Nicki Positano

[dressagediva]

As cringe as she is, I do think she has a point there. She never does ads, unlike most people with her numbers, and even though the book sounds atrocious, you can hardly blame her for promoting it a few times on her own channels.

Obviously anyone with half a brain won't be buying it though.

 

[londongirl2001]

Is this the book she had on her laptop for years and only published it after followers explained to her the concept of self-publishing on Amazon? Or is this a completely new one?
Even from the stuff she sometimes voiceovers her videos with, I can tell she’s a bad writer.

 

[Sabbie]

Love it that she’s so precious over the most godawful self published book. I do hope she does a proper meltdown rant on a vlog.

 

[VeeJayBee]

As cringe as she is, I do think she has a point there. She never does ads, unlike most people with her numbers, and even though the book sounds atrocious, you can hardly blame her for promoting it a few times on her own channels.

Obviously anyone with half a brain won't be buying it though.

Indeed she doesn't do ads on the vlog and, certainly, her own socials are the place she would be promoting her own book (if quite heavy-handedly) but her outrage at someone drawing attention to the increasingly-pushy commercial aspect of her operation is entirely disingenous - after all they run a Patreon account which she happily punts on the vlogs.

She's at that tricky stage where it's going to be hard to keep up the shtick of "just little old us showing you our simple life" when she's actively developing and promoting herself as a brand.

Is this the book she had on her laptop for years and only published it after followers explained to her the concept of self-publishing on Amazon? Or is this a completely new one?
Even from the stuff she sometimes voiceovers her videos with, I can tell she’s a bad writer.

Yes, it's the book that had been on the laptop for years, ressurrected during Covid time. Lucky she had the followers to tell her all about Amazon, otherwise they'd have been stuffing envelopes themselves like they did for their book of slop recipes.

 

[Tamara]

She has lost 300 followers now. I think a lot more will unfollow yet.

 

[londongirl2001]

I mean, it’s not like she doesn’t bother viewers with ad content out of the goodness of her heart. It’s because she doesn’t know how to get sponsorships; she has admitted that herself. If her viewers could have helped her with that, like they did with the publication of her books, she would absolutely have sponsored content. Which is obviously within her rights.

 

[Sabbie]

I'm behind, but just watched the breaking down vlog and that tablescaping for lunch table felt suspiciously like an ad. Who cares how thick the aprons are if you can't buy them? Oh! There's a link in the description. I have no doubt the shop provides her stuff for free in return for a five minute feature in her vlog and a link to where to buy.

 

[emm]

I'm behind, but just watched the breaking down vlog and that tablescaping for lunch table felt suspiciously like an ad. Who cares how thick the aprons are if you can't buy them? Oh! There's a link in the description. I have no doubt the shop provides her stuff for free in return for a five minute feature in her vlog and a link to where to buy.

Her latest video features a random shot on the beach of a pile of products like suncream etc all with the labels very obviously in shot, I wondered the same for this

 

[VeeJayBee]

Yes, could be the subtle sort of "the business owner is just my friend" type of non-declared advertising - usually for freebies - as done by many influencers. Very hard to prove it's advertising, either to the advertising or tax authorities. Often overlooked by trusting stans who think the vlogger is simply "sharing". But it's shady. As @Londongirl2021 says, advertising is within her rights but it must be transparent to any viewer.

The tablescaping thing had real Avon lady vibes about it and that clunky insert of sunblock products stuck out like a sore thumb. It was quick, but probably there as breadcrumbing, later she'll say "so many asked what sunblock we use...." so she can pretend she is just passing on info.

The flex of her doing a normal day's work on the boats was to reinforce the image of her & Carlo not being pro vloggers, ie in need of donations via Patreon.

I believe they're not really interested in "stuff", they just want the cash. Hence their approach is to keep any ads low key, all the better to play the "we don't do ads", "our normal life" the subtext being "please send money on Patreon, that's all we're asking."
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ETA Correction, I meant to mention the comment by @dressagediva about no ads, not @Londongirl2021. Sorry all.
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Second correction, of course I meant @londongirl2001 Exuse? I'm bleary eyed at an airport

 

[Tamara]

I'm behind, but just watched the breaking down vlog and that tablescaping for lunch table felt suspiciously like an ad. Who cares how thick the aprons are if you can't buy them? Oh! There's a link in the description. I have no doubt the shop provides her stuff for free in return for a five minute feature in her vlog and a link to where to buy.

I haven’t watched their vlogs for well over a year. I don’t want to give them a view or the ad money they will get as well.

 

[VeeJayBee]

I haven’t watched their vlogs for well over a year. I don’t want to give them a view or the ad money they will get as well.

