Chapter 1 - Kira Hears a Plan

A young waitress signs up for nude modeling at a Russian camming website where she partners with a shrewd and literary bilingual assistant who will show her the ropes.

                                                 ©2018 James M. Carroll, All Rights Reserved 

Kira Orlov was easily the most beautiful girl of her county in the eastern part of Russia. The best single word for Kira's face was angelic. The long lashes of her deep-set eyes gave her a seductive, heavy lidded gaze. And just below those alluring eyes was a faint splatter of freckles, just above her cheeks, which delivered a youthful glow. Her thick wavy brown hair fell to her shoulders, and its dark rich color accentuated the blue in her eyes. Though one of her front teeth was a tiny bit skewed, it made for an enchanting smile so warm it might melt the ice of Siberia.   

For a while it seemed to her mother that Kira could enter the beauty pageants and launch a career in modeling, however she had no talent other than posing for a photograph. But when in front of a camera, Kira could easily turn on the charm of that toothy smile and appear to be a top model for Vogue magazine.

Since her small town didn't offer many opportunities, Kira took a job as a waitress in a small restaurant. The place was quiet and she soon became friendly with its regular customers, the most likeable of which was Stepan. He always took an interest in her stories. One day when business was slow, Kira took a short break and sat down in Stepan's booth.

"It's a shame the beauty pageants didn't work out for you. But with your looks, you should try to go to a big city, and you might be able to get some work in modeling." 

"I know, but it takes too much cash to get started and I can't afford to travel to the right city."

Stepan tightened his posture. "You know, there's a way you could make much more money than this waitressing thing. Although, it's a strange kind of job, especially for a young girl. But you could pick your own work days, it pays well, and your beauty would get you that position in a second."

"Okay, so what's the big opportunity?" Kira began to snicker. "But it better not be what I think it is."

"What? No... not that!  But it's very wild, and definitely not for everyone. Do you think you could do nude modeling?"

Kira now became very focused. "And exactly... how would that work?"

"You would be working as a camgirl. Sometimes a camgirl will perform in a managed camming studio that will place her in a room with a video camera where she can do whatever she wants. The video camera broadcasts the girl's cam show to the Internet, and the guys who are watching send money in the form of electronic tips. The process is called camming, and a camming site might host hundreds of different camgirls for the guys to choose from. The managed camming studio gets a percentage of the money the viewers send to the girl, and she keeps the rest."

"Am I supposed to take my clothes off?"

"It's up to you, but if you can't make a minimum amount of money while you're online, the studio will let you go. Almost all the girls do some nudity and striptease, but only when they want to."

"Nudity's not really a problem. I think I've got a pretty body, though my mother says my butt's too big." Kira snickered. "Might be a possibility, as long as my granny doesn't have to see it!"

"Well, they can also protect your privacy by blocking your cam show from your home province or even your whole country. But you still must make your quota of tips, or the studio will fire you."

"Interesting... so where on the Internet can I find a camming site -- that's what you called it, right? Where I can see how these camgirls do their shows."

"There're many camming sites, but my buddy Alexey says the one to keep an eye on is an American site called WorldsGreatCams.com. They only allow women, no men. At WGC -- that's what their viewers call it -- many camgirls draw devoted fans who'll watch their every show. The format at WGC is very different than other camming websites, and the girls sometimes seem like talk-show hosts or video journalists."

Kira could not control her laughter. "Video journalists? Really? Do they report on news events and give political analysis while in the nude?"

"Not quite, but they can talk about whatever they want. When you go to a camming site like WGC, you'll see the computer screen is divided into two parts. On the left is a live video feed of the camgirl, and on the right is the scrolling text of comments that her viewers type to her show. Chat is what they call the conversations generated by the user comments. As she does her show, the camgirl will read from the latest viewer comments and then talk about them through a microphone. On WorldsGreatCams the chatrooms can become very friendly, kind of like a small party. Even though the guys could go to other camsites that have more nudity and sex shows, at WGC they seem to enjoy talking to the camgirls as much as watching them take their clothes off. It becomes a funny kind of situation between viewer and camgirl. Not a sex thing, not a relationship, but somewhere in between." 

