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Hi, Kai-from-heartpie! Full disclosure: I don't use heartpie. Maybe it's a wonderful platform and Patreon alternative. However, your attitude in the post has put me off using it, because I don't want to support industry professionals with such embarrassingly unprofessional conduct.

I am sure you mean well, but good intentions don't excuse this kind of dialogue. For someone who considers themselves a part of our industry, you are inexcusably ignorant, and the tone and content of your 'discussion' post belies fundamental misunderstandings of our community--your user base--that will continue to be alienated by posts like these.

As you might have noticed in the sidebar, r/SellerCircle exists as a private space for sellers to discuss issues such as these. I'm sure you don't truly think we were all islands in our (diverse, complicated) reactions to the issues and had not already been discussing the policy changes and their implications as a community--right? But what an opportunity to remind sellers about your platform and encourage diversification in your direction! Making a post about heartpie's new rad features when we're looking to diversify would've been fine, but couching it in a poorly-executed 'discussion' on policy changes was a real misstep.

The same reason you're not a part of r/SellerCircle is the why this post is so tone-deaf: you're not a member of the community. r/SellerCircleStage is for those thinking about selling or very new to selling to get advice from veterans. Like them, you should come here to listen. According to your AMA, Heartpie has only entered private beta less than year ago, in mid-2017. There are sellers on Reddit who are upwards of five years into their career--they are the people with the knowledge and resources to provide useful information, and that's what they're doing.

Nevertheless, if you still wanted to engage in a stakeholder discussion on recent policy changes, you could have reposted the policy information and promoted a fruitful discussion with a diversity of opinions from actual industry experts. Instead, you framed information in a cringing Q&A that reads as unbelievably condescending, due in part to your penchant for italicizing every other word or important sentence like we need help parsing your Friendly Fellow Redditor™ language and to the fact that you're only stating publicly available information and phrasing 'questions' like we'd have struggled to understand it without you. Example:

> Wait, how is that better? Isn’t that the same thing?

Do you really think people who sell sex do not understand the difference free porn and paid content and services? I hope not. I would hope that as a business owner and entrepreneur yourself, you would have recognized that sellers as your peers.

You also fundamentally misrecognize our community in your discussion of how we ought to feel about the policy change. Sellers are sex workers. Saying

> [M]y guess is that in the future, we could see another wave of subreddit shutdowns that target nsfw “marketplace-subreddits” that facilitate the exchange of online sexual services. And while this really, really sucks, the silver lining is that it’s not actually a crackdown on porn itself, but a crackdown on the exchange of money for sex.

Do you mean to tell us the silver lining of SESTA, family-friendly advertisers, and Reddit's ensuring policy changes is that yes, by golly, we can still provide free content on Reddit and cultivate our fanbases while we can no longer host transactions on this relatively insulated platform, and moreover, sex work colleagues have valuable resources for working safely stripped from them and are driven into more vulnerable and dangerous situations as a result?

> How you frame your work helps too. There’s stigma around the idea of selling sex. But thanks to Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, content creators are a lot more palatable for companies (and the public) to swallow. So think of yourself not as a seller, but as a nsfw content creator.

Thank you for telling us how to identify and distance ourselves from the greater community of our sex work so as to be more palatable.

> Our deal has always been to try and make stuff that makes this whole messy SW industry a bit friendlier to use.

There is a certain level of irony in making a post about what to do now that Reddit is becoming a more 'family-friendly' platform when your own platform traffics in ridiculous euphemisms like calling sex workers--sorry, nsfw content creators--'bakers' and calling our work 'recipes'. The only difference is you don't have pressure from investors; you chose did this yourself. Why? Refusing to call sex work by its name is not a progressive step that makes it 'friendlier'. You are, if anything, making 'the whole messy sex work industry' messier by further muddying its nature, and for what? For the sake of being 'palatable' and therefore perpetuating the same stigma (that you helpfully reminded us we face--thanks!) that our work is something to be sanitized, and spoken around euphemistically if spoken about about at all.

I could go on--there's a lot of things to unpack here, for sure--but I think I've said enough for now. I've worked in many fields, but my colleagues in sex work on Reddit are some of the most brilliant, creative, and driven small business owners I've ever seen. They are unbelievably capable and make your post look so, so embarrassing. I felt the need to really take some time to write this and challenge your attitude, because the fact that someone who hosts a platform designed for us can, in good conscience, write a post like this belies your perspective of who we are, and that perspective needs to change. If you don't mind a little unsolicited advice--quid pro quo, right?--I suggest humbling yourself, acknowledging your ignorance, and educating yourself. I recommend reading more about your user base and perhaps understanding them as capable individuals with sufficient knowledge and industry to adapt and diversify without your help: Lola Davina's Thriving in Sex Work is a great start for dismantling some of your misconceptions and stigma, and Jiz Lee's phenomenal anthology Coming Out Like a Porn Star will give you much-needed insight into the community you are trying to serve.

I have some recognizable tattoos, and I don't bother hiding them. I'm not really worried about being recognized - that's what I want! To be successful. Besides, I'm hoping my "yup, I am a sw" attitude if I do get called out by someone I know helps to normalize this type of work.

