Your Guide to Getting Started on OnlyFans
A quick getting-started guide for people who are considering starting their own account
As a marketer, writer, and moderately successful OnlyFans creator (top 7%), I wanted to write a quick getting-started guide for people who are considering starting their own account.
This guide will cover which kinds of people do well, and which kinds of people should avoid OnlyFans. It will also teach you what I think differentiates people who constantly have to run discounts and advertise and those who seem to make a lot of money and have a lot of fun doing it on this platform.
We’ll also go into some of the basics of getting started, like how to
Price your content
Write a great bio
Find new fans
Keep your fans resubscribing
Talk to your fans
Decide which equipment you need
Please support my work by using my referral link to sign up for your OnlyFans account!
Who should start an OnlyFans
Many people think OnlyFans (and any kind of sex work or erotic labor) is only for young, white, thin, conventionally attractive women. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the biggest earners on OnlyFans are none of those things.
People are varied as fuck! And fans like so many different things. Some people pay just to see feet. Some people only want to see extremely fat women. “MILF” is one of Pornhub’s most popular categories. Some men will pay you to tell them not to cum. Truly, the world is your oyster.
Your demographic data does not determine how much money you can earn on OnlyFans.
That said, OnlyFans isn’t for everyone. I think people with the following traits tend to make the most money and have the most fun as OnlyFans creators:
People who love sex and sexual attention
People come to OnlyFans to have fun and see other people having fun. If you don’t love sex and sexual attention, you’re much less likely to be successful. I get that people need money sometimes. But this isn’t an accounting job. Your fans can tell when you’re not having fun and they’re not going to stick around, which means you’re going to have to do that much more work to make money.
People who know what they like
You don’t have to love every kind of sex and aspect of sex to be successful on OnlyFans. In fact, the better acquainted you are with your individual, quirky sexual preferences and kinks, the more money you’ll make.
A theme we’re going to come back to over and over again in this guide is specialization.
If your whole schtick is just showing your tits and ass, then you’re competing with every other uncreative creator on the site. Why compete with thousands of nearly identical women when you can find the 1,000 or so loyal fans who love exactly what you have to offer?
Today I subscribed to Ginger Banks’ paid account after following her free account for months. Do you know what got me to subscribe? She teased a video of her trying to make herself queef hard enough to blow out a lit candle. That’s fucking weird, and I love it.
To find your specialization, think about what turns *you* on.
My unique selling proposition is that I’m knowledgeable and opinionated about politics. A few days ago one of my fans asked me how he should vote on Prop 21 here in California.
Find out what makes you unique. This might take a few months of trial and error. That’s okay. But once you find a thing or two you really like, lean hard into those things. And always keep experimenting. It’ll keep your page fresh, keep you from getting bored, keep your fans from getting bored, and lead you to your most profitable specialties.
People who have other forms of income
This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but it’s definitely better to be able to treat OnlyFans as a side hustle. At least at first. OnlyFans doesn’t, as far as I know, help you find new fans in any way. Finding an audience takes time, and sometimes money.
In the early days if you’re depending on OnlyFans as your only source of income you might be tempted to do things you aren’t really comfortable with or don’t really enjoy just to get and keep your fans. In the end, your fans will know you’re not into it and leave. And you’ll potentially regret your choices. If you can, it’s best to keep your day job or do some other forms of work while you get started to see whether you really like OnlyFans before depending on it entirely.
Who should not start on OnlyFans
You can be successful and have fun on OnlyFans regardless of your age (there’s a lower limit but no upper limit), ethnicity, kinks, whatever. That said, there are some people who should think hard before starting one. They include:
People who cannot ever be out as a sex worker
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but if your family relationships, custody situation, future job prospects, or anything else very important to you depends on no one ever finding out you got naked on the internet for money you should not start an OnlyFans. Yes, you can try using a fake name, not showing your face, etc. But that’s going to impact your earnings and isn’t likely to work long-term. That is, if you get enough attention to make any real money on OnlyFans, then you run the risk of getting on the radar of someone who will want to expose you. You’re only anonymous until someone decides to do some sleuthing. That person might want to blackmail you. Or they might just want to be mean. OnlyFans takes some measures against this, but there’s no foolproof way to ensure you stay anonymous online.
