Terri Redor of TheFloatingWorld.com and the upcoming PromotePornStars.com, served as the panel’s moderator. Redor was joined on the dais by webcam model and solo girl site operator Kayla Quinn, Zero Tolerance contract star Courtney Cummz, adult industry blogger and publicist Monstar and attorney Michael Fattorosi.
Quinn kicked things off by telling the audience that she does everything for her site KaylaCam.com herself from the video encoding to design to gallery building.
“When you do your site yourself, it’s important not to overlook the smallest details — believe me, I know from experience,” Quinn said. She relayed a horror story, when experiencing server problems, her site, promo galleries and all her content was down for a week and a half, thus all her affiliates linked to a dead site. She recommended keeping all galleries and the affiliate program on separate servers.
While Quinn extolled the quality control and oversight of doing one’s own site, Cummz’s official site is managed by PornStarDollars, an affiliate program that operates many porn star domains.
Cummz said the best thing about having a site that’s part of an affiliate program is that the model just has to worry about shooting content and include personal touches like a diary or photo journal to keep fans coming back. PornStarDollars.com maintains the affiliate program, promotional tools and commissions.
Monstar’s portion at the seminar focused on building a girl’s star power so she becomes a recognizable name in a crowded field. Monstar’s company, The Star Factory’s client list includes Nikki Benz, Stormy Daniels, Eva Angelina, Lisa Ann, Cummz and others.
“MySpace.com has been very beneficial in the promotion of my girls,” Monstar said. “I post new pictures of them watermarked with the site’s url, because you can’t directly link to adult content on MySpace. I tell my girls to maintain a blog, update their calendars with store signings, feature dancing and other things where fans can interact with them.”
Fattorosi was the last to speak, and he took an interesting departure from most of the legalese dispensed at adult industry seminars. Instead of covering 2257 and obscenity busts, Fattorosi covered production insurance, workman’s compensation and errors and omissions for on-set incidents.
Fattorosi explained that even though a performer is identified as an independent contractor on the model release, the production company would be responsible for covering on-set accidents and tax withholdings on perfomers’ paychecks.
“It doesn’t matter what the contract says you are,” Fattorosi explained about porn stars’ employment status. “The company that hires you, even if it’s just for a few hours, tells you when to come, when you can take a break, when you can leave and other factors that constitutes employment. They should be subtracting taxes from your check.”
Porn stars and models in attendance included Angie Savage, Ron Jeremy, Rachel Aziani and Lexi Lamour.