Lily M sold @ £8k - one week into the Dutch auction

[BrianH]

Well done Dylan, I am pleased for you. You deserve that your plans go smoothly.

I am also pleased that you have had good experience of a reliable inboard; that your earlier hatred of them and obsession with hacking up the well-designed Centaur to fit an outboard well, is now a distant memory. Anyway, you won't be able to do that with a Fisher.

As a motor-sailor fan I believe you are on the right path. The light dawned for me at a late age and I bought a boat with dog-house protected steering position and even in the Adriatic, find it a blessing. I am sure something like it - or better with an enclosed deck-house - will be even more so in northern UK latitudes.

May all your plans come to fruition.

 

[dylanwinter]

Well done Dylan, I am pleased for you. You deserve that your plans go smoothly.

I am also pleased that you have had good experience of a reliable inboard; that your earlier hatred of them and obsession with hacking up the well-designed Centaur to fit an outboard well, is now a distant memory. Anyway, you won't be able to do that with a Fisher.

As a motor-sailor fan I believe you are on the right path. The light dawned for me at a late age and I bought a boat with dog-house protected steering position and even in the Adriatic, find it a blessing. I am sure something like it - or better with an enclosed deck-house - will be even more so in northern UK latitudes.

May all your plans come to fruition.

thanks B,

it is very weird not having a boat on the water.

It was great having a reliable engine. for a year I knew what it was like to have a reliable boat

Never had one as good. I know I will be unlikely to own one as good again.

I hate selling boats I would like to keep - but she has gone and the bills have stopped.

on the bright side the yanks have started tapping into the project.

The news that a bloke who loves sailing has been forced to sell his boat made a lot of the boat owning freeloading KTL users realise that I was not crying wolf

no real sailor wants to sell a perfectly good boat

the Yanks account for 40 per cent of the film views and around 80 per cent of the income.

they hardly ever tell me to sell my house, leave my wife or (the favourite of the keyboard adventurers) HTFU and do my winter sailing in scotland in a 22 foot trailer sailer with an outboard in a well,

The Yanks told me to raise the value on the paypal buttons and blow me if they don't use them. I have enough to put the first film on track for the target.

I will spend too many hours at my computer this summer. Around 36 weeks.

In some ways 2017 is going to be a lost year - no adventures - just schlepping up and down the deben. I know that by mid May I will be bored of the same stretch of river.

Most of all I will miss the winter sailing

 

[Arcady]

thanks B,

The Yanks told me to raise the value on the paypal buttons

Personally I think you should get rid of the $1.00 option. People hate thinking of themselves as cheapskates - so, if you make the $4 or $5 button the lowest one, there is a chance more people will instead choose the next one up. The might push your tap income up by 50%

 

[dylanwinter]

Hardly anyone - except a well known American boat designer - uses the £1 box. He only did that the once so that he could brag on line that we was a long term supporter of the project and stand with the nice people.

initially I sent him a lovely email of thanks but once I saw the bragging I am afraid I sent it back to him telling him that he probably needed it more than me.

He has stopped bragging now.

I really want to get back to the outer hebs and islands - it is the most wonderful place to sail

 

[wully1]

I really want to get back to the outer hebs and islands - it is the most wonderful place to sail

:encouragement: But please do stop telling everyone...

 

[dylanwinter]

Personally I think you should get rid of the $1.00 option. People hate thinking of themselves as cheapskates - so, if you make the $4 or $5 button the lowest one, there is a chance more people will instead choose the next one up. The might push your tap income up by 50%

Eleanor says it has to be there - higher amounts frighten the nervous.

 

[Heckler]

Eleanor says it has to be there - higher amounts frighten the nervous.

Watch La Vagabonde, Delos, our forumites in Thailand not as much, Barry Perrins and Rick Moore, plus dip in and out of others. What have they got that Dylan hasnt, Barry Perrins is similar but very addictive.

 

[Cloona]

now you have created the capital -made the content...

I think good curation and long tail demand will keep you in better condition than perhaps you anticipate.

 

[NormanB]

Hi Dylan

- and another thing, which may or may not give you pause for thought, or a consultation with Eleanor.

