Smutlancer Monthly Income and Revenue Report: December 2020
December seems like a few years ago. I blame taking a two-week break away from work. I know things happened in December, but it’s all a bit fuzzy. Maybe this trip down financial memory lane will help me remember.
December 2020 Income
November income is primarily based on work completed in November. I bill clients on the last day of every month, and they have 10 days to pay. Affiliate sales tend to pay quarterly, but some pay monthly. I break down my freelance writing between vanilla and sex content because I want to show what’s possible in either category.
Note: For those who are curious, the “Sex/Adult Content” line links to a post that outlines what kind of freelance writing work I do for 2020.
- Freelance Writing
- Vanilla Content: $550.00
- Sex/Adult Content: $4825.00
- Affiliate Sales: $170.04
- Podcast Sponsorship: —
- Sponsored Blog Posts: —
- Website Sponsorship: —
- Banner Ads: —
- Book Sales: $23.90
- Patreon: $938.66
- Consulting: —
- Donations: $–
- Bonus (from client): —
- Product Sales: $364.85
- AdSense: —
Total Income: $6,872.45 (down $1,635.45 from November)
December 2020 Expenses
Some expenses are monthly, some quarterly, and some annual. I pay taxes monthly under my current business structure.
- Web Hosting: $67.67
- Domain Renewals: —
- Podcast Hosting: $32.00
- Buffer: $99.00
- InLinkz: $2.99
- Taxes: $1000.00
- Payment Fees (PayPal, Stripe): $259.76
- Shipping/Postage: $71.85
- Tech Support: $70.95
- DepositPhotos (stock photo): $29.00
- MailerLite (email newsletter): $15.00
- Adobe Premiere Pro: $21.00
- Closed Captions (YouTube Videos): $38.50
- Business Internet: $215.68
- ShipStation: $14.00
- Loving BDSM contributor: $25.00
Total Expenses: $1,891.45 (down $864.42 from November)
December 2020 Net Income: $4981.00 (↓ $771.05 from November)
I’m not terribly surprised by these numbers. It was nice to see expenses come down from last month but that was, primarily, because I didn’t buy any supplies in December. But yeah, it’s low for this year, although not the lowest I’ve earned this year, so there’s that.
Not gonna lie, while I purposely earned less this year as a freelancer to focus on building other revenue streams, I definitely worked harder. That’s not always reflected in the total money earned, but as long as it feels worth the effort, I’m gonna keep on keepin’ on.
Okay, now let’s get into revenue streams.
December Revenue Streams
This is me, breaking down all the ways I earn money as a Smutlancer (vanilla income is not included). No expenses are included, so these are gross totals. Be aware that the numbers will not add up cleanly to the lists above because I’m including income from revenue streams that I don’t count as “income” since it doesn’t touch my bank account.
Kayla Lords, Sex Writer
This is fairly simple. Most of the income I make as “Kayla Lords” that’s not part of a separate brand is my writing as well as income made from my personal site (KaylaLords.com).
Freelance sex writing: $4,825.00
Self-published erotica: $8.93
Total: $4,833.93
Loving BDSM
As Loving BDSM, we generate income in multiple ways: Patreon, affiliate sales, podcast sponsorship, and more. This section may change from month to month based on available revenue opportunities.
Patreon: $938.66
Affiliate sales: $170.04
Workbook sales: $14.97
Total: $1,123.67
The Kinkery
The Kinkery is John Brownstone’s new shop for his BDSM products. I’m the marketing and shipping departments and benefit directly from any sales his store makes. That’s why his income counts as “my” income because really it’s our income under our business set-up.
Product sales: $364.85
Smutlancers
Molly and I technically “split” this income. If we chose to pay ourselves, we would each receive half after all fees and expenses. Currently, the only income the Smutlancers produces is from our Patreon community. We hold onto that money to pay our contributors and pay Obscene Ideas expenses. Eventually, we hope Obscene Ideas will make enough money to cover its own expenses.
Patreon: $226.00
Obscene Ideas
Obscene Ideas launched in October 2020. We believe that sales will pick up once we have more products available.
Again, Molly and I technically “split” this income and would pay ourselves half after fees and expenses if we actually paid ourselves. But we don’t.
31 Days of Erotic Fiction: $15.00
Total: $15.00
Total December 2020 Revenue: $6,563.45
Everything dropped in December, and this is a month that makes me grateful for regular freelance work because it picks up the slack when other revenue doesn’t do so well. If there’s a message (and I don’t know that there is), it’s probably not to dump your most consistent earner while you build — if you have a choice.