Obviously I don't think or expect everyone else to be this "out and proud" so to speak, but if you are uncomfortable with that, having tattoos can be a detriment to working smoothly and naturally. I might recommend these spandex sleeve covers that I used to have to wear when I started out cooking at one of those awful chain restaurants:

https://www.amazon.com/Compression-Concealer-Aftercare-Protection-Oversleeve/dp/B07QSBK7B6/ref=asc_df_B07QSBK7B6/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=366299657964&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13744521403329105130&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030238&hvtargid=pla-813210106446&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=76465174695&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=366299657964&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13744521403329105130&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030238&hvtargid=pla-813210106446

(sorry for the long link, I'm amateur at formatting)

If you went this route, an idea would be that special, verified (as in definitely someone you don't know) customers could pay just to see them. I love sex work, so creative. Good luck.

This is great for being on a budget, can plug in to your laptop or get a cube to plug into the wall outlet, and it clips where you want: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074C7KRW5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited to add: the one above also lets you adjust the light to yellow/blue/mixed light and has multiple, easy to switch to settings. (Can you tell I love it? lol)

This was My first light set and IMO totally worth it if it is/becomes in your budget. I've had it for several years without issues.:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FHZ2SI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What about something like this?



Or a cute scarf you already own. C:

I typed "cute balaclava" into Amazon and got some lol-worthy results... It's 5am. I should sleep.

Best of luck, babe!

The most important part is good lighting! I made the mistake of taking all my pics in a basement for the first few months I was posting, and man did it make a difference when I started opening windows!!

Also, once you make a sale via amazon giftcard get yourself a tripod with a remote! You can program the remote to take pics with one button and vids with the other :) It's only $10 for the setup, and definitely worth every penny if you take all your own pics!

Logitech is definitely the best and as /u/minxhibitionist stated the C920 is industry standard. Here is a page comparing some Logitech cams.

A few more thoughts:

The Logitech C930 has just come out with mixed reviews, however it is fully integrated with Mac. (I currently use a C920 with Mac and you have no controls just plug and play, kind of lame).

If you want to go all out go with the Logitech BCC950. This is what professional physical studios and some work at home camgirls use. It has a remote with full zoom, pan, tilt, and other useful features.

In addition you may find that you have a personal preference. For instance a lot of girls like the Logitech 9000 because they believe the coloring shows up more flattering and hides flaws even though it's actually a discontinued not even 1080p HD model.

So it's really subjective there is no cut and dry answer - whatever suits your needs!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HMWC4A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 this one is cheap and works great. You can use amazon brand bags that also work great and make it so much cheaper

Ah, ok! I'm sure some other ladies will chime in, but I'd suggest something like this if you need an affordable option for something that can take decent photos and vids: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HLDFNKQ/

if you can do a little more: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T5A0EVQ/

Down the road you might want to upgrade to a camcorder or DSLR, but I think this is a good way to get started.
You also might consider an affordable light set if you don't have natural light: https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Portrait-Umbrella-Continuous-LimoStudio/dp/B005FHZ2SI/

Here's some I found on Amazon, maybe can help?

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Dominatrix-Handbook-Fledgling-FemDommes-ebook/dp/B01MS2TJ9J/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1518147047&sr=1-7&keywords=dominatrix

https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Well-Others-Discovering-Communities-ebook/dp/B009DP5P26/ref=pd_sim_351_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JCWK8HEPWQKGJTR494VJ

https://www.amazon.com/Dominatrix-101-Girls-Quick-Dominating-ebook/dp/B012F4KLU2/ref=sr_1_8?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1518147047&sr=1-8&keywords=dominatrix

https://www.amazon.com/Femdom-Nice-Girls-Self-Guided-Mistress-ebook/dp/B017LFD5UI/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1518147047&sr=1-11&keywords=dominatrix

You're welcome :-)

My Foodsaver vac sealer was $80ish at Walmart a couple years ago... I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it, BUT had I known about this I totally would have gotten it instead. If you do decide to go with the table-top model, I highly recommend Foodsaver over Ziploc (returned 2 faulty Ziploc ones before biting the bullet and spending a bit more on the Foodsaver), BUT use the Ziploc sealing material (the Foodsaver material is hard to cut).

I put my sealed panties in these: 100 12x15.5 WHITE POLY MAILERS ENVELOPES BAGS 12 x 15.5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HG8720/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_XvICxbD9VMK7M

Then put that inside a priority envelope that's free at the post office

This is the one i have. It all collapses down to a thin bag which is easily hidden in a closet or under the bed and the bulbs are top notch

Photography Photo Portrait Studio 600W Day Light Umbrella Continuous Lighting Kit by LimoStudio, LMS103 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_o1P9ybEH9CPBC

I have this one...
https://www.amazon.com/Microphone-Condenser-Recordings-YouTube-Windows/dp/B01D4HTIOY/

Here was my stepping-stone camera: https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-COOLPIX-Digital-Camera-Black/dp/B01C3LEBW6/ref=sr_1_3?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1511447431&sr=1-3&keywords=nikon+coolpix+B500

You'll need a tripod for it, and it's outdated, but it's a light, easy& intuitive, and relatively cheap camera for 1080p. It lasted about 3 years before the battery door broke and it was time for me to finally upgrade to a DLSR.