I only noticed today the the YouTube channel called 'The sailing channel' is making Eric Hiscock's ' Beyond the West Horizon' available for download at a price (IIRC £6.00) - how does that work then? - could you not do that? Do a 90 sec trailer and a download for sale? I really am not sure how it works because if you search you can find BTWH in full for freemans on You Tube.

I would put your films in the same category as BTWH in the sense of their importance for all the right reasons (social history being one). Their film is twee because they were amateur and the kit was shite. Whereas you have all the capabilities that the great technological advance has brought to film and editing, together with your pro background.

 

[dylanwinter]

Hi Dylan

- and another thing, which may or may not give you pause for thought, or a consultation with Eleanor.

I only noticed today the the YouTube channel called 'The sailing channel' is making Eric Hiscock's ' Beyond the West Horizon' available for download at a price (IIRC £6.00) - how does that work then? - could you not do that? Do a 90 sec trailer and a download for sale? I really am not sure how it works because if you search you can find BTWH in full for freemans on You Tube.

I would put your films in the same category as BTWH in the sense of their importance for all the right reasons (social history being one). Their film is twee because they were amateur and the kit was shite. Whereas you have all the capabilities that the great technological advance has brought to film and editing, together with your pro background.

thanks for that - right now my cameras are out of date.... it is all 4K now. If I return to making films I have to have at least 2K in the budget for 4K cameras - of that makes any sense

and.... the long tail has been swallowed by youtube -= making it sick it up again will be a tough struggle. I own a labrador - google is a close run thing in the greediness stakes. Once she has something she thinks she can eat making her give it back is a real challenge.

I fear the long tail is dead

Having said that some blokes have started giving me $200 and £120. When I ask why they say that is the price of 8 double dvd sets - damn there are some straight dealing dudes out there - along with the blokes ho give me $1. They are still outnumbered by total refuseniks by 50 to 1.

 

[Cloona]

thanks for that - right now my cameras are out of date.... it is all 4K now. If I return to making films I have to have at least 2K in the budget for 4K cameras - of that makes any sense

and.... the long tail has been swallowed by youtube -= making it sick it up again will be a tough struggle. I own a labrador - google is a close run thing in the greediness stakes. Once she has something she thinks she can eat making her give it back is a real challenge.

I fear the long tail is dead

Having said that some blokes have started giving me $200 and £120. When I ask why they say that is the price of 8 double dvd sets - damn there are some straight dealing dudes out there - along with the blokes ho give me $1. They are still outnumbered by total refuseniks by 50 to 1.

content is king -

curation is a such a thing now because in the vastness of the internet haystack of dross if you find a pin of value you keep going back.. .. and back.

maybe on the youtube less is more - an introduction or pointer towards and there will be other solutions emerging

And of course we have non stop live streaming of absolutely everything coming our way .....

 

[Andrew E]

You're not on Facebook Dylan are you? You should be on there posting photos and updates every day which will help build an audience that way. The problem is, unless I've subscribed to you on YouTube I won't know about your recent videos and updates. Just a suggestion.

 

[Niander]

Dont worry about needing better cameras yours are very good already.
The 4k trap and how much would that lot cost?

 

[saltylegs]

Congratulations
I'm sure the new owners will enjoy.

 

[Greenwichman]

Good news Dylan - see you on the Deben!

 

[ShinyShoe]

I fear the long tail is dead

Having said that some blokes have started giving me $200 and £120. When I ask why they say that is the price of 8 double dvd sets - damn there are some straight dealing dudes out there - along with the blokes ho give me $1. They are still outnumbered by total refuseniks by 50 to 1.

I'm what you call a refusenik. It kinda annoys me that you describe me as such. So I'm feeling compelled to comment:

- Someone who watches your stuff on YouTube may never have bought your DVD. I've watched a couple of your videos. I will be honest - the first wasn't my thing. It just didn't "float my boat". I have ambitions to sail round the UK. Watching someone else do the same hasn't the same result for me. There story is about the coast etc - which all seems very nice, but actually part of me sailing round the UK will be the risks, the adventure. It pains me to say it but "three men in a boat" ticks those boxes better than your videos. I'm not sure if that is editing, directing or good planning on your part that means there is no jeopardy!

