For Full Transparency (May 25th 2024 Update)

This is a copy and pasted version of an update I posted to the YouTube Community Tab.

Hey everyone - there has been a lot on my mind lately and I wanted to touch base with you guys.

Since October/November, I have been trying to make my channel "full time", and there have been a lot of ups and downs as with any "seasonal" type job. By "seasonal" I mean that some things on the channel are more popular than others - like RWBY, Hazbin Hotel, etc. I have been trying to find things to fill the "off-season", with a mixture of brand-new anime and older anime, new games, old games, ongoing games (like Genshin). But we haven't really been able to pivot into anything and get in on the "ground floor" since Hazbin. For example, when Arcane Season 2 is released in the future, we can be there on Day 1, but there's not really anything "going on" right now. With Genshin it's going to be a while (if at all) before I get caught up, and the amount of editing for that and other games has led me to get really burnt out. I have been putting in full-time hours (or even more than that, since I don't take the weekends off) but not generating enough to live independently - which I want to make clear I'm not saying as a complaint or that I'm entitled to that - this is VERY common for content creators. Sometimes it's the videos you put the least amount of effort into that get the most views, etc. I say that as an observation. I've been reflecting on this and I think I need to make a tough call.

The reality of my situation is that my new channel (the musical theatre-focused channel) is growing at nearly 4x the rate of this channel, and is generating more revenue despite having less videos and fewer subscribers. The musical theatre channel is also niched down so much that it's more desirable to companies that want to do sponsorships, as opposed to the videos on this channel which may have 200 views or 200,000 views. At this time, the musical theatre channel is the channel that makes the most logical sense to focus on if I want this to become my full-time job. Before I am inevitably forced to make both channels a hobby and get a corporate job, I want to see what happens if I put 100% in my 2nd channel. But that ultimately means doing less for this one.

Preemptively answering some questions:

- "Okay, what does that MEAN though???" Starting on Monday (the 27th) I'm going to spend Monday-Friday working on my 2nd channel, then do things on Saturday/Sunday for the Calxiyn channel. I'm going to do this for the entire month of June and see what happens. I know this is most likely a shock since I was supposed to stream today - but this is something that really struck me all at once. I'm feeling really overwhelmed by the fact that I love streaming a lot more than I love EDITING*, but the more I stream, the more of this backlog I have. This caused me to become really dysregulated and after talking to my mom, Arnold and other content creators about what they thought, I came to this conclusion.

- If something drops, like Helluva Boss, Hunter and I will be here. We aren't QUITTING, it's just that I'm going to pull back on things that don't have any urgency.

- "What about _____ reaction???", Arcane Episode 9 has been recorded, I just need to edit it (yay...) as for anything else, I'll be real with you, I just don't know. I want to finish Erased because I LOVE the show regardless of the views, and I have episode 5 for Frieren and Dungeon Meshi recorded. I really don't like not finishing what I start, but there are some things that aren't even worth going back to (like Spice and Wolf, A Sign Of Affection etc).

- "I'm pledged on Patreon for x." I am going to keep my promise of getting at least what I have recorded out to patrons (Frieren Episode 5, Erased Episode 5, Arcane Episode 9) before the month changes over. That way everyone who paid will have their reward/perk/etc. Then in June, it'll be up to you if you're willing to continue your support knowing things are not currently stable. As I said I am not quitting, but things are going to be slow, that's all, the same way if I got a full-time job, which will be inevitable if this doesn't work either haha. I appreciate everyone who has given their support, and I'm grateful that Hunter and I have been able to do as much as we have over the years. It is my hope that the people who have supported us for a long time also want what is best for us, but I also understand how disappointing it would be to continue to pledge for content that never comes. So I want to make sure to provide what I promised in May and make clear that June is an entire mystery to me.

- Something I AM going to do for you guys though is start uploading all of my VODS, even the VODS I usually EDIT onto the Calxiyn VODS channel. That means as of right now: Twisted Wonderland, Genshin, Hades, Hades II. At the rate I am editing (8 hours per VOD) I could very well "go to the tree" before I actually catch up on the 35-stream VOD backlog I accidentally collected during school. I know not everyone has time for a 7-hour VOD, and I still want to post my edited gaming reactions to this channel. But a VOD channel may be a good compromise to get the VODS off Twitch for now and also save my sanity. And that way I can be a little more opportunistic, since if a brand new game releases I can post it to the VOD channel right away. Some people have VOD channels that allow them to pay editors. I don't know if this will happen for me, but it's worth a shot, and that way if I do ever need to genuinely quit editing Twisted Wonderland or something at least the VOD versions will be there you know?

I know this is a lot, and I really appreciate it if you read this all the way to the end. If you have any other questions I'll be happy to answer them. If anything more drastic happens I'll make sure to make a video about it, but since this is just a test I thought a post would be better. There are still exciting things to come, but I think transparency is really important, so this is where I'm at.

- Calxiyn