Before your
first subscriber.

01 / Your ideas

What would you enjoy making?

You might already have a folder of ideas, or you might still be working out what your page could look like. Start with a few things you’re curious to try: a particular look, a theme you enjoy or a way of talking to the camera that feels comfortable. There’s time to develop the page as you go.

Think about what you’d like someone to enjoy about visiting. Perhaps it’s your sense of humour, the styling of your photos or a shared interest you can talk about. Those details give you something to build on when you’re deciding what to post next.

A few ideas for your first posts

• An introduction. Tell people a little about your creator persona, what you enjoy making and what they can expect from the page.
• A small themed set. Try a colour, an outfit or a mood you like. Experiment with a few angles and choose the ones you’re happiest with.
• A behind-the-scenes post. Share how you chose a look or put a set together. You can use a close-up of a prop or a few words about the idea.
• A question for your audience. Offer a choice between two themes you’d enjoy making. If you don’t have subscribers yet, use the same exercise to plan your next shoot.

A useful first session could be as simple as trying a couple of lighting setups with the equipment you have. Keep a note of what you liked and save a few ideas for next time. You can decide whether more equipment would help once you know what you enjoy making.

Help people get a feel for your page

Write a short bio in words you’d actually use, pick a profile image you like and explain what a subscription includes. For example: “I’m [creator name]. Expect [your themes or style], with new posts [your schedule]. I especially enjoy making [something specific].” Adapt it until it sounds like you.

When you look back over your first few posts, notice what you’ve learned as well as the response they received. Getting comfortable on camera, finding a lighting setup you like or finishing a set you’re pleased with are all things you can build on.

02 / Checklist

Before your first upload

Once you have a few ideas, use this checklist to get ready to share them. You can work through it a bit at a time; the sections below explain anything you haven’t sorted out yet.

Tick these as you go. Ticks stay only in this tab and reset when you reload. Print a copy if you want to keep it.

03 / Platforms

Where should a new creator start?

Think about what you want to make and how you want to sell it. A subscription page means keeping up with an ongoing offer, while a clip shop lets people buy individual videos. Live broadcasting needs time when you can be present. To begin with, we’d suggest one main place to sell and one suitable way to reach people; you can add others when you have time for them.

The comparison below covers OnlyFans, Fansly, Fanvue, ManyVids and CAM4. We’ve grouped them by what you might use them for. We couldn’t establish a reliable popularity ranking across all five; published figures count different things, including registered accounts, paying fans and visits.

Before you choose, check that you can receive payouts where you live and that the site permits the content you plan to make. Look at what a visitor can see before paying, how people might find your page and what you’ll keep after fees and costs. Consider how much time the page will take to run, too.

Built-in discovery can help people find you, though it won’t guarantee sales. On Fansly, use the “View Media As” preview to check what different viewers can access. A locked timeline does not mean every profile detail is private.

04 / Privacy

Choosing what you share about yourself

You can share your interests, humour and creative choices while keeping personal details private. Before you upload anything, look through it for details you would normally ignore. A parcel label on the table, a reflection in the window or someone saying your real name in the background could reveal more than you intended. Check the audio as well as the picture. Keeping your face out of a video can help, but you may still be recognisable.

• Use separate creator accounts. Use a creator alias and dedicated email. Avoid reusing personal usernames, avatars or photos. Review contact syncing and discoverability by phone number or email. A separate browser profile can help you avoid posting from the wrong account, although it won’t make you anonymous.
• Keep your location private. Don’t post your home, regular route, current hotel or real-time travel plans. Delay travel posts until you have left, and check them again for identifying details.
• Check the actual file you share. Disable camera location tagging where possible and inspect exported photo or video metadata. Don’t assume a site or messaging app will strip it for you.
• Search for yourself. Search your personal and creator handles, email and images. Check public business records before choosing a registered or contact address. Ask trusted people not to tag your creator identity, location or personal account.

These steps build on NYCLU’s privacy guidance. For deeper preparation, use EFF’s doxxing guide.

Using geoblocking, watermarks and a VPN

Geoblocking: Fansly offers location blocks. These can restrict access from the places you select, but someone elsewhere could still copy and share your work. A watermark can help identify your content, although it can be removed. A VPN has limits too: it cannot conceal details visible in a video or prevent someone recognising you.

Use a password manager and unique passwords. Secure your email too, because it is often the recovery route for everything else. Enable the strongest supported two-factor method, and keep recovery codes somewhere protected outside the account they recover. EFF explains password basics.