Good point @Tamara, they don't "do ads" but of course their channel allows the ads that Youtube automatically inserts, so they will receive income via YouTube's ad revenue programme. Yet more disingenuity.

I can't stand when vloggers take an exasperated tone when flexing how much hard work they do for their channels, how expensive equipment is, so many hours finding content, filming, editing and posting to satisfy the YouTube algorithm. It's their job (or one of their jobs), they should suck it up or quit.

 

[emm]

Just watching her latest video... seems like that shot of products on the beach are now being advertised (without being declared) what a shock

 

[VeeJayBee]

So, as we guessed, the "casual" placement of suncare products in the second last vlog was breadcrumbing for the advertorial in yesterday's vlog. As she didn't claim she was promoting them as a simple favour to a local business we can only presume that she's in receipt of some kind of benefit for doing this promo. Even if it's just for freebies a viewer should not be left wondering about this, hence the requirement for ad transparency.

To that end, YouTube requires videos (even with a small section with advertising) to be clearly indicated with the CONTAINS PAID PROMOTION banner so that viewers know this before they chose to watch. But of course many vloggers chose to ignore this as it detracts from the image they wish to maintain as amateur video hobbyists who simply wish to film and share their lives with strangers.

She again stated she "doesn't do ads" - conveniently ignoring the fact her channel would receive income via the You Tube ad revenue programme, as well as the funds sent directly to her via Patreon.

She also gave an arsey speech about those who mentioned her heavy promotion of the book. Many of her latest comments have jumped in saying - much as we did here - that of course she would/should promote her book on her channel. However, her stans go further to call the neg commenters nasty jealous trolls. They are also accused of being non-readers! . Why not simply ignore, or perhaps even take some points on board?

I wonder how snippy Nicki would get on with a job in the real world, when you get a performance review with input from all stakeholders, no matter what their role, whether you like or value them or not, you have to consider and respond constructively to every point, without the unprofessional attitude!

 

[emm]

Watching the latest video, did I miss it or has she launched merch? Carlo is wearing a t-shirt with "the positano diaries" on. Who on earth would buy this is my first question, usually merch is a funny catchphrase or something from a channel

 

[VeeJayBee]

Watching the latest video, did I miss it or has she launched merch? Carlo is wearing a t-shirt with "the positano diaries" on. Who on earth would buy this is my first question, usually merch is a funny catchphrase or something from a channel

They've been doing merch for a while, have you seen Carlo's Hello Everywhere tshirt? And another one with lemons. I'm sure they gave links a while back.

Off-topic: I heard an interesting interview on the radio the other day, with a British woman who has written a book about her house in Le Marche. Much of the book concerns the earthquakes of the area, she has such a reverence for the land and its people who remain devoted to their land despite the destruction it visits upon them. The house she bought had been abandoned for almost 100 years, the previous resident was a priest and in the attic she found paintings and papers, including detailed earthquake maps of Sicily, which led her to further research. Intrigued, I downloaded the Kindle preview and I started reading knowing I'll click to purchase the whole thing when I get to the end. During the interview she conceded that, while the book is not depressing, it is certainly not "Under the Tuscan Sun". I might suggest neither is it a "A Boatful of Lemons", being very well written and not peddling regional cliches to potential day trippers and tshirt buyers.

 

[dressagediva]

In the new video, she says everyone who's left nice reviews about her book has given her the confidence to start writing another... These idiots don't know what they've done! Another cringe novel inflicted upon the world.

 

[VeeJayBee]

In the new video, she says everyone who's left nice reviews about her book has given her the confidence to start writing another... These idiots don't know what they've done! Another cringe novel inflicted upon the world.

It's got lots of good reviews on Amazon because at this stage it's been bought only by her stans. She needs to prepare herself for when reviews come in from those who buy it cold and feel no need to blow smoke up her a.

 

[dressagediva]

It'll be interesting to see a) whether anyone else actually buys it and b) how she'll react to the inevitable 1* reviews if they do.

 

[VeeJayBee]

It'll be interesting to see a) whether anyone else actually buys it and b) how she'll react to the inevitable 1* reviews if they do.

Indeed, perhaps no one else will buy it and she'll go on collecting reviews all saying "well done Nicki I'm so proud of you I feel like I'm in Positano 5 stars!!" all left by stans who want attention from their idol, extending their creepy parasocial relationships. It's easy to see how these deluded vloggers let things go to their heads, they end up with the opposite of imposter syndrome

 

[Clovis]

Hadn't heard of this one, but the recent video about harvesting potatoes and beans was suggested to me so I watched it as I'm interested in seeing the area and I love snooping at gardens.

Anyway, although the area looks beautiful and I love the house and garden, I was immediately put off by her snippy tone, calling people out for leaving "rude comments" about her book.

I doubt I'll be subscribing. Is she always this snippy?