I’ve had a few careers in my lifetime. I can honestly say that I never thought I would end up being a writer for pornographic webmasters. When I was young, computers were behemoth machines that filled a room. When I scampered off to college to major in theater, I was sure that acting was my destiny. While working in nightclubs and restaurants to supplement my income I fell into music, jewelry design, poetry, modeling and disk jockeying. After I became a mother, I went back to beauty school for a more stable career. I even trained to be an educator specializing in the hair color process. Then, in late 1995, I got a computer and all I could think about was how to make money on the Internet.
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"It took me three years to find my place in the adult Internet. If I had not gotten the gig with Cozy, I would have probably thrown in the towel." |
Why would I give up a dependable income in the exciting world of cosmetology to work in porn? Well, that wasn’t the plan either. The fact was, all those years of working on my feet and lifting trays and cutting hair had done damage to my back and my wrists. I couldn’t bend over a sink to wash hair. My hands would go numb when I rolled up a permanent wave. I knew that if I kept doing what I was doing, I would end up in a wheel chair. I needed a new career and my computer became the siren song that moved me to change.
I learned HTML and began to dabble in contract webdesign. In the meantime, I found a job teaching basic computer skills in a private learning center. That was sweet but I couldn’t get enough webdesign jobs to make a living and the learning center shut down. It was about that time I decided to delve into Internet porn.
I made free sites and galleries at night and worked a grunt job during the day. I had moderate success with galleries but I soon began to realize that I probably didn’t have the right combination of talent and drive that it takes to be a successful adult webmaster. I couldn’t design for shit and I sure as hell didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to make new free sites and galleries every single day. I began to understand that the only way I was going to make a living in the adult Internet was by working for someone else. I took inventory of my strengths and came up with one solid skill, writing.
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I have been a writer since I was 13. I started out with poetry and turned to playwriting in my late twenties. It never occurred to me that I could make a living as writer until I began to compose erotic short stories as a content source for my porn sites. Then I got into the business of writing tour copy, model bios and proofreading for other adult webmasters. I discovered that adult webmasters and designers are very bright people but a lot of them can’t spell. Some find writing to be either tedious or intimidating or both. On the other hand, I can spot a typo a mile away and I can write sentences that make sense.
Then, I sent a sample article to C-Pimp of Cozy Frog. He hired me to write for him and this has been my career ever since. It took me three years to find my place in the adult Internet. If I had not gotten the gig with Cozy, I would have probably thrown in the towel.
We can give you guidance. We can give you advice. We can post tutorials and lessons on the web for you. We can point you in all the right directions but we can’t make money for you. We can tell you what you need to know but we can’t make you learn. Your prosperity is up to you. Sometimes, no matter how long or how hard you try, it just doesn’t work and you have to decide whether or not you should continue. You have to ask if it’s time to throw in the towel.
Don’t be confused. I’m not telling you to quit. That’s not my job. My job is to tell you that riches won’t come overnight and you need to work your butt off. But I’ve also told you that had I not found Cozy, I probably would have quit the biz. I know what it takes to make a living as an adult webmaster and I ain’t got it. I’m a word monkey with a basic overview of our industry. I am lucky I was able to specialize.
Tax time is coming up. Another fiscal year is ended. How much money did you spend trying to be an adult webmaster? How much time? How much money are you making? How long have you been at it? A year? Two years? Three? Are you having any fun? How long can you go on getting nowhere before you’ve had enough? How many punches can you take and how many swings can you miss before you throw in the towel?