David Lindquist

david.lindquist@indystar.com

When cameras flash and red-carpet reporters ask John Green about his first foray into the movie business, the Indianapolis novelist speaks up for his day job.

"This is wonderful, but I like being a writer," Green said when promoting the film adaptation of "The Fault in Our Stars" last month in Nashville, Tenn. "Movies are fun and weird, but I'm a book writer."

Oddly enough, Green likely would retain fame and fortune if he never wrote again. He works on so many other things that it's a stretch to list "author" as his day job — even if that's how the general public will know Green when "Fault" arrives in theaters on June 6.

Online video built the John Green empire, making him an entrepreneur, educator and philanthropist:

• His DFTBA Records, an Internet merchandise company, generated $2.2 million in sales in 2013, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

• His "Crash Course" YouTube series, where he teaches world history, U.S. history and literature, rolls up about 350,000 to 400,000 views daily.

• His annual YouTube videothon known as "Project for Awesome," which raises money for not-for-profit causes, collected a record $869,171 last December.

But John Green isn't entirely self-made. His brother, Hank Green, who John credits as the idea man, is a partner in DFTBA, "Crash Course" and "Project for Awesome."

"My brother is ambitious in a way that I'm not," John said. "He has spurred most of the growth of most of the things we've done. He's always the one who pushes to make more interesting things, to imagine things bigger and better."

John Green was two novels into his writing career but not yet a celebrity when he and Hank launched a series of YouTube video blogs known as "Brotherhood 2.0" on Jan. 1, 2007. These alternating monologues were designed to establish one year of consistent communication between John, who moved from New York City to Indianapolis in 2007, and Hank, who lives in Missoula, Mont.

"Brotherhood 2.0" became a hit after Hank posted his performance of an original "Harry Potter" tribute song in July 2007. A fan community known as "Nerdfighters" grew up around the Greens and their promotion of intelligence and curiosity.

The brothers continued to trade videos after the year ended, and their still-running "Vlogbrothers" series has racked up more than 1,100 episodes and 2 million YouTube subscribers.

Hank said he saw the promise of online video shortly after the debut of "Brotherhood 2.0."

"Three months into 2007, I thought it was a big deal," Hank said in a phone interview. "I was thinking, 'What's the museum going to look like in 20 years? We have "I Love Lucy" among these content creators. We're in the early days of something that's going to be huge.' It wasn't a belief that I stated to myself. It was completely subconscious, and it was just how I thought about the industry as this extremely important thing."

While YouTube is a free service, the most popular video makers earn a portion of ad revenue from commercials that appear before videos. According to The New York Times, the average rate for pre-roll ads is $7.60 per 1,000 ad views.

In all, the Greens oversee more than 20 YouTube channels that have attracted nearly 800 million views. Using hypothetical and conservative math, in which YouTube would keep $4 per 1,000 ad views on 250 million views (ads don't accompany every video), John and Hank would keep $3.60 per 1,000 ad views and make $900,000.

Readers have purchased more than 7 million copies of "The Fault in Our Stars," and the book has garnered accolades ranging from Entertainment Weekly calling it the "greatest romance story of this decade" to Time magazine listing it as the No. 1 fiction book of 2012.

But online buzz launched the novel's ascent.

Green told his publisher, Penguin, that he would sign every copy of the book's first printing — a daunting 150,000. When he tweeted the book's title six months before the release date, as well as his plans to autograph pre-order copies, the yet-to-be-finished "Fault" shot to No. 1 on the Amazon.com charts.

Peers in the online video community gather every year at VidCon, a convention founded by the Green brothers in 2010. Following the 2013 edition that attracted 12,000 attendees, this year's VidCon is scheduled June 26-28 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Other video offshoots for the Greens are "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries," a 2013 Emmy Award Winner for co-creator/executive producer Hank, and the "Mental Floss List Show," which routinely puts host John in front of hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers.

