How to become an OnlyFans creator
OnlyFans is an internet content subscription service where creators earn money mainly from “fans” subscriptions, but not only. In fact, they can also receive tips and offer pay-per-view content.
Founded in 2016, OnlyFans counts already more than 2 million creators and 205 million registered users. What differentiates this platform from the others, let’s say Instagram, is that it allows creators to share explicit content, which represents one of the biggest strengths of the app. In 2021, OnlyFans tried to ban explicit content from the platform, but due to major backlash from creators and subscribers, this decision was abandoned after a few days. However, you can find many other types of content on the platform, such as physical fitness exercises or musicians’ unpublished content, and much more.
How can I become an OnlyFans creator?
The process to register a profile on the platform is fairly easy and free. Moreover, neither you nor your fans are required to sign any kind of contract. Note that due to the explicit content, you need to be 18+ to create an account.
To sign up, you need to insert your email, create a password and provide OnlyFans with your ID (this is a precaution to avoid minors using the platform) and bank details to be able to receive money from your subscribers.
As a second step, you’ll be required to choose your subscription rate, which subscribers will need to pay before being able to access any of your content. Don’t worry if you aren’t sure yet, you can always change it later!
However, note that Onlyfans has a minimum and maximum amounts you can charge for your subscription:
- Minimum: $4,99 per month
- Maximum: $49,99 per month
You can also decide to offer content for free, giving access to your fans without an initial paywall. Even in this case, you can still monetize with other features, such as the pay-per-view ones and more.
At this point, you’re ready to go! You just need to start creating content and attracting subscribers by promoting your account.
How to increase your fan base?
If you want to earn that extra money with your OnlyFans, it’s important that you attract as many people as you can on your profile, enticing them to pay for your subscription.
Here are some tips on ways to promote your account:
- Social media: other social media are a great starting point! Share your profile link with your followers on Instagram or Twitter, or the place that you think it’s best. There’re also many Facebook groups, where other creators and users share their profiles and ideas. Go and check them!
- Forums and discussion sites: this is quite similar to social media but not the same! Discussion sites like Reddit allow you to share your profile with much more people than your social media accounts, especially because you can potentially reach anyone.
- Collaborations: you can collaborate with other creators to increase your fan base. You only need to find the right person and that’s it! Typically, you would look for someone who creates content similar to yours to attract the right section of fans. Once you’ve found the right collaborators, you can create videos and photos together, or also start a co-stream.
- Promotional discounts: everyone loves discounts! You can think about offering subscription discounts every now and then to increase your number of fans. Discounts on OnlyFans range between 5% and 100% and usually last for 30 days. However, note that once the promotional period has ended, the subscriber won’t automatically be paying the full rate, he or she will have to re-subscribe to your profile.
How much can you make on OnlyFans?
On average a novice OnlyFans creator makes around $150 (£130) per month. But don’t get discouraged! According to Statista, which researched the highest monthly earnings of OnlyFans creators in 2021, the top creator earned $20 million per month! Seems a long shot? According to EarthWeb, top creators make on average $100,000 per month.
When choosing your rate, remember that OnlyFans takes 20% of every user’s transaction. Therefore, for example, for every £10 transaction, you’ll receive £8.
Another way to increase your revenue on OnlyFans is referrals. In fact, if you’re an established creator who refers someone to the platform, you’ll automatically receive 5% of their profits for the first 12 months up to $1 million. Don’t worry, the money isn’t taken directly from the referee, it’s OnlyFans that pays them.
How does tax work with OnlyFans?
If you make more than £1,000 with subscriptions and any other paid content, you’ll need to pay tax on it. In which case you should register as having a self-employed income with HMRC.
Even if it’s a side hustle and you have a full-time job that is being taxed through PAYE, your total income (including your OnlyFans income) will need to be taxed.
You can read more on how to complete your self-assessment tax return in this Earnr article.
The usual cut-off date to complete your self-assessment is the 31st of January if you’re doing it online, and the 31st of October if you’re completing the form by post.
The tax bands for OnlyFans income is the same as any other occupation:
- Tax allowance: 0% of earnings (You earned between £0 - £12,570)
- Basic rate: 20% of earnings (You earned between £12,571 - £50,270)
- Higher rate: 40% of earnings (You earned between £50,271- £150,000)
- Additional rate: 45% of earnings over £150,000
You can read more about tax bands, how they work, and what a personal allowance is in our blog post here.
How can Earnr help?
Earnr makes self-employed bookkeeping easy, so that you can spend less time worrying about this kind of stuff and more time growing your business.
You can separate your business transactions from your personal ones, track your expenses and get a real-time tax estimate so you know whether or not you need to submit a tax return. Learn more and download Earnr here.
