Managing Your Video Ideas
Once you've discovered promising video ideas, Subscribr gives you powerful tools to organize them, develop them further, and turn them into finished scripts. Here's how to make the most of your idea library.
Accessing Your Video Ideas Library
Head to any channel and click Ideas in the channel navigation bar at the top. This takes you to your complete video ideas library for that channel. From here, you can view all your ideas in different layouts, filter by status and source, search specific concepts, and start writing scripts directly from ideas.
Understanding Your Idea Views
Subscribr offers three different ways to view and work with your ideas. Choose whichever matches your working style best.
Grid View
The grid view shows your ideas as visual cards. Each card displays the idea's title, topic, angle, and a visual emoji for quick identification. This view is perfect for browsing and getting a sense of your overall pipeline at a glance. Grid view lets you see many ideas at once and includes pagination to handle large libraries.
Table View
The table view displays your ideas in a sortable, searchable spreadsheet format. This is ideal when you want to compare ideas side-by-side, sort by creation date or title, and perform bulk actions. Each row shows the complete details of an idea, making it easy to scan through dozens of concepts quickly.
Kanban View
The Kanban view organizes your ideas into vertical columns by status: New, Considering, and Archived. This workflow view lets you drag ideas between columns to change their status, and you can see exactly where each idea sits in your decision pipeline. If you work visually and like moving ideas through stages, Kanban is your best choice.
Choose Your View Strategically
Use Grid to browse, Table to compare, and Kanban to manage workflow. You can switch views anytime without losing your filters or search.
Adding New Ideas to Your Library
You have two ways to add ideas: create them manually yourself, or generate multiple ideas from a YouTube video.
Where Do Ideas Come From?
Your ideas library is the tactical hub where you organize and develop concepts. For strategic help finding and validating ideas before adding them here, explore finding your next video ideas and validating ideas with research data.
Method 1: Manual Entry
Click Add Idea and select Add Manually. You'll be asked for:
- Title (required) - The working title of your video idea
- Topic (optional) - A description of what the video is about
- Angle (optional) - The specific perspective or approach you're taking (e.g., "how-to," "myth-busting," "deep dive")
- Emoji (optional) - A single emoji that visually represents this idea for quick identification
Manual ideas are great for concepts you've thought of yourself, angles you want to explore differently, or ideas from your own brainstorming sessions. No YouTube video source is needed—just you and your creativity.
Method 2: Generate from a YouTube Video
Click Add Idea and select From a YouTube Video. Paste or enter a YouTube video URL—it can be from a competitor's channel, a trending video, or any source you find inspiring. Subscribr will:
- Fetch the video details
- Analyze its content
- Generate 3 AI-powered video ideas inspired by the original
Each generated idea includes the original video's title, view count, and outlier score so you remember why this video sparked your interest. This method is invaluable for the "Yoink and Twist" approach—taking proven concepts and making them your own.
YouTube Shorts Not Supported
Subscribr automatically filters out YouTube Shorts (videos under 3 minutes). Generate ideas only from long-form videos to ensure sufficient depth and structure for your scripts.
Filtering and Searching Your Ideas
As your idea library grows, use filters and search to find exactly what you're looking for.
Status Filter
Filter ideas by their status in your workflow:
- New - Freshly added ideas you haven't fully evaluated yet
- Considering - Ideas you're actively thinking about and might develop
- Archived - Ideas you've decided not to pursue
Source Filter
If you have ideas from multiple sources, you can filter by:
- YouTube - Ideas generated from YouTube videos or inspired by specific channels
- Manual - Ideas you added yourself
- Generated - Ideas created by Subscribr's idea generator (when using the "Generate Ideas" button)
The source filter only appears if you have ideas from multiple source types, keeping your interface clean.
Search
Use the search bar to find ideas by title, topic, or angle. Search across all your ideas at once or combine it with status and source filters for precise results.
Sorting
Sort your ideas by creation date (newest or oldest first) to find your most recent brainstorms or your original inspiration. Sorting helps you review your thinking over time and spot patterns in what you're interested in.
Developing Your Ideas Further
As ideas progress through your pipeline, you can enhance them with AI-powered tools that make them stronger and more actionable.
Editing Idea Details
Click on any idea to open its detail panel. Here you can:
- Edit the title, topic, and angle - Refine your concept as your thinking evolves
- Add or change the emoji - Use visual symbols to categorize ideas (e.g., 🚀 for launch topics, 🤔 for explorations)
- View the source video details (if applicable) - See the original video that inspired this idea, including view counts and performance metrics
Changes save automatically, so you don't need to worry about losing edits.
