09-DEC-2011 – As you recall, PayPal/eBay’s right wing organization has decided that my work is not appropriate to use their services. I refunded everyone their money and was left with no way to easily raise funds to keep the site operative.
This isn’t a Please Pity Me post.
I have the help of a person with a separate PP account that allows me to use her account to make the payments for my workshops/classes and use etsy.
If you are so inclined to ever “tip” me because you enjoy the content of AmberUnmasked then send me an email (amberlovescomics at gmail) and I will send you the information for that account since I’m forbidden from having a “donate” or “pay now” button anywhere on my site.
I actually oppose the practice of putting up my personal Amazon Wish List and asking people to pay for my costumes unless that person is the client. I rarely get paid to model my costumes like for the couple Cosplay Deviant shoots I did or if creators want a booth babe. My goal was that I’d make enough from CosDev affiliate revenue to pay for more costuming supplies.
That doesn’t happen. I make very little — less than what a tank of gas costs. Even so, I don’t believe in asking other people to pay for my costuming supplies unless someone is actually hiring me to represent their character. If I can’t afford to put together a suit, then I don’t make the suit. Hence, I have a folder of Dream Costumes that I will probably never make. That’s back burner.
The reasons I do need some help with finances: Website operations (hosting, domain expenses) and Comics.
1. The Site:
The few people that have helped me out with the site donated their time. I have one ad on the site which has not generated any revenue at all but I leave it there because I know you can find the comic porn parodies there. I do provide a limited amount of NSFW content. I’d like to do more but I don’t believe in always giving things away for free. I need to make a living too. If that living is going to be associated with adult entertainment, those people get paid. It’s not like I can renew my substitute teaching certificate now that I’ve done this.
I put in the same amount of time associated with any part-time job only I’m not getting paid. I think this site is worth something. I hope other people out there agree.
2. Making Comics:
What I have been more eagerly exploring is making comics, the source of what got me into costuming ergo into modeling, in the first place. The comic creator workshop costs $150 for a six month membership and about $500 per class. It’s not like there’s a scholarship for it.
Making comics costs money. There’s the education, the hiring of an artist and a letterer, and the printing expenses for taking a supply to conventions which in themselves is a huge expense. There’s an endless cycle of expenses with making comics.
My goal is to launch not only traditional comics, most likely continuing with my short story format for a while, but also to bring a couple webcomics here to the site. No, I’m not going to try kickstarter or indiegogo until I have a product to distribute. I’m simple that way.
BEFORE YOU TRY TELLING ME ABOUT ALL THE OTHER PAYMENT SERVICES … I’ve checked them out. I swear, I have. I’ve looked at all the ones people have suggested. They either have the exact same stringent rules about nudity (artistic or erotic) or they have set up fees that are over $1,000.
I’ve been trying sell off costumes and pumpkin crafts on my etsy store with a rather limited amount of success. Maybe think I’m asking too much but modeling is my only income and to be honest, I’m lucky IF the gigs pay enough to cover the gas/parking I spend getting there.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.