That was great. Integrity is always refreshing on the interweb. You are always proving that you're indeed just our type... writer!

What kind of country are we living in where a Ph.D. can't afford a few hundred dollars for a hobby?

Great video, Sarah! Thank you for discussing these behind-the-scenes issues. Myself, I got a few offers to become a “partner” when I first monetized my channel, but ignored them. My best advice is keep doing what you do best: make good videos!

Really appreciate your candor here Sarah. Keep being true to yourself and your values. I will continue to watch as this community grows. Thank you for keeping typewriters alive. Good Luck on your dissertation! Carpe Diem!

I appreciate your videos for them being exactly that personal low key thing. Typewriters are my secondary thing after synths and music gear, and I watch a lot of videos where all the reviews of anything new launch at the same time, they all have affiliate links, etc. It's fine but gets a bit much. I have pondered making videos but having had a blog that pulls in about 30 to 40k views/yr and not monetise it, it's a lot of work and I've let it slide lately. KZfaq seems like even more work tbh! Thanks for keeping going, it's always nice to just relax with a cup of tea and watch your dog get in the way.

Hey Sarah, thanks for going to all the trouble of posting this. Like all your videos, it is thorough, informative and, needless to say, fun to watch. Your interest in transparency is lovely and, yes, refreshing! I can’t speak for everyone, but I suspect none of us were ever concerned about Just My Typewriter and product endorsements. So this, I think, is more a reflection of your natural desire to be open and honest than it is of a need to “set things straight” with us. If I’m any judge of what folks out there are thinking (and hey, I’m an advertising copywriter, so that’s kinda, sorta part of my job), most of us have never given your motives or honesty a second thought. Typewriters are clearly a labor of love for you - not a potential generator of significant income. (And hello, it’s typewriters, not a passion of a great many people, so not exactly a good way to get rich.) So thanks, again, for the compelling story. And don’t worry about us. Like you, we just love learning about typewriters (and your little dog, too), and that you’re generous enough with your time and talent to share your hobby with the rest of us.

i was looking at the typwriter key board on temu ended up stumbling upon your video... i love the theme of this channel ahah very unique!

I find your transparency very respectable and not cringy at all. I’m happy for you that you’re monitized. From all the scammer KZfaq channels I watch they all seem to say “rest assured”. Be careful girl! Been watching for a year or two, love the channel, take care.

Personally, I can't stand "influencers" and avoid them at all costs. Stay true to yourself; I may just be old fashioned, but I'd rather interact with a genuine human being. You do good work, keep it up! 🙂

I like this kind of behind-the-curtain look. Thanks for sharing!

This is a great video Sarah (with an 'h' 😀). It's interesting to hear the behind the scenes story for those of us who make zero content. We all know you're 100% authentic.

Wow. Quite the story. Sidenote: I purchased a first-run Rymek keyboard and loved it! It feels to type on, with nice style of keycaps, solid & heavy unit, and comfortable layout. As a software developer, I enjoy a standard & cheap full-size keyboard, but for basic writing the Rymek is wonderful and reminds me of my manual typewriters. :)

Your true fans know you are 100% authentic- I'd be more worried what shady things could happen if you got paid to review a product and you left an honest negative review about it

I was considering the exact keyboard but seen so many on amazon as the different price ranges and different name that I can’t trust myself to buy it. I was hoping this was a side by side comparison of the qwerty and that keyboard. But I appreciate your honestly and transparency about the whole process. Now if only I could afford about qwerky lol

What do you think of the usb typewriter project? It lets you turn your old typewriter into a computer keyboard and still use it as a typewriter. That would be so much cooler than a cheap keyboard that looks like a typewriter.

This typewriter review is brought to you by RAID SHADOW LEGENDS.

Love your videos and your honesty 😊. BTW We named our daughter Sarah..not Sara..she is grown, married with kids and our relatives ..aunts and uncles STILL don’t spell it right. Ugh. Very irritating! On that same note people are constantly abbreviating my name without asking…and I much prefer Jennifer. Even when I politely correct them they still it wrong. Drives me insane. New subject: Took a chance on an online auction and bought a Montana typewriter for $17. Case was dirty, needed a new ribbon but is great. It’s a Baby Hermes clone made in Italy in 1958. Thanks to you I am getting better at researching the history of my typewriters😊

It doesn’t sound like a scam. It was likely a white label product deal. Manufacturers in other countries will sometimes make a product with no branding whatsoever specifically with the intent of selling it to a number of small companies who can then slap their own name on it. The company you were dealing with may have not been all in and ended up pulling out of the white label deal. Or maybe there really were supply chain issues. Regardless, it’s best to stick with what you feel comfortable with, so I commend you for not be swayed into going a different direction.

Is there a business, or maybe a few, that you would recommend for cleaning/fixing/painting machines, for someone that doesn't really have the tools (or confidence) to do it themselves? Lol I've been looking around in the Tri-State area, and there's Karls and WPM, and a couple others....but I'venever actually been to any if them. Or been antiquing........ :X Where would be a place that has good information, and isn't impatient? Lol, I have like too many questions for my machines

I got one of the typewriter keyboards you showed in the video (the one with the woodgrain) and I ended up liking it quite a bit. Yeah, it's gimicky, but I didn't find anything on the product itself that raised any red flags. That being said, one of the issues it had was when people would put their ipad on the little holder the keyboard tended to tilt forward because it's just not heavy enough to hold it. But yeah, there was a severe lack of reviews for it and the ones that were there seemed to have been posted by people who received it for free. There were a few videos that sounded more like advertisements than like, you know, user reviews which I thought were interesting.

