Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

How I Grew my YouTube Channel from Zero to Over 20,000 Subscribers (And How You Can Grow an Online Audience Too)

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In February, my YouTube channel passed 20,000 subscribers! 

Thank you so much to everyone who has watched the videos, left a like or a comment, and subscribed. It encourages me to keep making more videos, and I’m loving connecting with so many amazing writers.

YouTube is one of the best platforms for writers to share their ideas and reach an audience online. It feels a bit counterintuitive — it’s a video platform, not a writing platform.

But the truth is that you can take blog posts you’ve written, narrate the audio as a voice over, and add pictures and video for a visual presentation. Or if you enjoy being on camera, you can read your blog post from a teleprompter or ad lib from an outline.

(Another cool feature of YouTube: you can monetize your videos through their partner program if you have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours throughout the year.)

In today’s post, I’m sharing the five steps that helped me grow my channel from 0 to over 20,000 subscribers and craft one video that has been viewed over 500,000 times.

I think many of these lessons can apply no matter whether you’re making videos or writing blog posts.

Let’s dive in.

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The 5 Best Passages from Books I Read Last Year: Powerful Techniques for Captivating Description

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Last year, I wrote a post sharing the best passages from books I’d read in 2023. I enjoyed writing it so much that I decided to write up a new version for 2025. Again, I read over twenty books, both fiction and nonfiction, last year. As I read, I tried to pay attention to the authors’ techniques: how they implemented storytelling principles, how they handled transitions, how they crafted their opening sentences and concluding paragraphs, how they wrote captivating descriptions, and much more.

When I came across a paragraph that struck me with its eloquence, I wrote it down. That helped me study it on an even deeper level and absorb the author’s techniques for structure and style.

In today’s post, I’m sharing five of the best passages (in no particular order) that I collected this past year and what I learned from them, focusing in particular on their powerful descriptions. Let’s dive in.

(I’ve also made a video version of this post that you can watch below.)

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The Power of Stories in Marketing: Four Inspiring Examples from Successful Businesses

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Photo of Computer
Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash

Back in 2021, I teamed up with two of my brothers, John and Michael, to launch our own marketing agency.

It all started with John’s fantastic idea that the three of us could join our talents. He had honed his skills at top-tier agencies but craved the freedom and creativity of entrepreneurship. Michael, a whiz at Google and Facebook ads, brought his tech-savvy expertise to the table, while I contributed my freelance background in web design, copywriting, and SEO.

It’s been quite an adventure as our agency has grown and more people have joined our team. I love when I get the chance to share here on my blog some of the marketing strategies that we’ve implemented, helping a wide array of businesses and influencers grow their brands online (from brick-and-mortar stores to national companies to personal brands to authors and more!). 

One strategy, however, has consistently stood out as the most powerful: storytelling. As a fiction writer, I love showing clients how they can captivate their audience with a well-told story.

In today’s post, I’m sharing four ways we’ve harnessed the power of storytelling to elevate our clients’ marketing efforts. Whether you’re a small business owner, a freelancer promoting your services, or an author eager to market your book, I hope these will give you ideas and inspire you.

(And if you’re struggling with your marketing and interested in my agency’s help, you can learn more here.)

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How to Write Like John Steinbeck: Techniques for Powerful Prose

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Photo of John Steinbeck's book "Travels with Charley"

This summer, I read Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck. In this fascinating travelogue, Steinbeck blends truth with a touch of fiction as he recounts a 1960 road trip he took across the United States accompanied by his faithful poodle, Charley.

Steinbeck is a masterful writer. It was interesting to read his musings on the different states and see how he turns ordinary moments into memorable stories (though his description of the school protest in New Orleans was saddening). 

While reading, I wrote down any passages that particularly struck me with their eloquence. That helped me study them on an even deeper level and fully appreciate Steinbeck’s techniques for structure and style.

In today’s post, I’m sharing three passages where Steinbeck recounts his travels in New England during the fall. I thought they would be particularly fitting as I am returning to blogging here in September after taking a break from the blog over the summer. Tomorrow is the first official day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere!

Let’s see what techniques Steinbeck uses that we can steal to make our own writing more powerful.

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The Best Writing Advice from Famous Authors to Change Your Life (Video)

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Hi! I hope your writing projects are off to a fantastic start this September. After a summer break to re-energize my creativity, it’s great to be back to writing here.

The last time I wrote, I shared that I was working on a novel draft, having just hit the 52,000-word mark. I’m excited to report that the manuscript has now grown to nearly 70,000 words. It’s been quite a journey, and I’m eagerly writing the final pages. I’m hoping I’ll have some time in the upcoming weeks to share more about this project in a blog post.

In the meantime, I’ve also been busy working on a new video and just uploaded it to the YouTube channel. Watch it here or below.

Several years ago I wrote a blog post sharing the best writing advice I’d found from the letters of famous authors. I’ve adapted it for this new video. Discover inspiring advice from Louisa May Alcott, John Steinbeck, J. R. R. Tolkien, Kurt Vonnegut, T. S. Eliot, and Zora Neale Hurston.

Click on the CC button for subtitles if needed. I’d love for this video to inspire as many writers as possible. You can help by giving it a like on YouTube to encourage the algorithm to share it with more people. 

And I always love hearing your thoughts in the comments. Thank you!

I hope this video gives you a boost of motivation as we welcome a new season this month.

It’s the perfect time to revisit old projects (or start new ones!), reignite our creativity, and press on towards our goals with renewed enthusiasm as we race towards the end of the year.

In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

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