Smutlancer Monthly Income Report: July 2018

Between reading a Twitter thread about how we need to talk more about writing and money and seeing a lot of vanilla sites share their monthly income, I started thinking. Is there value in sharing my income as a smutlancer?

I hate looking like a braggart, and I don’t want to do something that doesn’t help anyone. But I also know that money is the great mystery in sex blogging, erotic writing, and the smutlancing life.

So here’s what I’ll tell you…

This is one example of one person’s income. Other people will make money in different ways than I do in their smutlancing life. Some people will make more, and others will make less. If my income is a level you’d like to achieve for yourself, I hope the content I publish on this site helps you do that. My income is four years in the making since I began my freelance life. Nothing happens overnight.

July 2018 Income

July’s income is primarily based on work completed in June. I bill clients on the last day of every month, and they have 10 days to pay. Affiliate sales tend to be paid quarterly, but some is paid monthly. I break down my freelance writing between vanilla and sex content because I want to show what’s possible in either category.

• Freelance Writing
  • Vanilla Content: $1740.00
  • Sex/Adult Content: $5375.00
• Affiliate Sales: $28.03
• Podcast Sponsorship: —
• Banner Ads: —
• Book Sales: $16.71
• Patreon: $104.22
• Consulting: —

Total Income: $7,263.96

I know this number will drop for the August report because one of my higher paying clients dropped dramatically going forward. But it’s a nice number to just sit and look at.

July 2018 Expenses

Some expenses are monthly, some quarterly, and some annually. Taxes are something I pay both monthly (a 2017 tax bill) and save for monthly (to be paid quarterly).

• Web Hosting: $42.98
• Domain Renewals: $27.95
• Podcast Hosting: $32.00
• Canva —
• Buffer: $10.00
• InLinkz: $2.99 (linky tool for Masturbation Monday)
• Blog Contributors: $20.00
• Taxes: $1000.00
• Payment Fees (PayPal, Stripe): $212.46
• Shipping/Postage: $76.43

Total Expenses: $1,424.81

July 2018 Net Income: $5,839.15

If you’ve ever heard me say that the bulk of our household income comes from my writing work, this is what I mean. With this, we pay all the bills, take care of two kids, and keep everything running smoothly. Technically, I should hold out more for my taxes, but that hasn’t been working out. In the coming months, I hope to set more aside for 2018 taxes to avoid the ugly surprise we had doing our 2017 taxes. Also, I think we should all take a shot every time I say/write “taxes.” Ugh.

As you can see, I focus on my freelance writing more than anything else. What I really want to do is increase my income from other resources and decrease my client work. I would love to do a few freelancing projects that I’m passionate about and then spend the rest of my time focusing on my own content. As you can tell, I have a long way to go for that.