I think what you did was great! I appreciate your efforts.

Thanks for this I was looking at those photos to. You have to be so careful these days.

Definition of integrity...Sarah Everett

I get those messages all the time asking for me to review or make posts about products that are kind of weird or scammy or whatever. I only have about 300 followers on Instagram and well I have done KZfaq and Twitch but don't have many people who actually watch any of those videos or my live streams.

Just a heads up that I've never seen your channel before, and while I am a writer, I've never been into using a typewriter. That said, this video was recommended to me by the almighty algorithm! Hopefully this means that the KZfaq Gods will bless you with increased traffic! Good luck! You just got a new subscriber!

I'm not sure a computer keyboard is something I would look for on a channel about typewriters, even if it looks like one.

What is DNKN' - is that something that you are promoting? Is that a prop in the back next to the keyboard is it just accidental?

I bought it less than 100 from aliexpress, and even there i feel i overpaid by 30 usd. This thing is a toy and nothing much.

When I see 'be rest assured' in an email it stinks of scam. I don't think people would begrudge you making a few bucks to help fund typewriters as long as you are transparent about it. People like authenticity and if getting money to buy products to review or discuss on the channel requires advertising or something, people will be supportive

Apart from the scammers, you would think legitimate companies would send out review machines - typewriters for people to review but not keep.

You never know... You can go on for a long time without getting much attention, and then your subscribers can double overnight and triple in a week. You're closing in on 3,000 subscribers soon. That's pretty good. You just have to figure out the multiple advantages of using typewriters and communicate that to a diverse audience.

The KZfaq algorithm is wired.

Love my pink Qwerkeywriter.

It's all good Sarah, you don't need to feel any guilt. Most GOOD youtubers give a "disclaimer" when reviewing a product about the nature of the relationship with the company, if the product was free and if there is any commission or payment, even relating to discount codes. Jody from "Just one more watch" channel does this really well. That is all you need to do. Then everyone knows where you are coming from. Getting a small percentage of sales is not a crime, but hiding it is quite iffy, and does eat your integrity. I don't think anyone who has watched more than a few of your videos thinks you might be taking us all for a ride. If you keep having fun, so will we. If you want to review a keyboard and they send it to you for free, no problem - just let us know upfront in the review. I'd still watch and enjoy that. On hearing about those emails you had I don't think you were being scammed, but the product maybe just didn't pan out. You could have countered with your own terms, such as asking for a free sample with shipping included, a discount code for viewers but no further commission or control over content of the review. That might be the balance you were looking for? Something like that anyway. Don't just accept what they propose, let them know how you want it to be. A lot of content creators struggle with this issue. Typewriters are a small community, so even with 2.6K youtube followers, that is quite a bit for us I'd say. JVC has what? 17.4K. Is there anyone doing typewriter content who is bigger than that? So you might feel like you are a small fish, but this is quite a small pond too, so it is all relative. Considering all the effort you put into your videos, it makes me a bit sad that you don't make more than you do. Hopefully that will change soon, and you can go out and buy a "free" typewriter and a coffee with some ad revenue. You can dream, right?

The e mails have weird syntaxes from the get go. "It is your decision to decide????" I smell Chinglish.

Hi Sarah, do you happen to have a patreon? I know I would support you through that and I'm sire alot of others would as well. You do an amazing job, keep up the good work.

Don't worry about the mis-spelling of your name too much, Sarah. People at my workplace often spell my first name "Alistair" or "Alaster", even though there's a signature footer at the bottom of every email. The National Health Service spells my first name "Alistair". I've contacted them about it. So on every prescription, email from my local doctor's surgery (office), on my digital COVID-19 travel passes and my vaccination records, my name is spelt incorrectly. I'm just bracing for the impact when I start to travel abroad for business again and I show my COVID pass and passport to the customs official, and he or she notices the names don't quite match.

I just watched one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen, and it made me think about This KZfaq channel. It's a movie called Naked Lunch (1991), directed by David Cronenberg. Check it out. It's really crazy. And maybe it will inspire you to do a video in which typewriters are a central theme in the plots of movies and TV shows.

I would like to suggest starting a Patreon. I would be happy to chip in a couple dollars a month to help you buy things like these keyboards to review. You also wouldn't have any ties to the seller other than as a customer, so your integrity as a trusted reviewer remains intact. (This video was powered by Dunkin')

The big question is, is Don still your friend?

Did you say you are doing your PhD?

There's nothing wrong with making money off of YT. Lord knows they make way more than content creators.

Emmm, right, not dissing the hobby but I have no idea why YT wanted me here.

I’d call this an attempted scam, the scammers never even sent the product and barely communicated! There is nothing wrong with reviewing items that get sent to you, with full disclosure. It saves the rest of us from having to buy and try it 😂 really tho I clean my whole house with Simple Green now.