Amberly Rothfield on Weathering the COVID-19 Shutdown

Amberly Rothfield has been in the adult industry for more than a decade. She wrote the book How I Made $10,000 a Month as a Phone Sex Operator and runs the site AmberlyRothfield.com. Rothfield recently shared some tips for business survival during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. “Because health is important, but so is your business,” she says. Below is an excerpt from her guide aimed at helping performers who are unable to attend fan events or shoot live content with others. To learn more, click here. Ask everyone you planned to work with if you can do a remote scene. You both get on Skype (or the equivalent) and perform whatever acts you were going to do on yourselves. Record using OBS (free online software). You can record whatever is on your screen using this! This strategy works much better for certain scenes than others. If it wouldn’t work well at all for the type of scene you were considering (say, a gangbang), ask all the participants how the scene could be altered—maybe offer to do several remote scenes. Create an online group (Twitter DM groups, Telegram, etc.) including everyone you would have worked with and make a pact to really push each other on your social media/websites. Create trade content even if it is solo. Give them a solo scene you shoot and they will give you a scene they shoot to share via your channels. Remember that if you are stuck at home, your fans most likely are too. Probably needing a distraction after going through all the Netflix shows they have plowed through. Cabin fever has brought many fans to find unique ways to get away for some quick releases. Studios may become hard pressed to keep their sites going and will be willing to make deals. If there is a site you have always wanted to be featured on, reach out to them about buying an exclusive piece of yours. The worst they can say is no—and really, it would help them keep current content and expose you to their audience. These studios may also appreciate you doing a takeover of their social media channels or doing live camming for their members. Offer to give a show for their subscribers in lieu of doing a scene. Again, you will get the exposure you need, payment from the studio or their customers, and give that value-adding proposition that in times like this is hard to pass up. Tag cam companies and clip sites that you are on and ask on your social sites about other creators in the area you are in. When it is safe and quarantine periods are over, you may still be able to shoot with them. This is a great time to get to know your community better! Other creators who also lost access to those going to a trade show will probably be feeling the same way you are. Reach out to anyone who had tweets or posts about the show. The search function on Twitter will show you anyone who talked about possibly going. Create a Twitter group and all chip in to promote each other. Were you planning to sign for a company at an industry event? Contact the company and see if they are willing to promote your clip sites, etc., since you were planning to sign with them. This will only work if you already agreed to be there. Asking now, if you never have signed with them or had plans to sign with them, would not work. Remember that people in our industry are great at sticking together and figuring things out.