Back to the story.
Shooting amateur photosets that showed more of a girl than the magazines was easier in the late 70s then it was finding girls to do porn in the late 60s. I put ads in free papers and the calls came flooding in. These ads cost around £30 a week a time during the 70s.
Earn £25 an hour modeling nude.
Professional photographer seeks
girls 18-30. Phone 01 123 4567
No more was required to have 1-3 girls phone a day. Of which 50% said they would come for a casting and 50% of them turn up. so we were seeing 3-5 girls a week. Some clearly not right so we could pick the best. Shooting them was simple, I started with flash on camera, once we had enough money I bought a single strobe and stand.
Shooting into a white ceiling, couldn't afford the umbrella. After a couple of months, I bought another one and the umbrellas, plus a light metre. So long as I could put out 8-10 new sets a month the money kept rolling in. The key was retention, not new customers.
A Magazine ad from £30 to £100 a week or month brought in enough new people buying samples to break even that month, the key was them rebuying. In the beginning, we were getting the list of content photocopied, no printer would handle anything under 1,000. When the mailing list got to 500 we threw half the catalogues away. We had to hand write every envelope to mail out the new list. Until I bought a computer, they were expensive, needed a printer to go with them and I had no clue how to work it. Luckily had a friend who did.
My first wife gave up her job as a dress machinist and worked full time answering ads, and mailing out to customers. The key was repeat buyers, once someone had bought a sample package they would very likely buy again at some point. The only ones who didn't were those looking for hardcore and we were reluctant to step into that area, fear of getting raided and lack of greed. I had customers from 1977 who would buy every month when I put out the updated catalogue, some had a copy of everything I produced. Not uncommon for the time, the other people doing similar could tell the same story, magazines was entirely based on repeat buyers f the same magazine.
This is the essence of retail. Someone loves a brand and stick with it. Be it Google or Starbucks, Amazon or Tescos/Albertsons. Only in online porn is the retention so awful. The reason is many give them 6 months supply every month, without adding the free porn which is more plentiful.
By 1978, we were making £2,000 a month profit. Doesn't sound a lot to some. This was working from home, from scratch and only selling to the UK. At a time when the average was £500 a year (the equivalent of about £1,500 today). And it was growing and we were getting out of debt.
By the time, I was shut down from selling videos I was clearing £10,000 a week. I lived off that till we arrived in Czech and started to produce magazine sets full time. Plus put a lot into pension funds when they were worth a lot of money over time. Which is why I don't need to write a book.
My story is normal for those who were in the same business.
Fiona Cooper is a name familiar to many Brits, That site brings back a lot of good memories.
Your Choice is familiar to those online.
If you were willing to risk getting a visit from the police. You were tapping into a goldmine.