So You Want to Be an Amateur Porn Star

Update 2008

The most common email I get is from people requesting advice about starting their own personal porn website. I was featured in the HBO show Pornocopia: Going Down in the Valley in 2004 about my experiences as a webcam performer and what we said back then garners a fair amount of attention. Many things have changed since that interview and the business is not what it was. As well, I began building my website in 1998, back when their were only dozens of similar sites on the Internet. Now there are thousands.

In our current economic situation, and given the state of the Adult Industry (it is very competitive), starting up a personal adult site for profit is much more difficult than it used to be.Nevertheless, there are other possibilties...

You can create your own porn content and sell it. Homegrown Video is a great company that is always in search of high quality authentic amateur porn content created by real-life couples. Payment is dependent on what they need at a given time.

You can also create an account at Rude.com where you can post your personally created adult content and perform webcam shows. What you make depends on the crowd you draw but it is a good way to get your feet wet in this business.

If you are still determined to mkae your own website or are curious about what is involved here is an overview.

Part 1

The Issues

There are many issues to consider before entering the Internet porn industry. I have had my personal porn website since 1999 and through trial and error I have learned a lot. However, the business is much more competitive than it used to be and you cannot afford to make mistakes like people did in the past. That being said there are still many ways people can participate in the Internet porn business for fun, for profit or for both.

First off, let's go through the legal issues. In the United States there are many state and federal laws and regulations regarding obscenity and pornography. Even if you operate outside of the United States, the majority of Internet surfers at English language websites are Americans, so it is important to know what legal issues you may have to deal with. In other areas of the world the laws vary, so it is important to know what is legal in your neck of the woods.

In the United States the basics include having proof that the people in the photos and video are 18 years or older and that they have signed legally binding consent forms that allow you to use their image. Specific requirements must be met in terms of the kind of documents you need to have from the performers and where these documents are stored. These are the 2257 regulations. Next, we have copyright issues. The photographer/videographer ultimately owns the copyright of any image he/she takes. It is a normal procedure for models and performers sign a waiver to allow the photographer to sell or publish the pictures to whomever s/he chooses.

Often married, common law or dating couples that shoot porn together do not consider these issues. However, all these issues apply even if you do not have a formal business arrangement. With the divorce rate as high as it is, break-ups can happen and you may be left with a murky situation regarding your adult website and who owns the content. A number of Amateur couples have split up over the years and have had legal battles over the closing down of their once mutual porn site. To avoid this or any other legal issues it is best to do your homework, have good legal and business representation, and to have a business plan and contract.

Once you have a good understanding of the law, then you can move onto the other aspects of creating an Amateur porn site.

Photography - The digital camera revolutionized the way porn is made. You no longer have to risk the film development of your nude or explicit photos at your local Photo-Mart. Now you can take all the XXX pictures you want from the privacy of your own home. A good beginner camera can be had for a few hundred dollars. There are many good digital camera review sites such as DPReview and Steve's Digicams. In terms of a video camera, you should aim for a 3 CCD Digital Video Camcorder. You can find comprehensive video camera reviews at DVSpot and Camcorderinfo.

Computers - Like other businesses, what you need depends on what you want to do. If you plan on designing and webmastering the website yourself or broadcasting live webcam shows you will need a good computer. RAM is the single most important thing you need in a computer. I recommend 512 megs of RAM. The more the better. Fortunately, RAM is cheap nowadays. You will also need a fast CPU that can perform, such as a Pentium 4 or an Athlon. For video capture or for webcam shows you'll need a video capture card or a Firewire port. My apologies to Mac lovers. Macs are great computers as well, but I don't know enough to offer recommendations.

Software - Depending on your design and programming abilities you will have different needs. If you decide to run your site yourself (from content creation to design to every day webmastering), you will need photo-editing software, video-editing software, graphics design software, html editing software, etc. If you decide to hire a website designer and/or webmaster, then your software needs are minimal. However, keep in mind that it is essential that you have a reliable webmaster and that your contract with him/her is very clear. I only know of a handful of Amateurs who have had a good working relationship with their webmaster. After struggling with their webmaster, most Amateurs have little to show for their money and have either closed shop or moved onto doing things on their own.

