All posts by fairywhoremother

Dominatrix, GFE Escort, Fetish Clip Producer, Phone Sex Operator and Hypno-Domme. Jenny’s been working in the sex business for more years then is polite to say in mixed company. She has a long standing reputation for helping her fellow sex workers stay safe in an often risky business and has been bloggng and shinning a bright shinny light about working in the sex business since 2007. The good, the bad and even the ugly has been reveled. Never one to mince words, Jenny calls it like she sees it and has been called everything from a “Fairy Whore Mother” to divisive by her peers. Jenny is also a professional photographer and published writer in the mainstream world.

DMCA Do It!

We all hate it when people steal from us. Make your living on the internet or advertise your sex work business on it and you can bet at some point someone will share your files or  steal your photos. It’s depressing and it can seem overwhelming to stay of top of the details of protecting your content but its worth the effort. This is how you make a living and I know it feels like  you’re playing whack-a-mole and you are. It’s a never ending process protecting your content but its part of doing business. Protecting your cash flow matters. I put together a little introduction to protecting your work, I hope you find it helpful.

Send out DMCA take down notices

This is the best thing you do. Send out a DMCA take down notice. Send them out and send them out as soon as you find out your file is being shared on some dirt bag file sharing site or as soon as you find out some body is pretending to be you by using your photos online.  My pal Johnathan over at Plagiarism Today has some stock letters you can use when sending out your notices. In fact read his whole site, there is a lot of great info there.  Remember every site has their own special requirements for a DMCA notice and if you don’t meet them they will ignore your notice. Read their policy and give them the info they want, in the way they want it. Be it email, fax or snail mail. Make sure to include your name address and phone number (I use my Google voice number and my working address) Tell them you are the copyright holder and give them the links they need to remove the content. It’s tedious and annoying but stay on it and send them out, it works. Don’t forget to follow up and send them a second or third or 50th notice if they don’t take action.

Monitor your content

Goggle yourself, set up alerts for your name (remember to include misspellings of your name) and check it all the time. A lot of the time I find out a file is being shared because a fan tells me. I always reward them with a little something for looking out for me, they can be your best resource for finding out your files are being shared. You can also hire a company to monitor your content for you, but that can be expensive. I would do a cost benefit analysis before I went that route, make sure its worth the money you are spending on it. Sometime it is, sometimes its better to do it yourself.

Watermark your content and embed your copyright

I admit it, I’m guilty of not always doing this, especially when I first started out. But don’t make the same mistake I made in the beginning and watermark your shit! It’s important. You can also embed your copyright when creating a Mp3 and add it to the hidden data on your photos. Again it’s time consuming and annoying but make it part of your habit, when you are creating content. Watermark like it’s second nature. Not only is having your watermark good for driving people who might see your stuff somewhere and drive them back to your site to find out more about you, but you can use that in case you get into a fight with some turd site who doesn’t want to remove your content from their site.

People stealing is always going to be a problem but its worth the time and effort to stay on top of your content. I wouldn’t suggest getting into a pissing match with any of these file sharing sites or boards, just do what you need to do behind the scenes. It’s not worth a loud messy frustrating fight or possibly putting a troll target on your back, but it it worth the effort. Make it.

Jenny DeMilo: Dominatrix, GFE Escort, Fetish Clip Producer, Phone Sex Operator and Hypno-Domme.

The Best Equipment For the Job: Buying A Camera

By Sydney Screams

Choosing a camera for work is no walk in the park. You have a lot of options out there to choose from, all of which will have positive and negative aspects. Cheap is very appealing, hence the popularity of the wave of handheld cameras similar to the FlipCam, but the quality of these cameras is low. These cameras are fine to start off with, but be warned: you’ll be upgrading within 6 months to a year. If you can afford to do so, hold off until you have more money saved so that you can get a better quality camera. If you need a camera that is great for both photos and videos, a point and shoot is good option, although not your best investment option. A good point and shoot will run anywhere between $200-500. The microphones on point and shoots are generally awkwardly placed where you will more than likely cover them up if someone is holding the camera for you. The sensor is not as good (or large) which means even on HD settings, videos will come out grainy if lighting isn’t perfect. The plus side of point and shoot cameras is that many are now water proof, drop proof, crush proof, etc, so if you’re like me and want to record yourself in the shower, you can do that without having to be super careful! Or you can film giantess clips and jump on your camera without worrying about breaking it. Canon’s Powershot D20, Olympus TG 820 iHS, and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX20 are all waterproof and shoot 1080p HD, and all run around $300-350.

