Art by Maria Regine

I'm new to online sex work. When I say new, I've had my OnlyFans for a little over a year compared to doing in-person work for over ten years. Between Covid, losing my job, starting a new one, and having to move all over the damn place, I really had to lean into online work for my safety and sustainability. It's also a market that seemed necessary for the evolution of my own self-expression, sexuality, and general involvement in this community. 

Folks are intrigued by this space for many reasons, but the most common one is money. Can you make money doing OnlyFans and earn a stable living? The answer is yes! But it is WORK. I get asked often about OnlyFans. So my advice to folks looking to pursue this space are:

1. Create a content schedule. How often are you able to create during the week. Figure out what you want to do as far as custom content, wall post content, and public content for promotion on your IG/Twitter/FetLife/Reddit/blog/whatever. 

2. Make some friends in the community that you can trust! In-person, these relationships will allow you to have support, and online, you can be a part of retweet groups/share groups/ and just have other creators to talk to about the work.

3. Find your avenue and grow it! If you have always had an interest in BDSM, lean into that, learn more, create content around that... If you are a different body type, lean into that! There are spaces in the sex world that fit each of us. It's all about learning where you feel most comfortable and most supported.

4. Decide your pricing. Most creators that are making a ton of money market to the general public and the general public... aren't rich! Unless you have some kind of celebrity following already, you'll do well if you set your rates low. You will have a lot more opportunity to meet folks exploring this space that are willing to pay. Once you build a good following, you will see how much more sense it makes and how willing folks are to contribute to your content. The opportunity to charge more comes with creating specialty (requests or partnered), fetish, or kink-focused content.

5. Have a maker's space, whether it's a room, bathroom, whatever. Having a place to create will serve you. To help, you can find good lighting/phone stands online for cheap.

6.Learn the law. Take some time to learn about FOSTA/SESTA, social media policies, and how to work within these boundaries until we can overcome them through action and policy work. It's a hard space to work in, but there are resources and help. We all want to thrive; just lean on your community to help you in the ways you can. 

To learn more and get connected, some great folks to follow on IG are @raquelsavage, @hoesarehealers, @bloggeronpole, @gwenadora, @thongria, and @zeppwellness, just to start. Another great resource is the Adult Performers Actors Guild, and the International Sex Workers Union. Information will only serve you, and protecting your content and self is the most important. There is so much to learn...As a FSSW I constantly see the work changing. 

Through this space, I've been able to sustain my basic livelihood, but it's under the constant worry that the platform will become obsolete through censorship or, even worse, that I will be completely banned from my promotion outlets and will have to start all over again...again. This is the same story for most of my friends and other sworkers. I wanted to share my experience for those of you thinking about trying OnlyFans, doing online swork, or wanting to know more about a personal take as to have more perspective. Some important things to think about in this space are how involved you want to be, who else is in the space, and who you want to make content for. All that being said, it's not for everyone. We all have to decide what work looks like for us in our own lives. This is an avenue that should be respected but isn't by our society and that makes it hard af, dangerous and stressful. But through open dialogue, community, education, and advocacy, we can create a safer way for people to do this work. 

I wanted to keep this piece short so as to not overwhelm folks just getting into the space. Just know I am always open to questions and will share as much as I can. While it's a hard space to earn in, it is one that can allow you the freedom to pursue creating what works best for YOU. 

Love ya babe, have fun!

XOXO

Bigbodymami