![\"\"](\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_7284-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Clearly, I must be doing something very different.<\/p>\n
Judging by some of the Instagram comments, I am being lumped together with the YouTube sailing channels. I had this discussion with Paul early on (it became rather heated). He, too, had the idea that, because I post on YouTube, I want to be a \u201cYouTuber\u201d – I want to make my fortune by encouraging people to pay for \u201cexclusive content\u201d and \u201cmerch\u201d and the like.<\/p>\n
No, no, a thousand times No. YouTube is for cute young couples wearing not many clothes (Sailing La Vagabonde), <\/em>or retired fifty-somethings with a lifetime of video expertise (Sailing Fair Isle)<\/em> – or just anyone willing to film every moment of their life (pick your own favourite from the hundreds out there).<\/p>\n I am different. I am a writer. I have been from the age of 20. It\u2019s what I do – I would do it even if nobody read it (and you would be surprised at the amount of material that never sees the light of day).<\/p>\n The video channels are merely advertising for the books. The Oldmansailing Book Club on YouTube is a blatant teaser: Watch onboard video while listening to me reading an extract from one of my books. At the end of each episode, I say: \u201cIf you would like to know what happens next, we will be returning to this title in ten weeks\u2019 time \u2026 alternatively, you can buy the book on Amazon\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Please understand that I would still like to make my fortune – the idea of laying up in Guatemala for a month, having the whole of the interior professionally painted and varnished and the hull Awlgripped while I attend a month\u2019s residential Spanish course is still a lifetime ambition.<\/p>\n But I would be paying for it out of book royalties. That\u2019s what I know. I have no interest in becoming an internet performer. Indeed, the idea of asking people to pay to watch me setting sails or pulling up anchors – or just drinking cold beer in the sunshine fills me with revulsion. The whole Patreon thing seems like begging – or at the very least a street performer passing round the hat.<\/p>\n And yet people still don\u2019t get it. A comment on Instagram yesterday said: \u201cIf you would like me to access the blog, I require 6 dollars a month. And for that price I will retweet it with endorsements in X.\u201d<\/p>\n They meant it kindly, but they still misunderstood. It does not cost $6 a month to access the blog. The blog at oldmansailing.com is free – it has always been free (all the way back to 2017). What people are getting for their \u00a36 a month is the book: Samsara Circles the World<\/em> – my version of Chichester\u2019s classic Gipsy Moth Circles the World.<\/em><\/p>\n I will publish mine, just as he did, when I get back to Plymouth – except, I won\u2019t have to put myself in the hands of a traditional publisher. I will publish it myself on Amazon, keep total control and make it available instantly all over the world.<\/p>\n But in other ways, I am being very traditional indeed: I am doing exactly what Charles Dickens did with The Pickwick Papers. He published it first in instalments as he wrote it. With Barnaby Rudge <\/em>and The Old Curiosity Shop<\/em>, he cut out the middleman entirely by starting his own magazine – the modern equivalent of the oldmansailing books page where the ten titles are linked to my Amazon Associates account (effectively, making me both wholesaler and retailer.)<\/p>\n All of this seems to me entirely ethical. I am creating something of value. People recognise that value and are prepared to pay for it.<\/p>\n So please, please don\u2019t think of me as a YouTuber or an Internet Personality.<\/p>\n And please don\u2019t think I am asking anyone to pay for \u201ccontent\u201d. They are buying books.<\/p>\n And there is always something magical about buying a book.<\/p>\n Get yours here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clearly, I must be doing something very different. Judging by some of the Instagram comments, I am being lumped together with the YouTube sailing channels. I had this discussion with Paul early on (it became rather heated). He, too, had the idea that, because I post on YouTube, I want to be a \u201cYouTuber\u201d – … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singlehanded"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3905,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3903\/revisions\/3905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}