What Can DIY Porn Performers Teach Us About Surviving Uncertain Times?

The thing that improved my career deeply was being honest with who I am with my viewers and not being afraid of confrontation. – Dominique Rystan

Recently, I co-hosted a live virtual panel with four successful DIY porn performers: Dominique Rystan, Gwen Adora, SpookyFatBrat, and Rooster.

While you are most likely more familiar with mainstream pornography, and perhaps a few famous porn stars, the internet has also created a space for DIY porn performers: independent performers that produce, star in, edit, and sell their own content – often from their houses or bedrooms.

As performers who lack institutional backing and support, the panelists talked about what it was like to build their own audiences and careers from the ground up.

While they spoke specifically about what it takes to be successful as content creators in the adult industry, much of their advice is applicable to any creatives trying make a living in our increasingly unstable economy (where conventional employment is disappearing and unemployment levels are higher than we have seen since the Great Depression).

Here is some of the advice they had to offer:

Find Your Niche

One of the things that all of the performers touched on is how important it is to carve out your own niche so that customers who are interested in what you have to offer can easily find you.

For Dominique Rystan, who came into the work she does with a strong sense of who she was as a dominatrix, this has meant being really honest about that, rather than trying to be all things to all people. “If they are coming to me, I want them to want to have what I’m providing,” she commented. This also means being willing to cut off customers whose needs are a bad fit. She said, “If they don’t vibe with it then they leave and I don’t want their money anyway.”

Gwen Adora, on the other hand, found her niche through trying a lot of new things. “Trying stuff out is really important, for me that was a pivotal thing in terms of content,” she said. For her, it was through that process that she was able to find her place. She tells new creators to, “try different genres, niches, fetishes and mix them up to see what will stick for you and your brand.”

Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

Obviously, the process of trying things out to see what sticks also means that there are things that just won’t. Adora reminded the audience, “Don’t be afraid to […] try things that are a little out of your comfort zone at first.” She likens this process to throwing a dart at a board and seeing what it hits, knowing that sometimes it will miss entirely.

SpookyFatBrat reminded the audience that trying things out also means that some things will fail, and that this is part of the process. After all, none of these performers would be where they are if they weren’t willing to put themselves out there. She said, “I hope people take a chance if they feel like they want to. There is a huge risk to it, but also YOLO.”

Invest in Community

Being self-employed can be a lonely venture, particularly during COVID-19, when social interaction of all sort is limited. All of the panelists talked about how important having community support has been in their career.

Spooky pointed out that it helped her to not feel so alone, but also to give her inspiration. She says, “What has helped me a lot is getting involved in community and finding models that I can watch while I grow.”

Rooster pointed out that given geographic and physical distance among performers, that online community can be a great fill in. They said, “Online community is great and valid, which can help work through a lot of stigma that comes along with this.” Or in other words, connecting with people who are experiencing the same struggles can be life affirming and sometimes, lifesaving. They go on, “And also safety, community also helps with awareness of safety.”