Before you ask, I don't use AI, and I show my face.
Just recently hit 50 subs and my first 1k views on a video, and it finally feels like I'm getting the hang of things. At first, the editing was frustrating, but I'm really getting into the process now that I understand more about storytelling.
I started posting in mid February and have 14 videos in total. The first 10 were ok at 50-100 views each. The 4 most recent videos I really started trying hard with editing, filming, educational bits, and got 500-1k views in the past 2 weeks.
Same with shorts. Most shorts are the long form highlighted and linked to the video. Most shorts have decent engagement and generally 50-75% stay to watch. Most of my old shorts average ~800 views. But again, the recent shorts with more editing have hit 5k+ views in 2 days.
My focus is now getting WAAAAY more B-roll footage because I'm noticing I sometimes stick on one shot for too long.
My topics on are on geology and exploration