People who take things very personally
Some days you’re not going to get the response you’re looking for. Maybe someone makes a rude comment, or no one buys the video you worked hard on. This is part of life for anyone in sales and marketing of any kind, and sexy content is no exception. When it’s your body and your sexuality you’re selling, it can be extra hurtful if no one’s buying. People who succeed on OnlyFans are good at ignoring irrelevant criticism and dusting themselves off when their content doesn’t get the reception they were hoping for. Again, this is much easier when you have other sources of income.
People who are bad at saying no
Repeat after me: Boundaries are sacrosanct. Boundaries are everything. If you’re a “pushover,” who has trouble establishing and maintaining personal boundaries then please do not do any kind of sex work. Fans constantly push creators’ boundaries. They’ll ask you to do things for free, ask to pay you later, ask for content you’re not comfortable making. You absolutely must be able to say yes or no and mean it or you’ll end up doing things you don’t like and don’t feel good about.
Deciding whether OnlyFans is the best platform for you
OnlyFans is getting a lot of press lately, but it’s by no means the only outlet for making money selling sexual content online. AVN Stars and Frisk are two sex worker-owned alternatives.
This is not an exhaustive list, but for selling photos and videos, there’s ManyVids, MyGirlFund, IWantClips, KinkBomb, Clips4Sale, and ExtraLunchMoney. For camming, there’s CamSoda. For sexting there’s Niteflirt, Phrendly, Flirtbucks, and MyGirlFund. For selling panties there’s AllThingsWorn, ScentedPansy, PantyDeal, and SofiaGrey. I might at some point do a point-by-point comparison of each site.
But for now, just realize that if there’s something you don’t like about OnlyFans (such as their very weird, unspecified, and strict censorship policies) or you’re just not able to find your audience, there are other places to try.
How to advertise and market your OnlyFans
Again, I can’t emphasize enough the utility of specialization. Are you a big-tittied goth girlfriend? A MILF Latina Dominatrix? The possibilities are endless. In marketing, there’s a saying: “If you’re selling to everyone, you’re selling to no one.” It can be scary to specialize because you might worry you’re limiting your audience and turning off potential fans. But I promise you, no matter how niche your niche is, there are enough fans to keep you in cash. Think about it. Would you rather have 1,000 loyal fans who pay you $20/mo on average or have a rotating cast of one-month fans who pay you $5/month on average? Think about how many extra fans you’d have to get to make up for the marketing costs, time spent marketing, discounts, free content, etc. you have to put up to compete for eyeballs.
Specializing makes all of your marketing more effective and efficient.
Think about a “share for share,” where you share a fellow creator’s profile on your page and they share your profile on their page. Let’s say you’re both generic hot white girls in lingerie. Well every fan who sees your profile is also seeing generic hot white girls in lingerie on every other generic hot white girl in lingerie account he follows. Why should he follow you? At that point you have to hope you’re hotter than every other generic hot white girl in lingerie or you have to offer some kind of discount or freebie to compete. Yuck.
Think about a “share for share” but you’re a pixie-looking findomme selling feet pix. Then you find other pixie-looking findommes selling feet pix and suddenly nearly every one of their fans is into exactly what you’re selling. There’s less competition as well, so you don’t have to offer discounts or freebies.
Specialization makes every form of marketing easier and more efficient. Reddit is a popular way to find new fans. Rather than posting your pictures in gonewild or someplace crowded as fuck and hoping to make a splash, find a niche subreddit (or make one!) where your exact target audience is waiting for your content specifically.
For me, my specialization is my political acumen. I have an email newsletter list of around 7k and 11k Twitter followers who care about my opinions on sex and policy. So when I started my OnlyFans, I just blasted it out to my followers on Twitter and my email newsletter and got 150 fans with no other marketing or advertising. I still haven’t paid a dollar or done a single share-for-share because I already have an audience who wants to see me get naked and have sex. I’m not the youngest or most attractive woman on OnlyFans by a long shot. I don’t compete on looks. I know my specialty, I know where my audience is, and I play to my strengths.
How to write your bio
This is where you tell the people who are looking for what you’re selling that they’ve come to the right place. Don’t be generic! Tell your potential fans why they should subscribe to YOU and not someone else.
Bad: “Pictures, previous, and deals to buy explicit content!” Yes, that’s literally what this site is for. Why would you discount yourself and your offerings right out the gate by saying “deals?” You’re not the discount bin at Wal-Mart.