If you set up a wishlist, check what buyers and sellers can see before you share it. Look at delivery and return details as well as the wishlist itself, because “address hidden” may not cover every merchant or every stage of an order.

05 / Banking and records

Choosing a bank account

Keeping creator income and expenses in a dedicated account makes it easier to follow what you’ve earned and spent. Before opening one, check that the bank accepts adult creator income and allows your intended business use. The answer can depend on your country, the account type and whether you’re working for yourself or through a company.

Ask the provider directly and keep its response. Be clear about the work you do; using a friend’s account or disguising the source of payments could create further problems. Your creator platform may also have requirements about the name on the payout account, so check those before entering your details.

Creators have reported account closures and payout holds, which is why it’s worth checking with a bank even if someone else recommends it. Where you can, keep some money accessible for living costs in case a payout is delayed. Any account you use for this should permit the activity, and transfers should be described accurately.

Keep a record of: date, platform, gross sales, commission, refunds or chargebacks, payout fees, exchange rate, amount received, expenses and receipts. Keep these details alongside your bank statements so you can trace how each payout was calculated. How much to set aside for tax depends on your circumstances; an accountant familiar with creator work can help you work it out.

UK example: HMRC includes online content income in its additional-income checker. Its sole-trader guide says records are needed when trading starts and Self Assessment registration is required above £1,000 annual trading income. That threshold concerns registration, and the tax you owe will depend on your circumstances and other income. Outside the UK, check with your local tax authority.

Working out what you’ll receive

For example, 100 in sales at an 80% creator share leaves 80 before payout fees, conversion, refunds, production costs and tax. Pending funds may not be withdrawable yet. Fanvue’s payout policy describes holds and possible adjustments.

Chargeback protection also has limits. Fansly describes protection in most cases, with exceptions including unusually high chargebacks and creator fault. Don’t advertise any payment as impossible to reverse.

06 / Platform rules

Payments and links in your DMs

It’s easy to focus on what you’re allowed to upload and overlook the rules for messages or payments. Before you start selling, read those sections too, along with the rules for links, profile images, co-performers and any tools you connect. Something passing moderation once doesn’t guarantee that it’s allowed.

For OnlyFans, our advice is to keep purchases and payment conversations on OnlyFans. If a fan asks to pay by bank transfer, a payment app or another subscription site to avoid fees, direct them to the payment options on your page. Ask official support about any link you’re unsure of before sending it.

We couldn’t access OnlyFans’ current terms and help pages while researching this guide. Check the payment and linking rules in its terms and help centre inside your account before sending fans elsewhere. The rules for taking payment elsewhere may differ from those for mentioning another platform; we couldn’t verify the current wording.

Linking rules vary between platforms. CAM4’s published policy, for example, allows specified social links but prohibits fan-subscription links and outside payments.

• Check the payment provider too. PayPal’s US policy prohibits sexually oriented digital goods and subscriptions. Check the provider’s policy for your country before using it to take payment.
• Read the rules for each promotional account. X permits certain consensual adult content with warnings, but bans it in profile pictures, headers and live video, among other restrictions. That permission does not carry over to Instagram, TikTok or a subreddit.
• Check destination links as well as images. Before using Instagram or TikTok, check their current rules in-app, including restrictions on promoting adult services or linking to them. We couldn’t reliably access their current policy pages during research, so we can’t confirm which promotional approaches they allow.
• Keep the rights clear. Use content, music and images you own or have permission to distribute commercially. A trending sound’s availability on one app does not establish a licence for a paid video elsewhere.

If something is removed, save the notice and relevant policy, stop repeating it and use the official appeal route. Don’t use coded words, redirects, replacement accounts or automation to evade restrictions.

07 / Scams

Checking offers and payment requests

An offer of promotion or a well-paid custom can be tempting when you’re starting out. Take time to check who you’re dealing with and how payment will work before you agree or send anything.

• Check the payment in your account. Someone may send you a screenshot claiming they’ve paid. Open the platform yourself and check the balance and transaction status. Don’t pay an “unlock” or “verification” fee to receive a stranger’s money.
• Custom requests need an agreement. Confirm the permitted content, price, delivery window, revisions and platform payment process before filming. Decline requests outside your boundaries or platform rules.
• Contact support through the official site. Open the official site yourself. Don’t hand over passwords, login codes or identity documents to someone who approaches you in DMs.
• Check an agency before signing anything. Verify identity and references. Read commission, account control, content rights, access, termination and data handling terms. Use approved delegated access where available. Never give someone control of your recovery email or payout account.
• Watch for repeated pressure. If someone keeps asking for your address, personal number, an unplanned meeting or content you’ve declined, you can end the conversation and block or report them.

