Aprilynne Alter @AprilynneAlter YouTube

She left a 22K channel to start over teaching YouTube: 44 videos, about one a month, 186K subscribers

In April 2023 Aprilynne Alter walked away from a 22K-subscriber channel and started a new one about how to make YouTube videos. Twenty videos in, a 12-minute guide to intros reached 1.72M views. She then cut back to roughly one long video a month, reached 100K after two years, three months and 28 days, and says the channel’s business brought in over $290,000 last year.

Report: v1
Data as of: 2026-11-09
Sample: 44 videos

How to make a killer YouTube intro, September 8, 2023: 1.72M views

At a glance

What it is: Long, step-by-step guides to making YouTube videos.
Who watches: Aspiring and small YouTubers.
How it earns: A 12-week coaching program, sponsors and ads: $290K+ in 2025 (self-reported).
How it broke out: A 12-minute guide to intros reached 1.72M five months after the restart.

Subscribers Fact

186K

restarted from zero in April 2023

Median after vs before Derived

15×

180K against 12.0K

Videos in 2025 Fact

long videos, about one a month

Revenue, 2025 Self-reported

$290K+

her own figure, whole business

Summary

The play

Teach the one skill your viewers fail at most (intros, thumbnails, titles), in one long, step-by-step video with a free PDF, and keep a fixed title template so each new guide reads like the next episode.

Can you copy it? Our read

The proof that a channel can grow on one video a month, if every video is a definitive guide to one skill your viewers need. The catch: she started with an earlier 22K channel’s experience and a following on X, and her income comes from coaching, not views.

What it takes: Real expertise in the thing you teach, and the patience to make one 20-minute guide a month.
Startup cost: A home studio, a camera and weeks per video; her program description mentions a team.
Time to a verdict: About one guide a month; give each title template three videos before changing it.
Window: Open for any skill people search for. YouTube growth itself is crowded; the template transfers to other crafts.

Key findings

One skill per video, one title template
Five “killer … (to blow up your channel)” guides have a median of 498K. Before the first one, her 20 videos had a median of 12.0K. See play 2.1 (subscribers)
Slow uploads, steady subscribers
After the breakout she posted about once a month, with gaps of up to 145 days, and still added 2,000 to 7,000 subscribers almost every month. See play 2.2 (subscribers)
Her own journey did not sell
The “can I get monetized in 90 days” diary and studies of mid-sized creators sat at 4.5K–31K. The two MrBeast studies were the exception, at 429K and 539K. See play 3.1 (subscribers)

What this channel is

Platform: YouTube, long videos
Format: Step-by-step guides
On camera: Aprilynne, talking head plus graphics
Team: Her plus a small team (self-described)
First upload: Apr 14, 2023 (this channel)
Length: Median about 17 minutes

Every number is tagged

Fact straight from public data
Derived calculated from facts
Estimate from published pay ranges
Self-reported what the creator says
Our read our judgement

01How it happened

How the subscriber count grew

YouTube 186K
Fact
Self-reported

YouTube subscribers. The first two points are hers (the restart at zero, and 951 when Buffer interviewed her); month ends from November 2023 are measured, rounded to the nearest hundred or thousand. She posted her 100K Short on August 13, 2025.

Colour = views against the channel median

under 1×
1–3×
3–10×
10× and up

Each bar is one video in the order posted. Gaps are breaks in posting.

Phase	Dates	Videos	Format	Median views
0	2021 – early 2023	–	A first channel, by her account: finance, freelancing, an NFT video that took off; left at 22K subscribers	–
1	Apr 14 – Jun 30, 2023	11	Weekly beginner tutorials: editing, search, camera confidence, niche, a studio for under $500	11.8K
2	Jul 12 – Aug 23, 2023	9	A “monetized in 90 days” diary and studies of big creators; two MrBeast videos reached 429K and 539K	15.8K
3	Sep 8, 2023 – 2025	19	“How to make a killer intro (to blow up your channel)”, 1.72M; then about one long guide a month, gaps of up to 142 days	163K
4	2026	4	An income breakdown, an essay on originality, a thumbnail guide; +24K subscribers in September	429K

Hottest and coldest

Top 5 by views

how to make a killer youtube intro (to blow up your channel)2023-09-081.72M
My BIGGEST Advice for Starting and Growing a YouTube Channel2025-10-02788K
give me 9 minutes, I’ll make your thumbnails 81% better2026-08-27678K
how to make a killer youtube thumbnail (to blow up your channel)2023-12-21676K
how to make your FIRST YouTube video in 20262024-12-23652K

Bottom 5 by views

How Doctor Mike Became YouTube's Favorite Doctor (1 Million Subscribers in 3 Months)2023-06-164.46K
How to Make a Custom YouTube Banner WITHOUT Design Experience | FREE YouTube Banner Template2023-05-054.83K
Can I Get Monetized on YouTube in 90 Days - Week 22023-07-267.48K
The Psychology of YouTube2023-05-128.22K
The Woman EVERY YOUTUBER Should Know2023-06-308.36K

The five hottest are all single-skill guides: the killer intro (1.72M), My biggest advice for starting a channel (788K), the thumbnails guide (678K), the killer thumbnail (676K) and How to make your first video (652K). The five coldest are all from her first three months, mostly studies of other creators and general essays: Doctor Mike (4.5K), a custom banner guide (4.8K), the 90-day diary week 2 (7.5K), The Psychology of YouTube (8.2K) and The Woman Every YouTuber Should Know (8.4K). Our read

Reading the numbers

Self-reported

22K

subscribers on the channel she left

Her own figure, in the first video of the new channel.

Fact

1.72M

views on the 21st video

How to make a killer YouTube intro, September 8, 2023.

Self-reported

951 → 23.9K

subscribers, Aug 31 to Nov 30, 2023

951 is what she told Buffer; 23.9K is measured.

In the creator’s words Self-reported
It took 2 years, 3 months, and 28 days. But we did it.
Aprilynne Alter, 100K Short description · View source