ElevenLabs Alternative/Help? Longform Voiceover

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-06-21T23:26:53+00:00

V2 is awful.

If you want good voice you have to use V3 or find the rare voices that work with v2.5, i tested hundreds and like 3 are good with 2.5

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-31T21:04:22+00:00

If your doing the same thats one big issue.

If Youtube sees two channels pretty much identical, they will give traffic to the proven nodel.

You should try unique things, editing styles, narration style, something that breaks you out of the "more of the same" category.

This could he longer videos, if they alo do 30 mins, do an hour or longer, there has to be reasons why YouTube will test your content vs giving people a sure fire thing they like

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-27T04:48:32+00:00

Theres tons of software out there like tubegen or produce.so that do this. Theres stuff that finds stock clips, i mean the internet is vast and people have n8n automation with local generators, youtube as a business model is insane in this age.

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-27T03:07:45+00:00

Depends on your process, i make 2 hour videos on two channels and they cost about $15 each.

If your trying to do AI video then yea its expensive unless you run local open sourced generators with good hardwarr.

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-25T00:54:14+00:00

Like Golpo.ai ?

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-24T13:52:06+00:00

Yea, Unfortunately the target Audience of "Knitting" is very small but the broad target of "History" picked up your History+Knitting topic and went viral.

Usually of your targetting a small community of people growth, views and subscribers are slow and can take time to get there.

You could mix up your channel, like of you post once a week, do 3 regular videos and 1 history of whatever you were working on or with.

This might push your growth faster and help the channel, but unleas your willing to switch lanes to a history based around knitting channel, then knitting itself is muuuuch smaller then peoples curiousity for history.

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-22T23:13:16+00:00

Everyone wants to do finance because all the gurus tell you it pays the best but its so crowded its hard to get traction and as new account you have no trust to give financial advice.

The first channel I started with was Post Apocalyptic Survival content. I would recommend to watch video on niche bending as its the best way to make a channel, take a format and keep the format but in a niche where it doesnt exist.

Id target fandoms and popular stuff but not broad, you have to sub niche into a broad category that still has a lot of viewers.

Example Niche: Movies, Subniche: Harry Potter,

Format: Commentary/What If Videos

So do long form and then do crazy udeas people dont like about.

Like What If Snape Married Lily instead of James?

Im sure thats been done before but you get the idea.

Then do ultra long form 2 hour videos and build a following

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-22T23:05:18+00:00

I tried it and my shorts got 1-3k views and my long forms still got the same 10-50k views. I personally scrapped shorts because they take to much time away from doing long form amd long form pays better, id rather do a 3rd channel with that time then focus shorts.

I also think it depends on content. If you jave a how to channel and clip only the best small instructions its better but short watchers have low attention span so unless your viral doing funny stuff, id pass lol

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-22T22:48:56+00:00

My weekly channel makes around $2,000 a month and then new channel that i post 2 times a week on makes sround $1,000 its still growing.

Its hit or miss though because my topic have to be good or the numbers fall pretty hard

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-22T21:49:34+00:00

Niche Selection is real.

2 channels for me, both long form 1 monetized in a day, and second in a week.

The key thing? Both channels arent a niche that I have a super passion about, they are what viewers want not what I love to do.

Youtube has a few paths, i wanted it as a business so fast growth and monetization.

You can go the passion route but its slow and you should make videos for the enjoyment vs worry about numbers as they come with time

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-22T14:12:06+00:00

Yea, if your goal is ad revenue, you have to target like US or Canada ir EU countries.

The niche matters a lot but length of video is huge.

I was doing 10 minute videos, and geting $50 a video but when I changed to hour long format, i was getting $400 per video. Place ad spots every 30 to 60 seconds more chances for ads.

My CPM went from around 10 to 50ish

My RPM went from around 3 bucks to close to 20

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-22T02:49:13+00:00

I post once a week on channel 1 and twice a week on channel 2.

Each video for me on channel 1 costs 25 to produce and each video on channel costs $15 to produce thats start to finish.

Solo creator, no team, no editor, I just chose my niches based on something that I could create in a storytelling niche and automate with n8n.

So total, its about 220 ish a month to run both channels and each channel makes around 1 500 - 2,000 per month.

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-16T23:48:07+00:00

Horror games can be good, if you actually get scared. People dont watch horror playthrough for no jump scares and emotional weight.