When looking for a camera for both photos and videos, getting a DSLR is your best investment. Both Canon and Nikon make great beginner line cameras that take 1080p HD video as well as good quality images (as long as you have good lighting!). The problem with the lower end Nikon cameras is when shooting at 1080p, the camera will automatically stop shooting at the 5 minute mark. The other problem with DSLRs is that you should expect to dish out at least $700- 1000 for a kit (both camera and lens) plus the cost of SD cards (you’ll need either 32 or 64 GB ones if you’re shooting 1080p HD), an additional battery, and a carrying case. You can find bundles on both Amazon and Ebay, but make sure you’re buying from a verified seller! You can find used DSLRs, but be sure you’re getting one with video capabilities! Not all DSLRs have that capability. If you don’t know how to use a DSLR, expect to get one from Canon’s Rebel line (such as the EOS Rebel T2i) or Nikon’s D3200 or D5100. These offer fully automatic and fully manual modes and are considered the most affordable and user friendly. With a DSLR, you will want to get a microphone that you can slip into the hot shoe, as the microphone on the DSLR is mediocre at best. Luckily microphones aren’t expensive and some bundles even come with them now! A DSLR is great if you’re running your own site that requires the need for both photos and videos. Remember that photos make for great teasers or advertisements! When shopping for used equipment, check out Canon’s or Nikon’s Refurbished Store or B&H’s online used store.

If you want a video camera that is strictly for video, there are a few things you want to make sure you get. 1-a threaded lens (so you can add wide angle or zoom filters. Look for “filter diameter” when you’re looking at the specs), 2-a hot shoe (so you can have an on camera light or on camera microphone), 3-multiple SD card slots OR internal memory PLUS an SD slot (in case you run out of space on one, it will automatically switch to the second one without skipping a beat), and 4-the ability to use different size batteries (ie, no battery slot cover). When it comes to a strictly video camera, Sony and Canon are the leading companies, although I personally recommend avoiding Sony as once you start using Sony you are stuck with their products (their video cameras do not use standard memory cards, instead a Sony only memory card that cannot be used on non-Sony products). A video camera can be much cheaper than getting a DSLR, but again, you have to worry about quality and the lower end ones don’t always have the threads on the front. I cannot stress the importance of those threads on the front—most video cameras don’t zoom out far enough to accommodate the average size 12’x12’ bedroom. A wide angle lens then becomes a must so that you can fit yourself into frame properly! Canon’s Vixia HF M500 has allows for SD and SDXC cards, lets you choose which format you record in and runs only $550. If you can really afford to splurge, Canon’s Vixia HF G10 goes above and beyond with manual modes (both exposure and focus), has internal memory plus allows for dual SD or SDXC cards, allows for a larger battery for longer run time, and is my personal video camera wet dream (can I point you to my Amazon wishlist right about now??). It runs $1300, but is well worth it based on the quality you’ll get.

When you’re shopping for any camera, I always recommend going into a camera store or electronics store to hold them. See what feels best in your hand, see which ones have the easiest controls for YOU to figure out. I’ve been using cameras pretty much since I could walk, so what works for me may not work for you. See how the picture quality looks in the store lighting conditions. Double check to make sure the front of the camera has threads so that you can screw on a wide angle lens. Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY IN STORE unless you’re getting a really great package. Have an idea of 4 or 5 cameras you’d like to look at when you go in, and know what they’re going for on Amazon, eBay and B&H with or without a bundle (SD cards, an additional battery, case, tripod, etc). If, in the off chance, the store you’re at can offer you the same price with the same bundle, by all means, go ahead and buy, but generally speaking, you’re going to get a better deal online. Remember that stores generally only carry the latest models, but going back a generation or two will save you anywhere from $50-200. Before you buy a camera, be sure to check out the reviews online, specifically dpreviews.com for any “photo” cameras (DSLRs or point & shoots only) where you can do a side by side comparison of specs and features.