The Greens also have mobilized Nerdfighters to loan more than $3.9 million to entrepreneurs in developing countries through Kiva.org. The microfinancing website allows individuals to lend as little as $25, an amount that has a 98 percent repayment rate.

In the early days, Hank recalls thinking, "This needs a conference, this needs a merch company, this needs a charity event."

John, however, doesn't have a history of quickly jumping on board. He expressed doubts about the financial viability of DFTBA Records (co-founded in 2008 with musician Alan Lastufka), VidCon and "Crash Course."

"But I also think Hank needs someone who is a reluctant partner, who asks a lot of questions and resists," John said.

Hank agrees: "John is really good at saying, 'Well, here are some problems I see with this.' I don't mean that in a way that he's a naysayer at all. John is an intellectual goofball. He thinks about thinks very complexly, but at the same time, he'll cover his face in Sharpie marker for charity."

John, 36, and Hank, 34, are the sons of Mike and Sydney Green — Indianapolis natives who lived here when John was born in 1977. The young family moved to Michigan, then to Alabama, where Hank was born, and eventually to Florida. John returned to Indianapolis when his wife, Sarah Urist Green, was hired as a curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

At the advent of "Brotherhood 2.0," Hank characterized himself as a web designer and environmental activist (he earned a master's degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana). John was a "writer living in New York City."

Today, five people work in the Broad Ripple office of the "Vlogbrothers" organization, and five work in Montana.

Sarah Urist Green is one of the Broad Ripple staffers. She left the IMA last year to host and curate "The Art Assignment," a PBS Digital Studios web series in which artists devise creative exercises and encourage viewers to follow their lead.

The descendents of "Brotherhood 2.0" still surprise John.

During a February road trip to Gambier, Ohio, where he gave a lecture at his alma mater, Kenyon College, Green said his thoughts were occupied by the choice of a new company to make T-shirts for DFTBA Records.

"I was thinking as I was driving, 'That's similar to working in fashion,' " he said. "That's more like working in fashion than not working in fashion. Stressing out about thread count in T-shirts is not something I ever thought would be part of my life."

The most off-the-wall thing Green does with his YouTube windfall? He sponsors a professional soccer team in England with money generated from playing soccer video game FIFA.

Green first posted videos of his FIFA play to the "HankGames" YouTube channel in 2011, featuring his Swindon Town team (nicknamed the "Swoodilypoopers"). He freely admits that he's not an accomplished gamer, but his popularity, coupled with fun and quirky in-game commentary, translate to big viewership numbers.

"It felt weird to make money from video games," Green said. "I felt like the money could be spent in an interesting way."

So, he sacked the Swoodilypoopers in 2013 and began playing as AFC Wimbledon (nicknamed the "Wimbly Womblys"). Green gravitated to the underdog story of the actual Wimbledon club, which was founded in 2002 after a long-established Wimbledon team moved to another city. Owned by its fans, AFC Wimbledon has improved its standing from ninth-tier competition (the lowest in English professional soccer) to its current place in fourth-tier competition (League Two).

"AFC Wimbledon represents everything I love about soccer and sports in general," Green said.

In dollars, the sponsorship is in the "low five figures," according to Green. At Kingsmeadow stadium, where the team plays its home games, signs convey the message, "The Nerdfighter Community: Helping AFC Wimbledon Get It Wimble-Done! FightWorldSuck.org."

The FightWorldSuck.org address refers to the Greens' philanthropic arm, the Foundation to Decrease World Suck Inc. The IRS designated the foundation as a 501(c)3 charitable organization in 2013.

"I was really lucky for a long time on the Internet to have this uncommonly supportive experience because of the Nerdfighter community," John said. "We were all just doing stuff together and enjoying it, and no one else really noticed or cared.

"There is something wonderful about that, but there's also something frustrating about it. You think, 'Man, why aren't people noticing all the cool things the Nerdfighters are doing?' Now I'm seeing a little bit of the other side of that coin. Lots of people are noticing the things we've been doing for a long time. That's very gratifying. As a Nerdfighter, I mostly just want to keep doing it."

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.