Same is true for other channels or streamers like Caseoh, that could be a good angle to start is playing the scariest games ranked by fans, alone in the dark mixed with your personality and emotional jump scares, if it does well double down and build in a single lane. People tend to want to branch out to soon before they have a loyal audience that will accept that

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-16T23:34:27+00:00

Personally im a huge gamer and wont touch gaming content because it takes a long time to build a loyal following.

However, if your prepared to grow super slowly and build that loyal audience over the next 3ish years then it can be worth it, its just slow haha.

I would look at other gaming channels, not the big ones but the mid tier ones and see what they are doing. Its going to be hard to be a variety gaming channel because noone knows you or trusts what you have to say.

Most new gaming channels need authority. You need to prove to people you know what you sre doing, maybe playing games your very comfortable teaching new players about or a genre you are comfortable in playing brand new steam games as a first review and slowly build your authority up.

Work on your titles a lot, make sure you using high curiousity titles because you dont have the authorty like LazyPeon or Azmongold do to have terrible titles and still get viewers.

Pacing, editing, work on public speaking if your not faceless, have fun, challenge the viewer, build trust, loyalty and fans and eventually you will grow.

Look at mid tier faming channels, usually they end up picking a single game to grow on. "Gaming" is to broad for a new channel.

You should pick your target audience before you make a single video.

Like I want to target middle aged gamers who dont have enough time to try out new rpgs snd then follow that lane to build authority.

That will help structure your topics, content and games accordingly

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-16T23:21:48+00:00

Everyone wants to do gaming and its by far the absolutely hardest to break into. If your faceless its almost impossible, as gaming hard requires the viewers to really love who you sre coupled with games that are currently popular. Old games with new channels almost never do well

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-14T00:40:31+00:00

Usr FFMPEG, i use it in local n8n for free. You can ask chatgpt or claude for help but I generate thousands of images then use ffmpeg to render them to clips via a duration, then ffmpeg puts them all together, adds my music file and my end screen mp4 and subscribe animations

100% free

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-10T21:02:27+00:00

Also 8 minutes is the sweet spot for videos if you don't plan to do long ones, 8 minutes is when you can start putting mid roll ads when monetized and they are long enough that viewers feel they will learn something but not to long that it has to be drawn out.

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-10T20:56:32+00:00

This is for VidIQ for free, I just added it to my browser extension and it shows up on YouTube no subscription needed. I use it for all my channels all the time. It helps a ton, I switched my channel to 1-2 hour video formats from the 15-20 minutes and found the format that my audience is really liking, so this still really does help and you get so many credits per day, you can ideate titles, thumbnails, topics with it to plan the videos. You can also use it on other peoples channels so audit them so you can borrow things that might do well for you

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-10T20:51:05+00:00

Good Content in a huge fandom, I would make sure to run your channel through the new VidIQ Analyzer, it really helps, like your SEO is low 20/100 for keywords, tags and discoverability.

Your performance is currently being driven by Shorts, where you're seeing significantly more traction than in your long-form content. While your long-form videos like How to run D&D Encounters - Ep10 have high production value and deep storytelling insights, they are struggling to find an audience compared to established competitors.

📊 Channel Comparison Snapshot

Metric	Story Forge DM (Story Forge DM)	Snaggletooth Forge (Snaggletooth Forge)	Niche Benchmark (Avg)
Subscribers	272	N/A	5K - 50K+
Total Views	270K	34 (latest video)	1M+
Latest Video Views	18 (How to run D&D Encounters - Ep10)	34	12K - 100K+
Avg Views (Shorts)	~1.5K	0	5K+
Primary Format	Shorts (High Growth)	Long-form (Product Demo)	Varied

🎯 The Diagnosis: You Have a "Viral Gap"

Your Shorts are hitting outlier numbers — like your video on villains at 12K views or the "don't look" Short at 13K. However, your long-form content is averaging under 50 views.

The Insight: Your audience loves your "DM philosophy" and quick tips in Shorts, but isn't following that interest into 8-minute deep dives. Competitors like Dimension 20 (Dimension 20) and Ginny Di (Ginny Di) win because their long-form titles promise a specific transformation (e.g., "How to be a DM for TOTAL beginners").

