YouTube for Writers: Should You Start a Channel? Honest Answers from Thomas Umstattd, Jr.
This post was adapted from Writing Off Social: The Podcast, Episode 92. You can listen in here!
We’ll be honest: YouTube is one of those questions we’ve been quietly avoiding.
It comes up occasionally in our community—should writers be on YouTube? Is it social media? Is it worth the time?—and we’ve never had a great answer, mostly because neither of us has done it. We don’t like video. We’re podcast people through and through. So we brought in someone who has done the work and is willing to tell us the truth about it: Thomas Umstattd Jr., host of the Novel Marketing Podcast and the Christian Publishing Show, back on the show for his third time.
What followed was one of the most honest, nuanced, and occasionally unsettling conversations we’ve had about platform-building. Here’s what we learned.
Is YouTube Even Social Media?
This was our opening question, and the answer is: it depends on which YouTube you’re talking about.
Thomas explains that YouTube doesn’t really have a mechanism for peer-to-peer interaction the way traditional social networks do—you’re not connecting with your friends there the way you might on Facebook. In that sense, it’s not social media. But YouTube Shorts is a different beast entirely. “It’s basically TikTok,” Thomas notes, “but with YouTube’s algorithm instead of TikTok’s.”
In fact, there’s a study Thomas plans to cover on his Youtube channel, Author Update, about what short-form video consumption does to your brain. The research found that even a 10-minute scrolling break — swapping your coffee break for reels or TikToks — significantly impairs memory and focus afterward. TikTok ranked worst. YouTube Shorts wasn’t far behind.
So YouTube contains multitudes: on one end, a 10-minute zombie scroll. On the other, a two-hour lecture from a world-class thinker that’s every bit as substantive as reading a book for the same amount of time. It’s worth knowing which version you’re dealing with before you decide whether to build there.
How Thomas Actually Uses YouTube
Thomas started simply: he was already recording video while recording his podcasts in Riverside and doing nothing with the footage. So he started uploading it to Youtube. What surprised him was who showed up.
“My podcast audience was women in their 50s,” he tells us, “and my YouTube audience was men in their 20s and 30s.” Completely different generation, completely different gender—and almost entirely additive. Most people are either a podcast person or a YouTube person, not both, so uploading to YouTube was reaching a whole new group rather than cannibalizing his existing listeners.
From there, his approach evolved. Novel Marketing adapted to a hybrid format. Author Update — his newer, news-focused show — launched as a live YouTube show first, with the podcast as a secondary output. He describes the energy of a truly live show as part of what makes it work. Pre-recorded content, however polished, doesn’t carry the same charge. “If MrBeast’s bungee cord snapped and he died at the bottom of the cliff,” Thomas laughs, “they wouldn’t air that episode. There’s a level of risk you can only have in a live event.”
What’s Different About YouTube Content
Here’s where it gets practical—and a little challenging.
YouTube rewards speed in a way podcasts don’t. We’ve built trust with our listeners over time; you know us, you’ve heard us talk about our kids. A slow, warm open works in audio. On YouTube, Thomas is quick to point out, you have about 30 seconds before people are gone. “Go to a MrBeast video,” he suggests. “Within 10 seconds, he’s doing the thing. No intro. Just value.”
The other major difference is that YouTube rewards controversy. Thomas’s best-performing videos aren’t the carefully produced, high-effort ones — they’re the edgy, timely, uncomfortable-to-some topics. A video on writing for men as an audience got ten to twenty times more views than a polished tutorial he spent real time on. Videos with a small percentage of downvotes consistently outperform the universally liked ones.
That’s the trade-off nobody tells you upfront.
The Real Costs (and They’re Not Just Time)
We pushed Thomas on the “it only takes 15 extra minutes” argument — because we’ve heard that one before. Back when we were on social media, someone was always saying we might as well cross-post everywhere since we were already creating content. But it never worked that way in practice.
Thomas acknowledges the parallel, but makes an important distinction: cross-posting to Facebook or Instagram is genuinely wasted effort because those platforms are designed to keep people on-platform, not to send them to your podcast or your website. YouTube is different because YouTube actually makes money serving your video to people who want it. It’s native content to the platform. That changes the math.
That said, the hidden costs are real:
- You’ll want to look presentable on camera, which adds prep time
- Good thumbnails are required — every video needs one and creating them takes time (and/or money)
- The comment section can be genuinely mean, in a way that podcast audiences rarely are
- YouTube is still sharecropping; they can cancel your channel at any time, so you still need your email list
Thomas also mentions, with characteristic candor, that his weight loss journey over the past year was partly motivated by the YouTube comment section. “People in your own life won’t tell you you’re really unhealthy,” he says. “But people on YouTube will.” That’s not a reason to avoid YouTube necessarily — but it’s something to consider.
YouTube Might Be Right for You If…
Thomas is clear that YouTube is not an easy button for book sales. If your goal is simply to move more copies, there are much easier paths. But YouTube might genuinely fit your ministry if:
- You already produce a podcast and want to expand your reach to a new audience
- You have a specific, visual, or tutorial-friendly topic to cover (think: homeschool organization, craft how-to, book reviews)
- You have a thick skin and genuinely enjoy the medium
- You see it as its own form of service, not just a funnel for your book
“You have to want to do YouTube for its own sake,” Thomas explains. “You need to see it as its own ministry.”
Where to Start If You’re Feeling Called
For those who hear all of this and still feel drawn to try it, Thomas recommends:
First, spend time watching YouTube videos about how to do YouTube. There’s a whole genre of creators teaching this, and it’ll get you up to speed faster than trial and error alone. MrBeast’s interviews and guest appearances are worth prioritizing — nobody understands the algorithm better, and he talks about it openly.
Second, know your Timothy. Who is the specific person you’re trying to help? Keep that person in front of you so you’re never making content for the algorithm — you’re using the algorithm to find people who need what you have.
Third, check out Thomas’s episode with Hall of Fame podcaster Dave Jackson on adapting a podcast for YouTube, over at authormedia.com. It’s full of hard-won, specific advice.
Our Honest Take
We came into this conversation mildly skeptical and left with a much clearer picture — and a healthy respect for anyone who’s doing YouTube well.
Is it right for us? Probably not. We don’t love video, we’d rather have our earbuds in and our hands free, and the thick-skin requirement for the comment section is real. But we understand now that our hesitation was informed, not just fearful — and we have a much better answer when our students ask us about it.
As Thomas put it near the end of our conversation: “The man who catches two rabbits catches neither one. You have to say no to a lot of good things to stay in the zone where your skills, your enthusiasm, and the actual need overlap.” That’s as true for YouTube as it is for every other shiny platform that comes along.
If you’re unsure whether YouTube belongs in your plan, sit with those three questions. Pray over them. And then trust the answer you get.
This post was reformatted from our original transcript by Claude and edited for accuracy by Mary K.
