A lot of people turned to things they never considered before during the pandemic, including online sex work.
Nova Hawthorne is one of Australia’s most successful OnlyFans creators.
She started posting pictures online for fun, which quickly turned into a full-time source of income.
Nova joins Bension Siebert on The Briefing to give us a peek behind the curtain of the online sex work industry:
“I’ve bought land, I’ve taken my mum on trips,” Hawthorne says. “[I can] retire by the time I’m 40. In ten years, I’ll be set to make whatever choice I want to do.”
Hawthorne is open with her job, but says it is possible to still be successful with anonymous online sex work.
“It’s harder; you need to have more of a shtick, you need to have your niche – you need to be really good at marketing” Hawthorne says.
In 2020, OnlyFans had 1 million creators, 85 million users, and paid creators more than US$2 billion.
The platform generates income for creators with subscription services, pay-per-view content, and tips.
Creators keep 80 per cent of their revenue, while the platform keeps a 20 per cent commission.
Hawthorne says that there is a “misconception that it is easy to make an OnlyFans and do really well.”
OnlyFans does not have an internal search function, so creators would need to have a fanbase first, which Hawthorne says can be achieved through streaming.
“Find someone that inspires you,” Hawthorne says.
“If you’re going to learn about it, learn from a sex worker – learn from the industry themselves.”
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