The Publish Press

Creators and creator-led companies are hiring. Every Monday, we put out new roles on our job board—Creator Moves. Check out open positions for Chloe Shih, Mythical, JOLLY and Matt Wolfe 👇🏼

Got merch questions for Colin and Samir? Want to pitch your merch idea and get live feedback? Join us on Discord tomorrow at 5 PM PST. Together we'll answer questions and talk about building a creator-led merch brand. Mark your calendars and RSVP with the link in the comment 👇

We hand-picked six creators who paved a new path for the industry in 2023. Who they are—and why we picked them ⬇️ 1️⃣ Kevin Espiritu (aka @epicgardening) for redefining creator M&A, as his Epic Gardening holding company acquired a 28-year-old seed packet business, Botanical Interest, in January 2023. 2️⃣ Mai Pham (@maiphammy) for building a hit fashion brand, Alchemai, from the ground up—using a second, “spam” Instagram as her primary sales channel. 3️⃣ Sam Denby (aka @wendoverproductions) for paving a new path for producing premium content, as creator-owned streaming startup Nebula named him its chief content officer. 4️⃣ Tessa Barton (@tezza.barton) for passing $32 million in annual recurring revenue for her photo editing app, Tezza. 5️⃣ Travis Hunter (@DB3_tip) for becoming one of the Top 10 earners across college sports by building a unique media brand and driving his story’s narrative. 6️⃣ Tina Choi (aka @doobydobap) for investing over $200,000 of her own savings to open a restaurant in South Korea—and documenting the buildout on her channel. For more on each creator’s remarkable journey, check out our Staff Picks project powered by .Store Domains: https://lnkd.in/eMxhH78m And as always, Thank You For Pressing Publish in 2023! Who knows…maybe you’ll make our 2024 list 👀

YouTube channel Never Too Small (NTS) recently launched a new sustainable design series airing now on YouTube and later on broadcast TV. We spoke with co-founders Colin Chee and James McPherson about the unusual ways NTS, which has amassed more than 2 million subscribers in six years on YouTube, integrates film production for both YouTube and TV into their channel. The series, called Wonderful Waste, explores how designers and architects upcycle trash into usable items, like playgrounds made from discarded scrap metal or chairs from reclaimed wood. 🏗 The foundation: Chee began working with McPherson in 2008 at the video production company New Mac in Melbourne, Australia. Chee started NTS as a passion project, filming with the production company’s crew and equipment (NTS is still part of New Mac). “I wanted to do something different than what existed in the YouTube ecosystem,” Chee said. “So I take a more minimalist approach and the architects and designers become the main storyteller. Usually the owners [of the homes] tell the stories and I like to put architects and designers in the spotlight.” 💡 The goal is to make architecture accessible to a wider audience. “I ask subjects to tell stories in a more simplistic language rather than full of architecture jargon and technical terms. I would shamelessly raise my hand and say ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Chee said. NTS’s documentary style content lends itself to TV network licensing and funding (NTS has received funding through Australia’s federal film commission, Screen Australia), but its top priority is still YouTube. 📺 The YouTube videos, which run around 15 minutes, will be reformatted for broadcast TV and extended into 22-minute episodes. McPherson said NTS will work with Screen Australia to distribute the videos internationally. They’ve previously repackaged Never Too Small videos into TV episodes which later aired in the UK and South Africa through distribution assistance from Screen Australia. “With Wonderful Waste, we’re taking sustainable design and making it very accessible for everyday people through a visual approach. Sometimes the visual is strong enough to tell the story no matter the language,” Chee said. “That’s also the power of YouTube. If you were to put it only on TV maybe a few nations would see it, but through YouTube it’s available to anyone everywhere.” For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #youtube #architecture #creatoreconomy

Southeast Asian motorcycle taxi drivers like Mpo Bhabay and Rika Goldie are making more money posting to TikTok than they are giving rides, according to the global nonprofit publication Rest of World. Context: The subgenre of motorcycle taxi drivers vlogging their daily lives—from doing acts of service to comedy reactions—has become increasingly popular among Southeast Asian TikTok users. For every branded post, Bhabay says she makes up to three million rupiah (or about $200), which is more than a half a month’s minimum wage in her home city of Jakarta, Indonesia. Bhabay posts about four brand deals per month, which quadruples her earnings from the ride-hailing company Gojek. Zoom out: Many creators’ day jobs are what propel their early growth—consider chef-turned-TikTok creator Chef Reactions or former tech employee Natalie (Corporate Natalie). For taxi drivers, whose payouts from platforms like Uber and Lyft are falling across the board, social platforms provide an accessible way to generate new income. For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #tiktok #southeastasia #creatoreconomy