"Wait... you said chatroom? What's that?"

"A chatroom is another name for a girl's camming show. That is, the live video feed of the girl plus the scrolling text of viewer comments. On a website like WorldsGreatCams, the viewers can easily switch between different camgirls' chatrooms, sort of like changing the channels on cable television. In little over a decade, camming has become a two-billion-dollar a year industry, and many camfans spend thousands of dollars every year. Just look up 'camgirl' on Wikipedia and you'll find some surprising facts." 

Kira leaned forward and became more engaged. "Sounds interesting, but there's a big problem here. My English sucks, and I'm gonna guess these girls in the WGC chatrooms really need to hold down a conversation in English to do well. And I never was very good at picking up languages."

"Not a problem. At a managed camming studio they've gotten around that issue. You'll have a coworker who knows both English and Russian -- they call her a camgirls assistant. And through the use of that assistant, it'll appear like you know much more English than you really do." Stepan chuckled as he continued. "It's kind of like a simple magic act you might see a magician do at a little kid's birthday party."

 

Kira laughed. "Seriously... a magic act?"

 

"You see, the camgirl's assistant will quickly read the guys comments and questions, and then type out the responses to the chat-window while pretending to be you. The only kind of English you really need to speak into the microphone is stuff like 'thats funny', 'seriously?', 'hello baby', 'thats cool', 'thank you', and other short phrases. The assistant will guide you and let you know when to say those things -- like 'thats funny' if a viewer makes some kind of a joke. My buddy Alexey's got a job at a managed camming studio, he told me all about it."

   

"But won't the guys see I'm not the one doing the typing?"

"They'll set up the camera so the viewers can't directly see your hands on a computer keyboard. Then you'll pretend you're typing by reaching forward to an area that's hidden from the camera. The way they have it worked out, it's supposed to be very easy."

 

"Okay, now I'm definitely interested."  

"Well, if you're really serious, take some time to study the girls' shows on WorldsGreatCams. The reason why you really need to study them, is because it's very unpredictable and not at all what most people think." 

"Okay, I can watch the Internet on my phone. But I can't speak much English, so what's watching their cam shows gonna do for me?"

"Don't worry about the English for now," said Stepan. "Just watch the things the camgirls do, and follow the tone of their voices. And the most important thing to notice is when the bell rings -- that means a girl has just received money as a tip, and you'll see the amount of electronic tokens for that tip in a bright-yellow text in the chat-window. Viewers can buy tokens in bulk with their credit card for their WGC account -- usually 500 tokens for $50 -- and then distribute those tokens to different camgirls over time. The amount of a tip could be anywhere from 1 to 27000 tokens."

"27000 tokens! Are you crazy? That sounds like hundreds of dollars, just for one tip?"

"Actually 27000 tokens would cost a little over two thousand American dollars. I once saw a camgirl get a tip that big, and she looked like someone just handed her a diamond ring. Huge tips like that don't happen that often, but experienced camgirls frequently make thousands of tokens during a single camming show. Many of the English-speaking girls make over $100,000 a year. But remember... that for any tip, WorldsGreatCams will get part of that money, the managed camming studio gets a portion, and you'll get the rest."

"Okay..." said Kira, "so your friend Alexey works at a managed camming studio -- isn't that right? Anything would be better than growing old in this damn town while working at a dumpy little restaurant. I wanna travel and do something with my life. I need to do better than this, and fast."

"Here's Alexey's phone number. Just say I sent you, and I think you're a natural for the job. He's a good guy and he'll tell you all the details. And I know Alexey will always treat you fairly. He'll get a commission for bringing you into the studio, but more importantly he'll decide who your camgirls assistant will be. Be firm and make sure it's only Alexey who handles you. Since you look like a movie star, the bosses will want to make sure you're happy so you'll stick around."