Sydney Screams: Fetish Model, Clip Producer, Adult Actress, Radio Talk Show Host

4 easy ways to increase your clip sales

Everyone wants a lot of sales when they make clips. Be they straight ahead porn or doing what I do, selling fetish clips and mp3s. It’s always a happy day when a clip suddenly skyrockets and you begin seeing some serious pay off for all your hard front end work. Make no mistake about it, the front end work on selling clips is voluminous. There’s lots to do, filming editing, marketing promoting and when you’re just starting out it can be overwhelming at times. I know when I was first starting there was a lot of trial and error until I finally found my clip making groove. I was lucky enough to have some solid advice from a few ladies who really knew what they were doing. They steered me right and i’m thankful for that, it saved me time and in this business time is almost always money.  Not every one has a porn goddess willing to share a little of the wealth of clips making knowledge in their back pocket so heres a few tips that should help increase your sales straight off. Different tactics work for different sites so give them a shot, massage then to suite your niche and your style. The key point here is you gotta try stuff and then monitor the reactions.

1. Write good clips descriptions

Seems simple enough but even someone like me who writes for a living in the mainstream world had to figure out that a good description will sell even a mediocre clip. Doest matter if it’s in a first person style or third person, give it a little life. Don’t just say “Me sucking cock”  and hope it gets bought. Say something more like ” I love the feel of a long hard cock slipping down my eager waiting greedy cock-whore mouth so much, let me show you how much!”  Also think keywords, when writing your descriptions. Think about how potential customers would  search for the kinda clip your presenting and incorporate those terms into your descriptions. Then watch your sales increase.

2. Create your own animated gifs to upload

Lots of sites will auto generate animated gifs for your uploaded clips.  Do not use that function!  It’s never flattering and it rarely presents you in a good light. They are random pulls of stills from your clip and most of the time they get you mid blink! Create your own animated gif and upload that. You can decide whats enticing, whats flattering and present the clip in its best light. Some sites (one my favorites too) don’t give you the ability to upload your own animated gifs so you don’t have the option. In that case cross your fingers and hope for a good presentation. You can also do what I do, lobby them to make that option/function available to you. Sometimes sites will take your thoughts and requests into consideration when adding functions, especially if you can show them how it would make more money for you both.

3. Upload often

Upload, upload, upload! The more content you make, the more you can upload, the more you will be seen as someone who always has something new to offer, the more often people will visit your store.  This is the best way to increase sales, be prolific and create as much content as you can. That being said I know It’s not always easy to make a lot of content, lots of things get in they way, from not feeling inspired, to having a bad hair day. One trick is making your clips available in different formats. Create several different formats of of the same clip and viola!  One clip turns into 3 and you can have something to upload two extra days. Some clip stores will let you schedule your clips to go live in advance, take advantage that function and schedule your clips. Try it out at different times and see when you make more sales. Are you popular mornings? Late nights? I once had clips upload once an hour for 24 hours to test out when I got the most traffic. I learned a lot that day.

4. Keep your clip store designs clean and readable

Just because there are 10 different design functions available to you doest mean you should use all 10! Sometimes less is more. Keep your backgrounds clean so you can read the text on top of them. When good is amazing, mind blowing clip descriptions going to do for you if no one can read them because you have a busy background in 12 different rainbow colors making it impossible to read. Not everyone is a designer and its easy to get carried away, try to keep  it neat and clean and simple. Sometimes one sizzling hot photo at the top of your store is enough to make them scroll to see what you have to offer. Don’t forget to add an email address, a twitter if you have one (and if you don’t get one!)  and if you make custom clips mention that in your studio description. Customs clips are a great way to increase your bottom line, if you don’t make them, think about adding it to your repertoire

 Jenny DeMilo: Dominatrix, GFE Escort, Fetish Clip Producer, Phone Sex Operator and Hypno-Domme.