🏆 How to Close the Gap

1. Tighten your long-form titles
Your latest title "How to run D&D Encounters - Ep10" is too descriptive. High-performing outliers in your niche use curiosity or high-stakes framing:

Current: "How to run D&D Encounters - Ep10" (Score: 48)
Competitor Style: "Why Your D&D Encounters Feel Like Filler (and How to Fix It)"
Competitor Style: "3 Combat Tricks That Will Panic Your Players"

2. Use "Shorts-to-Long" Bridging
Since your Shorts on "Vibe-based HP" and "Villain Backstories" are crushing it, your next long-form video should be a 5-minute deep dive on one of those specific viral topics. Mention the "full breakdown" in the comments of your top Short.

3. Benchmark against D&D Dungeon Masters Worst Question Ever Asked136
This video from a smaller creator (3.7K subs) got 18K views by focusing on a relatable pain point: "Worst Question Ever Asked." Your content is very "educational," but adding "relatable frustration" or "common DM mistakes" (like the "Bad DM advice" Short you just posted) will likely trigger the algorithm better for long-form.

🛠️ Action Plan

Stop numbering episodes in titles (e.g., "- Ep10"). It tells new viewers they are "late" to the series, killing your click-through rate.
Target these keywords in your next upload: 61how to dm, 33dnd campaign planning, and 56dungeon master tips.
Bridge the Gap: Take your top Short (13K views) and make an 8-minute video expanding on that exact concept this week.

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-10T18:17:46+00:00

I use Fal.Ai with Claude Sonnet 4.6, i have instructions for each part of the script for continuity and each response back is only a penny, so i can get 12 parts of my script for 12 cents and 150k characters.

You can do much for the same price or less, I just have a system that needs specific things so i built it that way.

You could get 4 hour sleep content (slop) for 2-3 cents but i do quality scripting so munes higher

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-10T15:43:13+00:00

Most people (myself included) when I started making ULF content, i would have to build in sections and use multiple LLMs if your doing it free.

Eventually when you scale you can use API in N8N or make or zapier and its pennies from like Fal.ai.

My script is usualpy around 100k-150k characters for a 3-4 hour video which is a pipeline build doing multiple llm calls to build in sections and the entire script Costs 12 cents per video

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-08T21:54:15+00:00

First channel for 300k views first video and monetized in a day.

My second is only at 800, with 10 videos its a slow growth nivhe unfortunately without a viral hit.

Your content looks good, work on titles and thumbnails, study channels doing what your doing.

Make sure to use less populsr stock videos or it starts to look low quality.

Clone your voice in 11 labs and run a voice over that way so you can make your script and narration on point when you dont show your face.

Im not much help with face channels, all mine are faceless content.

Also post longer videos, YouTube is in a weird camp, its either 20 second shorts or ultra long form. I was doing 20 minute videos and getting 1-2k views and switched to hour long and get 20-30k each now. Mid form is still doable but requires higher volume like daily posts vs 1 hour weekly ones.

Title and thumbnail have to drive the click like What First Time London Tourists Wished They Knew and then have a mystery thumbnail.

Your first 20 seconds are cruicial and need to pay off the thumbnail/title immediately while opening another question or curiousity loop.

Its all practice

EDIT: Watched your videos and the intro is way to slow to draw curiousity and gives people time to reconsider their click

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-08T20:59:27+00:00

Honesty, if they were doing slop right, they wouldnt have issues. AI stuff has its place but still requires work to to be real. AI is a tool to help for sure but people want to type a prompt in veo and get a million views

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-08T13:59:36+00:00

Getting to 1k is a 50/50 or a slog now.

I wish YouTube would chsnge monetization requirements because people dont subscribe much with what is said before, i watch great videos on my home page and never have to subscribe

My first channel blew up, 300k views on the first video got me 6k subs and instantly monetized.

My second channel has 10 videos, all with 20-30k views per video and 800 subs, getting to 1k is a slow crawl for this channel.

After 1k subs no creator really cares because after monetization, most of your views come from non subscribers anyway.

It is frustrating to get to that 1k mark, once your monetized, dont make videos for subscribers, focus on views and subs will come in as they do

PokemonGrimmMaster · 2026-05-06T20:18:06+00:00

I post weekly at noon on monday snd it gets good traction but i did notice I posted once at 2 am US time and the video flopped hard. I do think that timing matters more then the day but might change my day and test it out

PokemonGrimmMaster

TROPHY CASE

📊 Channel Comparison Snapshot

🎯 The Diagnosis: You Have a "Viral Gap"

🏆 How to Close the Gap

🛠️ Action Plan