08 / Messages

Replies you can borrow.

A welcome message is a chance to introduce yourself and help a new subscriber find their way around. Having a few other replies ready can save you time when the same questions come up. Change these to suit what you offer and check that they fit your platform’s rules.

When you set prices, allow for the time spent planning, editing, answering messages and doing admin, as well as filming and platform costs. Tell subscribers when you usually reply and choose a posting schedule you can manage alongside time off. Paying for a subscription doesn’t entitle someone to contact you whenever they like or ask about your private life.

09 / Collaborations

Planning your first collaboration

Working with someone else can give you a chance to try a different style, swap ideas or make something you couldn’t put together alone. You might begin with a conversation about a shared theme or plan a small shoot together. Give yourselves time to see whether you enjoy working together before committing to a bigger project.

Agree boundaries, consent, payment or revenue split, ownership, editing, permitted platforms, promotion and what happens if someone wants publication paused. Verify everyone is an adult and meets the applicable legal and platform requirements before filming. Nobody should be pressured to continue.

Meet safely, arrange your own travel and let a trusted person know your plans privately. Discuss relevant health precautions and testing with qualified guidance. An identity check alone does not establish safety, health status or consent.

You’ll also need to complete the checks required by each site where you’ll publish. Fansly’s current co-performer process supports on-site consent requests, secure invitations and manual documents. Don’t assume a creator tag replaces consent records. Follow each destination’s current workflow before publishing.

Our free collab release form can help organise the conversation and paperwork. It does not guarantee acceptance by every platform or replace required verification, local record-keeping duties or a tailored agreement. Store sensitive records securely, with access limited to the people who need them. Keep them out of shared content folders.

It can also be nice to have other creators to talk to about ideas, equipment or how a shoot went. When you’re ready to meet people, create a free Platter account and complete the identity check. Platter is for creator connections; your fan subscriptions and sales stay with the platforms you choose.

10 / Backups and reporting

If your content leaks or you lose an account

Save your original content, descriptions, financial exports and relevant agreements in secure backups. Use permitted export options. Don’t scrape subscriber details or add fans to a mailing list without an appropriate lawful basis, consent where required and a provider that accepts your content.

1. Record what happened. Save URLs, dates, usernames, notices and screenshots securely. Don’t repost private or abusive material publicly to prove a point.
2. Use the right report route. Report account compromise, impersonation, privacy abuse or copied content through the relevant platform process. Use copyright notices only when you own the rights or are authorised. Check what personal information a notice may disclose.
3. For intimate-image abuse, check StopNCII. Eligible adults can generate a fingerprint of images on their own device. StopNCII works with participating platforms and their abuse policies; it cannot remove content from the whole internet. Check its eligibility and limits.
4. Get support. Use EFF’s incident-response guidance and a trusted person to help document and report. If you face an immediate physical threat, contact local emergency help.

A leak, a threat or harassment is not your fault. Precautions can reduce risk; responsibility remains with the person causing harm.

11 / Getting started

What to do in your first week

You can use the order below to work through the setup over a week, or take longer if you need to. Verification and payout checks may hold things up, so wait for the necessary approvals before publishing.

1. Day 1: Try out some ideas. Choose your alias and write down a few themes you’d enjoy making. Sketch out what a subscription or purchase would include and decide what you’re comfortable sharing.
2. Day 2: Secure the setup. Create separate accounts, enable security, audit your filming space and check public information.
3. Day 3: Compare platforms. Pick a main sales platform. Read its terms, eligibility and co-performer rules. Start official verification.
4. Day 4: Sort payouts and records. Confirm bank suitability, tax requirements and payout details. Start your ledger.
5. Day 5: Make your first posts. Try a small themed set and put together an introduction. Prepare enough for the posting schedule you’ve chosen, then check exports, permissions and previews. Write your welcome message and save the replies you’ll need.
6. Day 6: Check the whole journey. Preview the public page and paid offer using supported tools. Confirm what is visible, what costs extra and how fans contact you. Don’t buy your own content or stage transactions.
7. Day 7: Launch when ready, then review. Use one permitted promotional route. Track visits, paid conversions, net receipts and hours worked. Plan your next week and your time off.

Give yourself a chance to enjoy what you’ve made when the page is ready. As you go, keep track of the posts you liked making and any conversations or feedback you want to follow up on. It may take time to attract paying subscribers, and there’s no reliable income timeline, so look at what you’re learning alongside the numbers.

You can return to the checklist as you work through the setup, or send this guide to someone who’s starting alongside you.