Show me the money!
The other week I saw a tweet from someone I follow on Twitter, Hector Martinez explaining that he was expanding the platforms he uses to create #NormaliseNudity content and would be posting some content on the OnlyFans site.
OnlyFans is a subscription-based social media platform where content creators sell their videos and photos. While not exclusively NSFW, OnlyFans attracted a significant number of adult content creators during the COVID lockdowns.
My initial reaction was one of surprise perhaps tinged with some disappointment. I had always considered OnlyFans as a site associated with more adult-oriented content, and that doesn’t align with my view of the naturist philosophy. To be fair, I have never viewed or subscribed to any content on OnlyFans, as I have been put off by the number of direct messages that I get from young women claiming to be naturists, who invite me to view their latest efforts via the OnlyFans platform. My perception is that less explicit content creators use other platforms to engage with their followers and don’t solicit new viewers with direct messages and provocative images.
Hector and his wife are prominent proponents of a healthy naturist life and Hector has mentioned that their naturist earnings used to come from just one platform, Patreon. In these volatile times where our lifestyle is likely to be misunderstood, or even cancelled by major platforms, it makes good business sense to diversify your income streams and spread the risk.
There are many naturists on Twitter, and we are all aware that the blue bird platform could, at very short notice, decide that our content breaches their standards and close its doors on us. To that end, many of us have diversified our social connections to include other platforms such as Mastodon, Naturist Hub, Just Naturism, MeWe, and Nude Revolution, as well as other niche groups.
We are all doing the same thing, but as consumers rather than content creators so we are not making any money in the process. Hector and his wife have found a group of people willing to pay for some of the content that they provide and I take my hat off to them both for their efforts in promoting naturism and being able to generate income from doing it.
There are some naturist writers that I support (via Substack) and I also pay membership to a couple of naturist social sites. But I have reached my discretionary spending limit on supporting naturism content creators, and to sign up for something new, I will need to let an existing content creator go.
We can all put on our principled and virtuous hats, and claim that naturism should be free to everyone, but the volume of free output that content creators like Hector and his wife put out in the name of normalising nudity, is not cheap to produce.
This blog for example is very cheap to produce, but not free. It takes time to write, rather than a financial cost, and that time is something that I am happy to give to create the content. If I were to calculate the time taken to write the 800 or so words, edit them into a coherent order and check the spelling and grammar, even at the minimum wage, I suspect that each blog entry would be prohibitively expensive.
Were I to produce video content, I would need to invest in more equipment and editing software, as well as spending more time producing material. Not only do I not have the spare time to do this, I am not willing to fund the additional cost. I would need to put the content behind a paywall, and I am not confident that many would pay to view it. I can barely believe that a handful of people pay to read this content, and I am grateful to those who do.
While this blog is free to read for anyone, I do have the facility for people to subscribe or donate via Substack or buy-me-a-coffee. Rather than looking to make a living from my writing, I prefer to offer those who appreciate it a way to say thank you.
I have nearly 900 free subscribers, increasing by between 40 and 60 a month, but those who pay to read the blog can be counted on the fingers of a one-armed sawmill worker.
I would rather that my blog was read by more people than make extra money from fewer readers. My motivation for writing these blogs is about demystifying the naturist philosophy and helping people feel less alone.
Having said that, I don’t begrudge people who have found a way to make a living out of naturism. To some degree, I admire them, although I am not sure I would want the pressure to continually come up with new content to maintain the income streams. Finding something new to write about each week is becoming more and more challenging.
I was chatting online to a content creator the other day, who is thinking of giving up her OnlyFans gig. She said that the demand from subscribers to give more and more is taking its toll, and although she enjoys the extra income, it is not enough to give up her day job.
Hector and his wife are looking to promote naturism and help people understand what it is really about rather than what people believe it to be about, and to do that, they need to be where people are. It is no good shouting into a bubble or preaching to the converted.
Perhaps we should support them, if we can, rather than criticise them for using a platform that many of us talk of with suspicion. If just one OnlyFans subscriber gets the message that normalising nudity is not a sexual thing, then perhaps their effort is worth it.
Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.- Benjamin Franklin
Thank you for reading, have a comfortable day.
You know, "subscribing" to Substack newsletters, and accounts like Patreon, certainly helps the authors, which is appropriate when they are important enough to you. But the expenses pile up REALLY fast. I've long subscribed to print magazines, where the cost is like (US) $25 per year and up. (Yes, that's still the case even now!) But they all have printing and mailing expenses in addition to paying writers, editors, office staff, and contributors (if they do). Even full memberships in British Naturism, AANR, and TNS - which all publish excellent printed periodicals - are in the $60/year range.
But I also read many Substack newsletters, for which paid subscriptions are more like $50 to $100 per year - and up. If I were to pay on average $75 per year for 50 of those - it's an expense of $3750 per year! That's more than my yearly home insurance (which is quite high). I don't see how typical Substack or Patreon prices can work economically for most people. My Substack newsletter has no paid version at all, and never will, because I want as many people as possible to read it.
There's a serious problem here with money getting in the way of spreading important and useful information. I don't really know of a good solution for this situation. It should be noted that most naturist organizations (except landed clubs) rely heavily on volunteer (unpaid) efforts. So why shouldn't that also be the case for most naturists who want to communicate widely?
The push for paid content is understandable and an individual choice. Personally, I don’t subscribe to any naturist content, other than the AANR Bulletin...but that’s a little different, nor will I charge for it (not that I can fathom anyone paying to read anything I have to say). It’s just not what brought me to here, not what I’m looking for.
There is certainly a difference to charging to offset the cost of a blog and the creators time, like you see on Substack, and setting up an OF account. As you mentioned, I don’t have an issue with others taking this route. Some of the content out there is very professional and must take hours to create. So, I can see the desire. But with all the anti-naturist messaging out there, I think we need as much open, free, accessible positive naturist messaging as we can get. Charging for it simply ensures you are preaching to the already converted.