Channel

Zetarthechannel

There was a time in my life where I was content to just write Zetar books. I was back in retail (pushing carts at Sam’s Club), a year removed from a different and awful job. My bills were paid, there was peace and quiet. I didn’t have much money, but I went home on time every day and I had the energy to work on my stories. I was three quarters through writing Book 4. Had things stayed the same, I might still be happy with that.

But then the economy went bad. Again. I looked at my bank account, at the ever-surging cost of living, and I realized something: if I didn’t make a plan, things would get ugly down the road. It was time for a change… and it was time to finally commit to the Zetar dream.

So I made a YouTube channel. Zetarthechannel.

To put it simply, Zetarthechannel (ZTC) is my effort to bring the stories of Zetar to a wider audience. I read excerpts from each book, using character voices and music and roleplaying-game visual elements to create an experience more unique than merely reciting words from a page. Growing up I was an avid reader of John R. Erickson’s Hank the Cowdog series, and I especially adored the audiobook versions of the stories. Erickson read them aloud himself, doing every character voice and injecting his own brand of humor into the readings.

It’s an incredible experience, one I’ve always wanted to create with my own books. So here I am.

I make ZTC’s videos using four programs: Audacity for audio, Gimp for the video slides, OpenMPT for music, and Clipchamp to put it all together. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done!

I still work retail, 40 hours a week. It takes time to craft my videos and I only have so much right now. But I love Zetar, and I’m happy to keep hammering away at the channel for as long as I’m able. Hope you enjoy it!