Generate Title Variations
One of the most powerful tools for idea development is generating alternative titles. Click Generate Titles to use AI to create 5 completely different title options for your video, each using a different psychological hook:
- Curiosity Gap - Creates a gap between what viewers know and want to know ("The One Thing About This You Never Noticed")
- Negativity Bias - Taps into fears or mistakes ("Stop Doing This (Do This Instead)")
- Secret/Insider Knowledge - Promises exclusive information ("The Hack No One Tells You")
- Extreme Contrast - Uses unexpected juxtaposition ("I Tried This for 30 Days. Here's What Happened")
- Direct Benefit - Clear, specific value ("How to Do This in 5 Minutes")
When an idea came from a YouTube video, the title variations are informed by the original video's success—helping you discover what hooks actually work for your topic. Try different title options in your scripts and A/B test them; the right title can dramatically impact clicks and views.
Generate Thumbnail Concepts
Click Generate Thumbnails to get visual concepts and descriptions for what your thumbnail could look like. Subscribr generates multiple visual approaches and the reasoning behind each one. This helps you think visually about your video before you even start filming, and gives you concrete direction for your designer or thumbnail creation process.
You can also upload reference images to guide thumbnail generation. Upload screenshots, inspiration images, or examples of thumbnails you'd like to emulate, and Subscribr will factor those into its suggestions.
Organizing with Statuses and Emoji
Subscribr's status system gives you a clear pipeline:
New → Ideas you're evaluating Considering → Ideas you're actively developing Archived → Ideas you've decided against
Move ideas through this pipeline as your thinking evolves. Use emoji as an additional organization layer for quick visual scanning (topics, formats, seasons, urgency levels, or any system that works for you).
Status vs. Emoji
Status controls where ideas sit in your workflow. Emoji are your own metadata for quick identification. A "Considering" idea might have 🚀 (urgent), 📊 (data-driven), and 💡 (unique angle) as your personal tagging system.
Creating Scripts from Ideas
The moment you're ready to turn an idea into a finished video script, click the Write button on any idea. This powerful shortcut does several things:
- Creates a script project in your Canvas with all the context from your idea
- Pre-fills the AI with your title, topic, angle, and any source video information
- Opens the Canvas in Plan mode so you can immediately start outlining
- Remembers the source of your idea for future reference
The "Write" action creates a comprehensive prompt that includes:
- Your idea's title, topic, and angle
- The source video's details (if this idea came from YouTube) including view count and outlier score
- Your channel's description and audience information
- Any thumbnail concepts you've developed
This rich context means the AI generates an outline that's tailored specifically to your idea, not a generic script. The Canvas immediately opens so you can refine the outline, add planning details, and generate your full script.
Idea to Script Workflow
Writing an idea to script is faster than starting from scratch in the chat. The idea contains all your thinking in one place, and the Canvas transforms that into a full script efficiently.
Growing Your Idea Pipeline
A healthy idea pipeline ensures you always have something to create. Here are strategic approaches:
Regular Idea Review
Set aside 30 minutes each week to review your Considering column in Kanban view. Ask yourself:
- Which ideas still excite you?
- Which have become outdated or less relevant?
- Which feel ready to develop into scripts?
Ideas that don't spark excitement get moved to Archived. Ideas that feel ripe get written into scripts.
Generating More Ideas
If you're running low, click Generate More Ideas in the library. Subscribr uses your channel's context (description, voice, audience) to generate fresh concepts. This bulk generation is faster than manually adding ideas one at a time and helps break through creative blocks.
Linking to Your Research
Ideas work best when connected to research. Use Intel for research, bookmark inspiring videos, save competitive analysis notes, and reference this material when developing your ideas in the detail panel. The richer your context, the better your scripts.
Best Practices for Idea Management
Capture everything - When an idea occurs to you, capture it immediately even if it's rough. You can refine it later in the detail panel.
Use meaningful angles - An idea titled "Success Story" isn't as useful as "How I Built My First Product in 30 Days." Specific angles make scripts stronger.
Generate titles before writing - The title options often reveal angles you hadn't considered, which improves your outline.
Don't hold onto archived ideas - Move ideas you've decided against to Archived status. They free up mental space and keep your Considering column focused on ideas you're actually excited about.
Vary your sources - Mix manual ideas, YouTube-inspired ideas, and generated ideas. This diversity prevents your content from becoming repetitive.
Review with your audience in mind - Ask "Would my audience find this interesting?" for each idea in your Considering column. This quality filter ensures you're developing ideas that resonate.
Managing Large Idea Libraries
If you have dozens of ideas, these techniques keep things manageable:
- Use Table view to sort and scan large numbers quickly
- Filter by status to focus on active ideas (New and Considering)
- Use Kanban to get a visual summary of how many ideas are in each stage
- Archive ideas regularly by moving stale concepts to Archived status
- Use search to find ideas by topic when you want to batch-write similar content
Next Steps
Ready to take ideas to script? Learn how to create scripts from your ideas. Want to strengthen your pipeline? Explore validating ideas with data before investing time, building a sustainable pipeline, or finding your next ideas using Intel and research strategies.