I built my website before Content Management Systems (CMS) were en vogue and I continue to do work in the manner. However, building your site with one may be beneficial for you as a CMS can help you automate your updates and organize content.

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Part 2

Taking Care of Business

Once you have your fabulous website built you must find a reputable hosting company to host it. No matter how big or small your website may be, you want to have it hosted on fast, reliable, and secure servers. Fast means that pictures and videos load quickly for visitors. Reliable means your site is up 99% of the time. If the site is always going down due to “technical” problems you need to move to another host. Secure means reasonable protection from hackers. Of course, there is no way to make a site 100% secure. My personal recommendation? Naked Hosting.

Next, you need to decide on a way for people to pay to access your members’ area. This has become much more complicated in the last couple of years. If you wish to have credit card payments you must meet with the credit card companies’ regulations. To do so you can either have your own merchant account or use a third party billing service. There are startup fees and yearly fees for both options.

If you have your own merchant account you must be a registered company and you must declare that you have an adult business. Do not try to use the same account you have for any of your other business endeavours. Adult websites are considered a high-risk business and they have bank and credit card rules (and fees) of their own. Keep your adult and non-adult ventures separate. With a merchant account you will need to use a service that will screen credit cards and take care of the billing and customer support for you. If you have the know-how, you can also do this on your own. NetBilling is an example of a company that can help you set up your own merchant account and act as a gateway for your payment processing.

If you do not wish or cannot get a merchant account of your own, you can use a third party billing company such as CCBill. They take a cut of your paysite subscriptions to handle all the transactions for you. They work directly with the banks and credit card companies so you do not have to, but you are ultimately responsible for your account and transactions. To set up your account with these companies you must pay certain fees and follow certain regulations. There has been a great deal of upheaval in this area of the industry in recent years so do you research.

Besides credit cards there are a few other options that you can use (cheques, 1-900, dialers, money orders, etc…). Everything has its pros and its cons. Again, inform yourself and choose the best option for you and your business.

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Part 3

Traffic

Getting everything in place is a great deal of work but the greater challenge is getting people to visit your website. This is no Field of Dreams. Just because you build it, it does not necessarily mean they will come. In fact it is much more difficult to get traffic then it was when I began. There are so many more websites in existence today as compared to when I began (1999) and there also the issue of free porn. Still, if you have the time and patience (and the money) there are various tools webmasters can use to get people to visit their websites: link exchanges, banner trades, picture trades and submittals, search engines, counters, submission to TOP lists, picture posts and thumb-nail galleries, paying for traffic and paying for individual sign-ups through an affiliate program.

Performing on Camera

Having sex on camera can be quite the thrill. I know I enjoy it very much. It is one of the reasons I decided to start up my own website after all. I also really enjoy working with my husband. We get along very well even when we spend all day together - usually 5 or 6 days a week. I think we get along so well because we spend this time together. You and your partner might be a little different. Like in any other business partnership, if you are working with your spouse, time allocation and job division are key issues. Porn is certainly no different.

What took us a little getting used to was shooting the porn together. When you have sex with someone it is one thing, when you try to make it look good on camera it is another. You have to think about camera angles and lighting. What feels the best (like missionary position for me) doesn't always look the best on camera. Once you figure that out, things can be pretty good, but you do have the occasional blunder. You might run out of tape before you have an orgasm or, like what happens to us frequently, a light bulb will burn out during webcam shows. It is important to have a sense of humour when these things happen. You have to expect that you will have plenty of content that you can't use or that you can use, but only in your blooper section.

If you decide to perform before the camera and display the images on the Internet, you must also expect that anyone and everyone will have the opportunity to see these images. My website was up a mere three months before someone I went to high school with discovered it. He told other people and now everyone in my hometown knows what I do. You have to expect the same could happen to you and decide if it is worth it. I have a cool bunch of friends outside of the porn industry and my family loves me and supports me even though they do not agree with what I do. Not everyone is so lucky. I know of many Amateurs who have had difficulties after being discovered. They have struggled to keep their children, their dayjobs and have experienced great family stress and social embarrassment because of their choices. Not everyone can handle this. Before you choose to become an Amateur porn star decide if you can handle all the consequences.

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