Dear Stars,
My pal Seska, who has been doing independent Web porn with her husband James for almost a decade, shares some insights into the current climate. “I would say it’s much harder than it used to be, especially as an independent producer starting with no traffic base,” she says. “To make it work you would need to invest time and money into developing a competitive Web site and affiliate marketing program. Affiliates would send you traffic and get a cut for sales. Working your own traffic, creating and starring in your own content and Web mastering your own site is a lot of work.
“Plus, affiliates are very demanding in terms of what promotional materials they require. To gain their attention, you also need to be a good networker within the Internet porn market. You need connections, or to stand out. Some people give Hummers away to their top affiliates to keep their program competitive.” And just to be clear, by Hummers she means the car and not the blowjob, meaning you will be sharing your profits with people for whom this ridiculous vehicle is an enticing symbol of prestige.
Seska recommends using an adult social networking Web site like www.rude.com. “They do the backend work for you,” she says. “You create a profile and create the content. They host it and do some promotion for you. You get a cut when you make sales on the content—photos, video, group Webcam shows and private Webcam shows. It’s not easy money since you need to spend hours online to develop a following and to deal with freeloaders and idiots. Still, it can make you some decent extra money, and if you can figure out how to sell your content in multiple places, you can make a full time living.”
For some pleasurable homework, I’ll encourage you to have a peek at Seska and James’s live sex show, which airs every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. on www.seska.com. In addition to being super cute and occasionally charmingly silly, they’ll answer viewers’ questions while they bonk. Keep in mind, though, that there are others watching who may have more pertinent requests like, “Show me your toes” or “Will you do anal this week?”
Audacia Ray is a former sex worker and author of Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration. “My book is not a very how-to kind of book so the chapter on porn won't answer their technical questions,” she says, “but it will give them something to chew on in terms of the social repercussions of making porn like what happens when their family/friends/employers find out.” Ray is a savvy source for online sex trends and you can keep up with her on nakedcity.com. Regina Lynn is also someone who writes about sex, technology and the Internet. Read her here: www.reginalynn.com.
It’s important that you consider this venture from all angles because though it’s swell, your self-description tells me you have little new to offer this frantically oversaturated industry. It seems the real money now is in remarketing and/or promoting your product to a broader range of demographics, in other words, becoming a sex worker so you can write a film or book or conduct a workshop about the experience.
The smartest move I’ve seen recently is the brothel from Prague (www.bigsister.net) where you can watch real live hookers fucking real live johns. Since these women are paid by Big Sister’s members and not the johns themselves (who get free sex in exchange for appearing on the site) the whole operation is simply canny rebranding with a few added novelties like watching the girls hang out on their off time—yet it’s getting a tonne of international attention.
And speaking of kinks, is that a room devoted to the Arctic with a life-size polar bear attacking a snowy love nest? Yes it is. People have long fetishized endangered species; I guess it was only a matter of time before the dwindling Polar ice cap started inspiring erections.
