers flock to these books because they’ve had a more visceral connection.

            I’ve embraced this fact and started a few Youtube channels of my own.  They have, regrettably, been as unsuccessful as my writing and I struggle to get views.  But I do find it easier to get people to take a chance with one of my videos than it is to get people to take a chance on my writing.  Even trying to get people to read a free short story is a daunting task.

            I’ve become convinced that a healthy mix of these two mediums is the best chance for success.  The difficulty is in juggling my time with these two art forms.