Good: “Hi! My name is X. You might know me from X, and Y. I’ll be posting exclusive content that you won’t see anywhere else!” Makes it very clear why I should subscribe.
Better: “I’m a classy plus-size lady with a penchant for sluttery. Sub if you want to be my little live-in pet. Full interaction and tasks, with rewards if you’re a good little pervert for me.” Yes! This account makes it very clear what unique value I can expect from subscribing.
How to talk to clients
To me, the big difference between OnlyFans and other places you can sell content is that OnlyFans is much more about interaction between fans and creators than anything else. People sign up to follow you as much for the chance to get your attention through comments, messages, and tips as for the content you post. That being the case, it’s easy to waste hours chatting with fans who aren’t going to tip or resubscribe.
Other people probably have better advice than me on this, but my rule is that if our conversations zap my energy, I don’t care how much you tip me or how long you’ve been a subscriber. I don’t have extra energy to waste. Again, I think people can tell when you’re enjoying a conversation and when you’re tolerating someone to try to make money. No judgment here either way, but again I think specialization helps. If you love selling your breast milk then you’re probably not going to mind talking to men about pumping, etc. If you can find people you genuinely like and bond with them over shared interests then chatting won’t feel like work and you’ll make more money besides.
How to cultivate return clients
Don’t try to make your fans faithful. Try to make exactly what you want to make, and help faithful fans find you. Once you find your special niche, there won’t be that many creators for fans to replace you with. Once a fan finds exactly what they’re looking for, there’s no need to unsubscribe. Do what you love. Attract people who love what you do. Enjoy each other’s company. That’s how you create loyal fans.
One of the best ways to get consistent clients is to be consistent yourself. Give people a reason to come back. If you’re loving what you do, it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to post at least daily. Keep in mind you can shoot a week’s worth of content in one day with different hair, makeup, and outfit changes. And then you can post the photos and videos over the course of the week. It’s also a good idea to have a cache of unposted content at all times in case you get sick or depressed.
How to not get scammed
Listen to your instincts. If something feels fishy, walk away. Remember, it’s much easier to walk away when you don’t need the money. This goes back to having other sources of income. You’re much more likely to be taken advantage of when you’re desperate. Always demand at least half of the cash up-front. Don’t do things that are against OF’s terms of service, like using OF to find clients for in-person sex work. Not only do you risk being kicked off the platform, but anyone using OF to find sex workers is already suspicious when there are platforms for that purpose.
Pricing
The best way to price your content is to find out the market rates in your niche. I highly recommend joining a few online communities for creators, ideally creators in your niche, so you can discuss pricing, content ideas, share abusive profiles, etc. Also follow profiles of creators in your niche to see what they’re charging.
Other than the market rate, probably the best way to think about pricing is in terms of a minimum hourly rate. Estimate how much time making a video or Domming someone will take, then double the estimate. You want to double it because of the Planning Fallacy. In essence, most people consistently underestimate how long a task will take. Doing this when it comes to your money is not a good idea.
Then set your price based on your hourly rate. So if making a 5-minute custom video will take you an hour, and your hourly rate is $100, you should charge $100. If your hourly rate is $20, then charge $20. Or, find out how to cut your production time down to half an hour and charge $50.
What to buy (equipment)
To get started, you don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment. Especially when you’re starting out, I would recommend making sure you have an up-to-date phone or decent camera and a tripod, ring light, and remote. You can get a decent tripod, ring light, and remote kit made to hold your phone on Amazon for around $100.
Don’t spend a lot more out of the gate because you might end up not liking OnlyFans and you don’t want to be desperate to recoup your costs. Desperation isn’t sexy.
Pro-tip: Remember to clean up your room! Unless filth and clutter are part of the fantasy, no one wants to see it!
If you find you do enjoy creating content for OnlyFans, then I would recommend spending money on lighting. It’s a visual platform, and lighting is the most important ingredient for beautiful photos and videos. Sunlight is very flattering, so if you have a sunny part of your apartment or house film there. I actually chose my studio because it had three big windows and is on the fourth floor. Plenty of sunlight. But for filming at night or in darker rooms, if you’re going to spend money, spend it on lighting.
If you’re going to be camming, I’d recommend a decent webcam and microphone (not your computer’s built-in ones).
Closing thoughts
What did I miss? Do you disagree with any of my advice? What outstanding questions do you have? Let me know in the comments. And please support my work by using my referral link to sign up for your OnlyFans account!