 

Work Smarter – The Marketing Edition

Marketing is probably the most time consuming aspect of success in the adult industry. Actually, I should correct that statement to encompass all industries, not just the adult industry. Because there is no one sure fire way to be successful at marketing, it involves a lot of trial and error. Sometimes you’ll find that one venue of marketing works amazingly, but then six months later maybe it’s a completely different venue. This royal pain in the ass also happens to be your best friend in the path towards success. Be careful though, it sometimes feels like an uphill battle. In stilettos. Since marketing is an ongoing trial and error process, your first instinct may be to advertise one month on one website and then the next month switch to another website. This can definitely have its ups, but an ad needs to be seen at least 3 times for the audience to make a decision on the product or service. Assuming someone goes to a website once a week, your ad would have to be guaranteed to show up each time they visit that website for them to remember you. That seems like it would be easy, until you factor in that you are not the only advertiser on a website. Most websites use banners that either change every 5-7 seconds or that change each time you click to a new page within the website. Give your ad on the site a 3 month trial period. If you haven’t gotten at least a 10-20% return on your investment, it is definitely time to look elsewhere.

When you’re paying for advertising, be smart about where you spend your money. A fellow producer friend of mine decided to invest by advertising on a popular fetish based tube site, which seems like a great idea except he advertised on a niche fetish tube site and his site doesn’t cater to that specific niche! Of course he was really disappointed by the results since he didn’t get a return on his investment, but he made the mistake of not investing intelligently! Make educated decisions on where and how you spend your advertising budget (do your research!!) so that you don’t end up making the same mistake.

If instead of paying for advertising, you’re doing your own advertisement, consider where and how you’ll be doing it. Are you sticking primarily to forums and interaction with potential customers to drive traffic your way? Maybe you’re running a blog or twitter? Consider this for a moment: what is your hourly rate for a cam show or session? Are your efforts at marketing bringing you that rate for each hour devoted to the cause? If you’re spending 3 hours a day tweeting, and your hourly session rate is $250, that’s $750 worth of work. Did you make that money up? Did you book a session during those 3 hours directly off twitter? No matter how you are advertising, you need to expect a return on your investment, which means not only did you make back the time and money spent, but your earnings go above and beyond that.

If you are advertising by your own means rather than a third party site, use tools that are readily available such as Google Analytics, keywords/search terms, social media sites, and forums (where you are allowed to market yourself. Check the forums TOS before posting ads!). Remember that time is money, and if you’re spending all of your time posting ads and trying to drive up traffic there needs to be a return. Perhaps you spend 10 minutes writing a blog post, be sure to add keywords to make finding you easier. Or maybe you’re tweeting, spend 30 minutes scheduling your tweets to post at popular tweeting hours. See if people you know are willing to do a banner exchange to help drive traffic to each others’ sites or blogs.

There is a lot that can be done to advertise on the internet, and taking advantage of all the avenues is one of the best thing you can do. Whether you decide to pay for advertising or do it yourself, make sure that you’re smart about it. Don’t present yourself or your brand in a bad light, choose the right venues for advertising, and make sure that your ad or banner catches the eye and is memorable!

Follow Sydney Screams on Twitter @sydneyscreams4u

Sydney Screams: Fetish Model, Clip Producer, Adult Actress, Radio Talk Show Host

Double Time

The other day, I had a noon duo scheduled with a regular of mine. My duo partner, Amy, had never seen him before, but we have great chemistry and I knew he’d love her. I curled my hair, put on roughly seventeen pounds of makeup, and shimmied into garters, stockings, and heels. I made the bed, put on some music, set out condoms, and lit candles. Then, I waited. And at 11:48, Amy came flying into my incall studio in a panic. “Oh, my god! How do you work if you’re on your period? I’m on day 4, and I don’t know what to dooooo!” Now. We scheduled the duo three days prior, so when I asked if she was available, she already knew that The Shining was happening in her no-no bits. She had three days to ask for advice, or use Mr. Google to figure out her shit, but she didn’t. She waited until ten minutes before the client arrived to make her crisis my problem. Fortunately, I’m a boy scout when it comes to being prepared, and I fixed her up with some makeup sponges while briefing her on our client. Then I let her borrow some scissors to trim her bikini area. Then I let her use my deodorant and some hair product. Then I lent her something to wear, because she didn’t bring any lingerie. Then I stashed her stuff in the closet while she threw on some makeup before he arrived. Fortunately, I knew to be totally prepared before she arrived, because I have come to expect that my last ten minutes before any appointment we take together will be spent managing her crises du jour. And I do it without complaining, because

a) she’s pretty awesome in session

b) I genuinely like her as a person, and my clients like us together

c) I consider it a kind of repayment of a karmic debt for all the times I used to be a shitty, shitty trainwreck of a duo partner myself.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Your duo partner is a source of extra income, access to different clients, and can even offer emotional support and sometimes mentor-ship. You owe it to each other to show basic courtesy and professionalism.