- The second video I watched after people on here were ranting about how great they are. I thought perhaps the first I watched was just a dry spot so watched another. Sorry that's two clicks that didn't pay for you, the second still didn't float my boat. Now I know you may be saying I should still have paid something coz I watched them and you went to the effort of making them. To some extent I agree. But if I couldn't have watched them for free I almost certainly wouldn't have watched either.

- Calling me a refusenik does make me think about paying, but once I've given it due consideration I thought "No way - now that he called me a refusenik". I don't know how people buying DVDs know what they were buying / how you marketted them but I'd suggest you didn't get 100% return on anyone who browsed. If you'd said to your customer in the DVD days who was perhaps swaying if he should buy a copy that if he had a look and walked away he was being tight would you expect them to return as a loyal customer.

- To be clear they aren't unpleasant videos. But no-one is paying for me to sail round the country. I get that this is your job. But my job involves doing something different and saving enough money to do my sailing.

- Plenty of people on here have said they didn't realise this was your career etc. I'm going to say that may be part (bad) marketing, but also part of the story you are telling. It feels like a video blog much like many people are posting (free) on-line blogs as they sail round the world, as part of their way of keeping in touch but also their personal record of adventures. Of course what we don't see is the hours of editing you are doing etc.

You seem thoroughly cheesed off that YouTube is fleacing you. I don't think it needs to. You have a website. You can get YouTube paid access ( https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3249165 ) but I don't know much about it. A cruder solution is to unlist the video, and embed the video on your website behind a paywall. That doesn't stop someone guessing the link or indeed someone re-posting it. Or it may be worth looking at Vimeo or another similar solution that may have better security options - needs at least a £5 a month package. It will allow you to restrict playback to only on your blog for instance.

You then need some adverts/trailers on YouTube, and fora' etc that will direct people to your blog for the full "episode". And ideally a trailer at the end of one episode ready for the next... Those need to make ME want to know more. Not a 30 second summary of the video. If there is any "jeopardy" - tell me about it - but certainly don't tell me how it was fixed.

**BUT** is there the same market for Christmas Gifts of an on-line subscription much like a DVD? If there is you'd probably want to get some GIFT Subscription arrangement set up so that people can actually "give" something to the recipient. The best of this sort of thing I've seen have actually had a physical keep sake (a small model of your boat for example) plus a voucher code etc. The worst send a print your own voucher email. You can offer both for different prices ;-)

Other options would be if you were hosting advertising on your blog you offer a pay to remove adverts option.

Again if Vimeo etc then you could have paid adverts in the videos? Would chandlers etc want some advertising space? (I guess YouTube doesn't allow that).

What do you know about your audience (paid and "refusniks") other than country. Is there any way to know are they even sailors, are they young, old, male, female etc. And other than being tight do you know why people you are hoping to hook in are not shelling out. Is the story wrong? Are they not finding your posts?

I've not been through all your videos. Is there an easy way to "get up to speed" for someone joining now...

If your audience is sailors - do you do enough planning & reviewing of why this harbour and its facilities. If I am copying your journey I may well want to pay for a video pilot.

 

[robertj]

£5500.

Is this the end of the tin rattling?

I bloody hope so as its getting rather tedious now to be honest.
At least Dylan made a handsome profit from the centaur.

 

[steveeasy]

Its all down to interpretation. Jolly good those Yanks!!!.

Steveeasy

 

[Kelpie]

@shinyshoe
If you don't enjoy the films, don't donate. I thought that was kind of the point.
But please don't encourage Dyl to change them either. His regular followers don't want manufactured drama.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Dylan has retired as a professional camera man. He has an ambition to sail around the coastline and make entertaining films using his skills. He has tried to fund some of this by selling the films, by click count etc.

It's all very tame stuff and also very honest and enterprising of him. I compare Dylan's efforts to some charitable sail round Britain events and more than a few appear to be about the trip and financing it than the charity. I don't like that behaviour. Dylan's is honest.