I’ve been into BL since middle school. Fanfiction, doujinshi, the whole thing. I always thought it was just a hobby I’d keep to myself forever.
I tried making money online before. In 2022, I sold stickers on Redbubble. Made $30 in eight months. Then I tried affiliate marketing for manga sites and made nothing. Both times I eventually gave up.
In early 2025, I kept seeing those TikTok story accounts blowing up. You know the ones — Reddit stories read over Minecraft parkour. I thought it was kind of stupid, but the views were insane.
That got me thinking: what if I did something similar, but with something I actually cared about?
I like writing. Always have. I’ve written tons of fanfic that basically nobody read. So I figured maybe I could write short, original BL stories and post them somewhere.
The problem was format. I didn’t want to just post text — people don’t really read anymore. And I definitely didn’t want to show my face reading my own stories out loud. That felt way too cringe.
I spent a few weeks experimenting. I tried posting text with aesthetic backgrounds on Instagram. Got maybe 40 likes per post. Tried Twitter threads. Nobody cared.
Eventually I realized I needed visuals that actually matched the story — characters people could see. But I can’t draw. I tried commissioning artists on Fiverr, but $50 for a single illustration would’ve bankrupted me instantly.
Around May, I started looking into AI image generation. I watched a ton of YouTube tutorials and tested a bunch of tools. I ended up using a mix: APOB for consistent character faces, Leonardo for wider scenes, and sometimes Artbreeder when neither worked.
Figuring out a workflow took forever. I probably wasted 20 hours just testing combinations before I found something that didn’t look completely off.
I created two characters — a soft boy type and a cold type. Classic dynamic. I generated maybe 40–50 images of each. Some images took 10–15 regenerations before I got something usable. Lots of clicking. Lots of compromise.
I started posting in June. I wrote short scripts, about 60–90 seconds each. I generated images for every scene, edited everything together in CapCut, added text and music.
The first few videos were brutal. 50 views. 80 views. 40 views.
I kept posting anyway because I’d already sunk so much time into it.
Around video eight or nine, one randomly got around 900 views. No idea why. The comments were mostly “part 2?” and “where can I read more?”
I didn’t have more. It was a one-off. But that comment section gave me an idea.
I started writing multi-part stories — five to eight parts each. I posted twice a week and reused the same two characters so it felt like a series.
Growth was painfully slow at first. By the end of July I had maybe 300 followers. By September, I was at 3,800.
One day someone commented, “Do you have a Patreon?”
I hadn’t even thought about monetization seriously. That night I set up a Ko-fi. I started offering extended versions of the stories with bonus scenes for $3. I also opened custom story requests for $10.
The first month I made $25. Two people bought extended stories. It felt insane that anyone would pay for something I was basically doing for free anyway.
The second month was $45. The third month, someone ordered a custom story — coffee shop AU with specific tropes. I wrote it. They asked for three revisions, then said it “wasn’t what they imagined” and asked for a refund. I gave it to them. After selling some other stuff, I ended that month at around $50.
The fourth month was $85. Two custom requests that actually went smoothly. The fifth month hit $140 with five custom requests. The sixth month hit $220, including one $25 longer custom story.
Then January happened and everything slowed down. I’m sitting at around $120 so far this month, which has me questioning whether this is actually sustainable or if I just got lucky.
Total since I started is about $685 after fees. That averages out to roughly $85 a month, but the last few months were much higher. I honestly don’t know what the “real” number is yet.
Time-wise, it’s around 6–10 hours a week depending on how busy I am. I write scripts on weekends, generate images during the week whenever I have time, then edit and post.
I’m currently at about 4,200 followers. Growth has kind of plateaued after the initial spike.
Having consistent characters makes a huge difference. People get attached. They come back because they want to see what happens to these specific guys. Multi-part stories also get way more engagement. People actually return for part two and part three, and the algorithm seems to like that.
The BL audience is weirdly loyal. They comment on everything. They share posts. And — surprisingly — they actually pay for content.
The downsides are real though. Generating images is tedious as hell. If I want a specific expression or pose, it might take 20 tries. Sometimes the tools just refuse to cooperate and I have to settle.
The TikTok algorithm makes zero sense. Some videos get 10k views. Others get 300. Same content, same timing, no pattern I can figure out.
I got shadowbanned once. Views dropped to basically nothing for two weeks. Never figured out why. It fixed itself eventually, but those two weeks were stressful.
Some people leave shitty comments about fetishization or romanticizing gay men. I just block and move on now. It used to bother me more.
Custom requests can also get stressful. Some people want fast turnaround, multiple revisions, constant updates. I have a full-time job. This is a side thing. I had to start setting boundaries the hard way.
My current goal is to hit 10k followers so I can start reposting everything on YouTube and maybe push this to $300 a month consistently. No idea if that’s realistic.
It’s not life-changing money. But it’s the first time I’ve made anything doing something I actually enjoy. Nobody in my real life knows I do this, which is honestly perfect. My family just thinks I’m really into video editing.
There’s definitely an audience for niche stuff. I thought BL content was too weird or too small. Turns out thousands of people want exactly that.
I started with zero budget. I didn’t pay for any subscriptions until month four, when I knew it was actually making money. Everything before that was free trials and free tiers.
Some weeks I’m excited about it. Some weeks I want to delete everything and pretend I never started. This week I’m somewhere in between.
I’m still not sure if this is sustainable long-term or just a weird phase that’ll die out. For now, though, it pays for my coffee and manga addiction — so I’m going to keep going.