Teach me about cam modeling?

September 23, 2012 6:56 AM

Does anyone here have any real life experience with (adult) cam modeling, and if so can you give a potential model advice/pointers/cautionary tales?

I am interested in becoming a cam model but am not sure where to start looking for real information from real people on the real results of such a job choice. I'd like to know which hosting sites are reliable and fair and as non-shady as possible, what the logistics of such an operation are [Is it as boring as it looks? Do I just sit there for a few hours a day? Do I need to get extremely explicit/sexual and stay that way in order to make money at all?], and the inevitable unknowns I wouldn't know without working in the business for a length of time or hearing from someone who has.

I am only interested in hearing from people with real life experiences either as models or as people who are very close to models, i.e. girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/best friends. If you've read things written by models around the web and would like to share links with me, that would also be great. I am trying to gain a more holistic perspective to find out if this sort of job would work for me.

Throwaway email: [e-mail]

Thanks!

posted by anonymous to work & money (4 answers total)

This isn't written by a model, but it's pretty comprehensive (and sobering)
posted by availablelight at 6:59 AM on September 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

P.S. if you read the comment section, a couple "cam girls" do pipe in.
posted by availablelight at 7:00 AM on September 23, 2012

From a friend of mine with 12 years experience on Camwhores. This is more "How to be a Successful Camgirl", and less "The benefits and risks of being a Camgirl".


Okay so there is two types of cam modeling:

Still image (like www.camwhores.com, which I've been on for 12 years and it has still images and live/recorded members only shows) and live camming like www.myfreecams.com.

MFC has a wiki about camming there:
http://wiki.myfreecams.com/wiki/Becoming_a_Webcam_Model_at_MyFreeCams

Some models literally make $10k+ per month some months on that site, so I highly recommend it. Here's what I wrote about it a while back in the Camwhores forum:

"- Be ridiculously appreciative of every tip you get. Really, these guys are all seeking personal attention even more than the nudity/sex. They're lonely. Be as sweet as possible, get more flies. Ya dig?
- Have a kickass profile that sets out your boundaries and is really detailed about yourself. I've found that the girls who seems to do the best on there all have really thorough profiles.
- Do the password protected galleries thing. I know girls on there who are making money hand over fist with that.
- Until you build up regulars, don't mute basics but DO mute guests. Once you have say, 10+ premium regulars, only allow basics to speak if things are slow.
- NEVER take a request from a basic member. Ever.
- Don't take a request without a tip. Even a small tip, like 5 tokens is good. Set your boundaries early on.
- Once you have a lot of regulars, play stupid games with them. The more interactive you can be with these guys the better.
- Don't complain. About anything. No begging. And don't put up with the members begging either and say you won't in your profile. Ban those who do and even further, announce that you've banned them. The members who are being good like that little bit of drama. I've seen a lot of girls get small tips just for banning an idiot in a funny way or with a funny comment.
- Tease tease tease. This may seem obvious, but I swear there's a fucking art to it. If this is confusing to you, watch Hollyhanna sometime. She makes retardo money and doesn't get naked in public chat without tips.
- You want group shows over privates. A group show is 10 tokens per minute x 3 members minimum BUT group shows attract more members TO the group, plus you get spies paying 20 tokens per minute, PLUS tips, so it works out to more money. Private shows on this site should be reserved for high tippers and dedicated regulars. Try & sell group shows instead.
- A lot of girls do the "500 tokens to start group show" thing, which I've found works really really well, but only if you have regulars who are going to REALLY want the show and know you're not going to do it otherwise. Wait to use this method until you have a good 30 or 40 premium members in your room and start small, like "200 tokens for group" and as demand increases, go up.
- BE CAREFUL. I say this with a bit of humour, but be careful with what you're doing, like if you're using a pole or something. Last week I saw a girl who was naked & jumping on her bed fall off and whack her head off the wall so hard it knocked her unconscious. Leo (MFC owner) was alerted and he had to call the police in her town and shut off her cam feed. She hasn't been back on the site since then, probably because she's totally embarrassed.
- In your profile ask them to set up an e-mail alert for when you come on if you don't have a set schedule and give instructions on how to do that because a lot of the members are way too stupid to figure it out themselves.
- Um, never call a paying customer stupid.
- Have a variety of toys on your bed or wherever you're camming from that you intend to use during a group show. This gives the members an idea of what they're going to see and sells the shows better.
- Only accept private message from friends. At first, don't let anyone on your friends list, but once you have say, 20 premium regulars, charge 20-50 tokens to add people to your friends list so they can PM you. Once you have double the regulars, double the price - but don't go past 100. Even the top girls only charge 100 tokens for friends lists.
- Play up your strengths. There's a girl on there named BloodyMaryJane who is a PHENOMENAL pole dancer, that's what she's known for so that's what she does and she rakes in pretty good tips. There's another one called MissMeowMixx who does naked hula hooping shows. She's not as popular, but at least she's got something unique happening that people are curious about & would want to see. Jade, for example, could work out and get all sweaty on cam in public chat, at the same time, having a room topic of "shower cam group show after my workout!". Actually for that shtick, you could probably make them pay 200 tokens to get you to bring the cam in the shower in the first place and maybe the first couple of times do the showering in public chat, then pull a bait & switch and make that part of your cam routine group only. Just an idea. I think playing video games might go over well too if you can game & chat at the same time - while scantily clad of course. My point is to do something unique, something that the other girls aren't doing or something that you do exceptionally well. I know Belinda went on there a few times and made art on cam, but I'm not sure how successful she was or if she did it sexually. (If that makes sense.) That idea has huge potential as well.

Anyway, I need to go to bed BUT the thing with MFC is that it really is a site you have to work. You're really building a brand there and that takes up a lot of time in the beginning. I think a lot of the girls from here could be extremely successful if they put the time in and I also happen to know that the $10-$40k a month figure for the top earners is 100% truth. "

So that's the gist of MFC. Like I said, I highly recommend it for anyone who has a good personality. Personality and a pair of tits is all you need to succeed there.

Camwhores.com is a community and for a beginner, I highly recommend it, especially because we have a camgirls only forum that has so much information on the business it's ridiculous and you can ask anything there and the girls will gladly answer any questions you have. Camwhores is a pay site but we also have free members who can only see limited things. There you get paid for participation in the community by way of points and you get paid for streaming members shows that are recorded and you get paid based on how successful (how many eyeballs) the show was. You don't *have* to do shows if you don't want to, you can just upload pictures using your webcam or even your phone.

On MFC you can play music but on Camwhores you cannot because it's recorded and that could cause copyright issues.

Hope that helps!
posted by yellowbinder at 9:24 AM on September 23, 2012 [25 favorites]

Reddit's IAMA sub-area includes many Q and A sessions with camgirls, some more informative than others. Here's some search results.
posted by carmicha at 10:24 AM on September 23, 2012