English comedy creator Max Fosh recently pointed out the comparisons between a video he released in May and an August episode of the UK television show Rob & Romesh Vs. Both videos took on the challenge of performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, peppering comedic takes throughout the process. The two projects were in production at the same time, too. The result? A small case study on Twitter illustrating the differences in input and output between a YouTube video and a TV episode covering a similar subject. The breakdown: 📈 Fosh’s video: took six weeks to produce with a team of three and has gained 1 million views in three months ➡ Rob & Romesh Vs. episode: took six months to produce with a production crew of undisclosed size (on average, TV shows can have upwards of 50 staff) Their viewership numbers aren’t currently public, but Fosh said a similar show by the same network averaged around 400,000 views per episode. ☝ It’s worth noting: Given differences in distribution models, run times, and means of production, comparing YouTube and television 1:1 is tough. But as Fosh pointed out on Twitter, “The days of gatekeeping by producers who decide what gets shown is over and due to bureaucracy they can’t produce fast enough to keep up with trends.” “I think TV is still very important in our cultural ecosystem, but if you are in looking to break into the comedy world and want to show your art to the world,” Fosh said. “Just press publish.” FYI: YouTube continues to outpace traditional television—the platform accounts for nearly 10% of American TV viewership, according to a recent Nielsen study. Where do you think YouTube stands in comparison to TV? Let us know in the comments. For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #youtube #tvproduction #creators

Starting August 31, YouTube is banning clickable links in Shorts descriptions, comment sections, and vertical live feeds. YouTube’s rationale? It wants to address the growing number of scammers who mislead users by linking to dangerous content like phishing or malware. 📣 What are creators saying about the change? The restrictions will make it more difficult to monetize content through popular revenue streams such as affiliate links and custom content (think courses or templates) not sold through YouTube Shopping. “This is like the YouTube policy equivalent of nuking a house because you saw a cockroach,” tech creator Hipyo Tech said in a video. “Viewers also ask for [custom content] links all the time, wtf are we going to do now,” gaming creator Thilsey tweeted. Even as it nixes Shorts links, YouTube is introducing new features, like: 1️⃣ Content links that can connect a creator’s Short directly to a related long form video 2️⃣ Space for up to 14 links on channel pages that will be displayed near the Subscribe button 🖼 Big picture: YouTube Liason Rene Ritchie emphasized that the changes are an imperfect solution to balance “feature breadth with safety depth.” “Link in bio has been standard behavior on Instagram Reels and TikTok for years, so I think people might get used to it on Shorts?” he tweeted. For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #youtube #shorts #creatoreconomy

Events company Creator Camp announced its first-ever “Base Camp,” a temporary (for now) co-living and co-working space that will host two groups of 35 creators and artists across two weeks in October. The company teamed up with hotel chain LOGE to open the space at a campsite in Oregon, where attendees will be encouraged to “find community and collaborate across mediums.” 🗺 Context: Creator Camp has hosted two retreats (the second of which we recapped in our coverage of the YouTube New Wave), but the sponsor-backed events have thus far been invite-only, free to attend, and limited to one weekend. In contrast, Base Camp starts at $300 for the week and is application-based, “leaning towards [accepting] people who are just getting started…that might experience the most marginal gain,” Creator Camp CEO Chris Duncan told us. 👀 The response since the Base Camp announcement last week? Over 200 people applied in the first 36 hours after Base Camp launched online. Most applicants heard about it through word of mouth, Duncan said. 🔭 Looking ahead: Duncan and his team are wary of many co-working companies’ struggles (see: WeWork’s “substantial doubt” it can continue). But still, “events are a good way of bringing in revenue, but it's not super sustainable,” Duncan told us. “This is our first shot at something paid…so that by this time next year, we can launch a membership.” “MrBeast has Feastables, a creator-backed snack company…our [product] goal is to have spaces across the country—creator-backed real estate,” Duncan said. For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #creatoreconomy #youtube #coworking

Kevin Espiritu’s gardening brand and YouTube channel Epic Gardening has been growing over the last year following a timely acquisition. Context: Epic Gardening acquired seed packet company Botanical Interests, Inc. earlier this year, nearly doubling the size of its team to 60 in the process. About Epic Gardening: “This year we’ll get close to $30 million in revenue and I’d say that maybe $1–1.5 million is from anything that’s not selling a product,” Espiritu told us. He said that Epic rarely takes brand deals, and that most of the business’s revenue comes from products sold on its site, epicgardening.com. Epic is hoping online sales expand to IRL sales with its acquisition: Botanical Interest has been in business for almost 30 years and has 4,500 stores across the U.S. “We took investment and we have big goals,” Espiritu said. “We think we can change the gardening industry as a whole because it’s antiquated and not up to the times of the modern gardener.” How Epic uses content to fuel its growth: “I think TikTok is the top of the funnel for content and the bottom of the funnel is actually converting them to the other forms of content because it’s such a fleeting audience,” Espiritu said. “I want them all to basically end up on YouTube, the blog, or email list.” As far as Espiritu is concerned, converting casual fans of Epic’s content into participants in the brand and business might become par for the course in the creator world. “I think you’re gonna start to see more creators [apart from the MrBeasts and the Logan Pauls] get a sense of how equity, cap tables, and business ops work, so they can build businesses themselves without partners,” Espiritu said. “We have the most rare currency—attention. Why do we need to give up equity?” For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #gardening #creatoreconomy #acquisition

Earlier this week, creator and entrepreneur Jordyn Weaver, MIE launched Forefront, a service that partners creators with Black-owned businesses via affiliate marketing. Think LTK, but for Black-owned brands. How it works: When creators recommend a product, they earn a 10% commission from purchases made through their custom link. Forefront also takes a 10% cut from those purchases. Big picture: Sales at Black-led small- and medium-sized businesses fell 51% annually early last year. Forefront’s launch makes it easier for creators to work with and support Black-owned brands. For more creator news, subscribe here 👉 thepublishpress.com #creatoreconomy #creatormarketing #startup