Let her know what to expect
If you’ve seen the client before, give her a quick rundown on what to expect. He uses an unnecessary amount of tongue when kissing. He loves giving head. He always tries to milk extra time and needs to be shoved out the door. He absolutely loves it when you laugh at his jokes. It’s courteous to share as much as you can about him, so that she feels as prepared as you are, and not like a third wheel trying to catch up. Likewise, if you only show up to work after half a bottle of wine, or smoking a bowl, or whatever, let your partner know. She may not mind if she knows to expect a tipsy/stoned you, but she deserves to have that information ahead of time, especially if she’s sharing her clients with you and needs to know which ones you would be a good match for. Lastly, check in with each other about how bisexual you each actually are, and how gay you’re willing to be for pay. If you are cool with making out, but not muff diving, make it clear before your client begs to watch you go down on each other.

Have her back
If you take ten minutes to discuss your boundaries ahead of time, you’ll spare yourselves awkward negotiations in-session. Your client may throat fuck you every time, but if you know she’s got a touchy gag reflex, you can make sure you’re the one doing the oral, and she can be the one to do the actual sexing. Help her stay in her comfort zone, and she’ll help you stay in yours.

Be on time
And know what that means. When you agree to a session time, ask what time she’d like you there. If you have a noon booking together, your partner may be cool with you breezing in at 11:55, or she may want help setting up, and be grumbling from 11:30 on about how you’re not pulling your weight. Also, leave yourself a cushion of time to help clean up after. If you are hosting the session in your incall, make sure you’ve got enough time that your partner can shower afterward so she isn’t thrown back into her day freshly-shagged. If you’re a guest at your partner’s incall, ask if you can help strip and make the bed, replace candles, or whatever else needs done.

And speaking of incalls…
If your partner hosts your duos at her place, and provides all the supplies, toys, and atmosphere, show a little consideration from time to time. You don’t ever have to buy candles, condoms, massage oil, gloves, wine, bottled water, chocolate, sheets, towels, incense, or pay rent. If you duo regularly under those circumstances, take her to lunch or out for a mani pedi to say thanks. If you duo only once, or once in awhile, a Starbucks card, a couple of fancy chocolates, or a bottle of wine are all nice gestures. It also might be more appropriate just to buy a couple of boxes of her favorite brand of condoms as a way of acknowledging her hospitality. A small gesture goes a long way in showing your duo partner that you value your relationship with her, and can lead to her sharing more business with you in the future. If you’re the one hosting, and want more of a contribution from your duo partner, it’s fair to ask a per-session fee if you’re supplying everything. Keep in mind when choosing your fee, though, that it’s bad form to ask a space-use fee and expect help preparing and cleaning. If you paid for a hotel room, it’s 100% legit to take the cost of the room off the top before splitting the donation, just make sure to mention it to her upfront.

Respect her privacy
This should go without saying, but unfortunately it doesn’t. Make damn sure you’re using her stage name, not her legal name, ever. Don’t tell your clients jack shit about her. Don’t bring up her kids, her hometown, or even her hobbies if she doesn’t bring them up with him first. And don’t talk to other girls about her, either. If she wants to share something about herself, she can. Stick to your own stories, and know that if you talk shit about her to other
people, it will get back to her eventually, and you will come out of it looking like a supreme asshole–and not just to your partner, either. If you can’t respect her privacy, clients will be reluctant to trust you with theirs, and if you’re a gossip behind her back, no other girls will want to work with you. Say she’s beautiful, charming, brilliant, a great kisser–and then shut up.

Beatrice Darling: GFE Escort, Traveling Companion

You can also follow Beatrice on Twitter @missobdurate