I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been busting ass trying to figure out the marketing end of this business. This last year has been a whirlwind of stuffing my head full of new things; html and php coding, graphic design, photography…and, of course, everything I can cram into my skull about marketing in general, porn marketing in particular, and bbw porn marketing in very particular (yes, the rules are different!). Unfortunately for my bank balance and my sanity, selling has never been my strong point.

To that end I have added a new “Hot Links” page and am busily searching out other unique, (preferably) elegant, and arousing sites to hit up for link trades. I’ve also applied for a couple of reviews. Wish me luck.

Made a big pot of chili today, and have spent the evening (I’m not done yet) spring-cleaning my fish tank. I’m doing a really thorough job too, scrubbing every piece of gravel with a little tiny brush.

Just kidding. *grin* It is heavily infested with hairlike green algae though, and since my fish won’t eat the stuff I must make some effort to control it myself or else it’ll choke out everything else in the tank. It’s a 55gal freshwater tank, with a bunch of plants I can’t at this moment remember the names of, half a dozen pristella tetras, four neon tetras, four khuli loaches and one big lonely angelfish.

I love animals; and not in a big-eyed puppy calendar kind of way. I feel closer to the divine when observing the animals around me, both wild and domestic, than at any other time. I could not imagine living without companions of other species, nor would I dream of raising my children without them. I wish I could have many more beasties in my menagerie and I sincerely hope that when the kids are old enough to help take care of them I will - but don’t tell my husband this, hehehe! He thinks we permanently downsized my menagerie when we had kids.

I love doing this, but sometimes it can be vicious depressing. You try one thing - no sales, you try another thing - no sales, on and on and on, and the whole time you’re pumping money into it for marketing or equipment, trying to constantly improve your product. And then the customers often act like you ought to be rolling in it, so why do you need their $10 (or whatever) so bad?* It’s tax time now so I’m about to find out exactly how much money I’ve lost over the past year, which naturally leads to thoughts of how much my family could have used that money for other things. (To fill you in, my family of four is living on one slightly-above-poverty-level wage.) For anybody considering going into the porn business, consider me a lesson - this is not a no money down, get rich quick scheme! There have been many times when I wonder what the hell I’m doing, plugging away at this. But then I think about what else might I do, and I realize that I can’t even imagine a job I’m better fitted for, one that more completely suits my skills, talents, interests and personality. This would be my absolute dream job, if only I was making money at it.

*Like the shoe-fetish wanker I had earlier this week, who assured me I must be able to find something more his style in my closet. Um, excuse me, (I was thinking) who do you think is buying me shoes? Cause you sure aren’t!

I managed to schedule some time this morning to spend on PrivateCamz. This is always a big pain in the butt for me, between finding a babysitter, clearing away all the familial clutter, and not being able to get anything else done while I’m sitting around on camera; so I don’t do it very often (although I suspect I’d make a lot more money if I did.)

Very shortly after I log on, this guy with a high-heels fetish comes into my room. First he wants me to try on some heels, then he doesn’t like the style and wants a different shoe. He wants to see me standing up, and wants me to move the camera to the floor so he can better see my feet. He wants me to dig around and find black fishnet stockings…on and on, and meanwhile six or seven other guys have come into my lobby and immediately left because I’m busy chatting with this wanker. Finally I say to him look honey, if you’re not going to take me private I’m going to have to kick you out because I need to make a living and you’re chasing away all my potential customers. He says “well, you’ll have to convince me” Come on dude…I’ve spent better than half an hour entertaining you already! If you’re not convinced by now that you want to see me jilling off you never will be, and you and I both know it. Actually, what I know - and what he’d never admit - is that this jackass is looking for a free show.

The worst part is, after I boot the guy from my room, I sit around for a further 45 mins and nobody comes in. Now my time is up, I wasted my entire morning doing nothing (not even getting off!) and those unpaid bills are still piling up.

I loathe time wasters.

When my little girl snatches away her brother’s toy and runs with it he often retaliates by whacking her upside the head with something. I invariably scold him for this, reminding him that beating up his sister is an inappropriate response to the provocation.

There’s lots of inappropriate responses in the news, but most recently there’s this immense brouhaha over some editorial cartoons published by a Danish newspaper. A brouhaha which includes burning embassies and killing people. Now folks, I’m sorry - it doesn’t matter how offensive you find those images, burning buildings and killing folks is an entirely inappropriate response.

This, however, is an entirely appropriate response:
Iran Daily Holds Holocaust Cartoon Contest

And to all those folks who are now bleating about what a dastadly trick this is, listen up. The rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are, I know, an American value-set, but they are also ones with which most people would agree. Please notice how in there there’s no “right” not to be offended. Getting miffed by the things other folks say is the price we pay for having the freedom to say what we like ourselves. Deal with it.

I went live early yesterday morning with the newest iteration of Chateau Cherie. I think this latest version captures my personality a lot better than the last one. Whether it improves my sales any remains to be seen. They certainly can’t get much worse. C’mon guys - I can’t keep doing this if ya’ll don’t buy subscriptions!

There’s still a bunch of stuff needing to be added - first on the list is getting my newsletter signup functioning - but the old pages sucked so bad that I couldn’t wait any longer to get rid of them. Even in it’s incomplete state the new site is an improvement.