 

Kira noticed her boss was becoming annoyed with the time she had been spending with Stepan. She quickly stood up, thanked him for the information about the job, and returned to waiting on tables. 

Later that day Kira took a very long lunch break and spent the whole time watching the camgirls of WorldsGreatCams.com on her mobile phone. She became so excited about the job that she immediately called Alexey after work. After first speaking with a secretary, Alexey came on the phone.

 

"Hello, Alexey Glazkov here."

"Hi, I'm Kira Orlov. My friend Stepan said you might have a job for me at your camming studio."

"Yes Kira, Stepan already called me. He said you're very beautiful, and you might be interested in working here. He also said he told you about what's going on at WorldsGreatCams.com. Did you get a chance yet, to watch the girls at WGC?"

"Uh-huh. I watched them for the first time today."

  "Hmm... then you must be a little confused by what you saw. What are your first impressions?"

 

"Well, most of the popular girls are divided into two basic groups -- ones that do lots of talking, and others who mostly do sex shows."

"Very good," said Alexey. "Even though your English might be weak, I'd still like to guide you into becoming the kind of camgirl who mostly does chat -- that is, more talking and fewer sex shows. When a camgirl mostly does talking, the chatroom becomes a kind of party, and many viewers become regular fans who'll return for her every show. Since Stepan says you're very beautiful, it won't be necessary for you to say a whole lot -- just hang out, listen to the guys, and agree with whatever they have to say. What else did you notice?"

"Even the ones who do lots of talking will still show their naked breasts and body quite a bit. It looks like the guys can buy a little flash of b***s from a menu, and that causes the girl to remove her bra and show her breasts for a couple minutes. But I don't have a problem with that. I think I've got cute breasts, and a pretty body."

 

"Okay... that's good, you're comfortable with nudity."

"And at least I wouldn't need to know much English to flash my body. You know... my problems with English really do worry me, though I know the alphabet and some words from school. But Stepan said a camming assistant could help me with that?"

"Absolutely. Don't worry at all about your English. I've got the perfect camgirls assistant for you. She's bright, friendly, and very resourceful. Stepan said he explained how a camgirls assistant will help with the English during a show. What else did you notice when you watched the cam shows?"

 

"Well, the camgirls often speak the name of the guy who just typed a comment to the chat-window, and they'll also try to create a little nickname, especially if the guy's username is long. Like if his username is 'JackTheBeanstalk', they'll call him Jack -- just like they're old friends."

"Oh, so you noticed the thing with the nicknames," said Alexey. "For a camgirl whose show is mostly about talking -- a chat-oriented camgirl -- it's about creating a virtual friendship with the guys who watch her. During my college days there was a girl who my friends and I would often visit, Irina was her name. After our classes were done for the day we'd sometimes go over to Irina's apartment, and we'd always find a small group of people and a little party going on. We'd listen to cool music, tell jokes and stories, drink some beers, and sometimes smoke a little weed. Irina had a cool personality, and she'd always make us laugh with her nutty antics. Because we were all friends with Irina's boyfriend, there was never anything sexual. But it's the atmosphere of Irina's living room that I always try to remember when I help a chat-oriented camgirl develop her brand."

"Uh-huh, I know the kind of place. My girlfriend's apartment is like that -- there's always a little party going on there. But why did you use the word brand?"

"Right now, there's no fixed way to be a successful camgirl. Even among the top hundred camgirls, each one is a little different. They each make special choices that reflect their individual personalities, and then they develop a particular style that becomes their brand. As you put in some time and experiment with the basic ways camming is done, you'll eventually adopt a specific style for your cam shows, and then you'll have your own unique brand."

 

"This all sounds very, very interesting. I'd definitely like to give it a try."

"Okay, my secretary will pick a day and time for you to come in, and we'll show you around the camming studio. Your personality tells me you'd be a good fit as a camgirl. And if you work hard and learn from the camgirls assistant, then you'll be able to make some real money, and you can quit your waitressing job."

"I hope you're right -- I hate that place."