You are making a lot of assumptions about this business and have really answered your own question in the statement "I know you have worked hard to get your formula right...".
Let me qualify everything I'm about to say with "I'm a newbie too".
I started looking into the adult business about 10 years ago. Never did anything until about 3 months ago. I can tell you there is quite a learning curve if you are new to selling online in general. You will need some basic skill sets and knowledge to get the ball rolling.
Logistics:
1. buying domains and setting up the hosting for it
2. creating a website either in html and/or installing wordpress blogs
If you can do the above, you can get started making websites for the adult business.
There are several free tutorials online and countless books on it at your local bookstore. Once you can get a basic webpage or blog up and running, you can move onto the next steps.
1. figure out a niche you like and can write about. You need to be able to write 3 - 100 words on a regular daily basis. For example, if you like big tits; 3 words would be "natural big tits". 10 words would be "look at the natural big tits on this blonde cutie", and so on. My logic here is that the internet is about information. You want to become the expert on big tits so visitors to your site stick around to see what you have to say about it and will buy from you because they like your or trust you.
2. Assuming you like big tits - find a sponsor who has big tit content you can use on your site and promote on other sites via tgp/mgp/link lists. Research the sponsor via review sites to determine their credibility, webmaster resources, and member satisfaction. Basically you want a sponsor who pays, has good tools for you to build your business, and keeps their customers happy.
Once you have a niche you like, can write about, and a sponsor to sell for, you need to learn the basics of marketing your adult site. I really don't think sponsors know what they are doing when it comes to selling, so this is where you need to spend some time researching.
1. do a search in your favorite search engine for "big tits". Look at the sites that rank well. Take notes on what you like about their sites and try to incorporate that into your site. Be creative and add your own personal touch if you can. It can be something as simple as a color scheme and some catchy phrases, or as imaginative as you like. I'm not that creative, so I create simple sites in black/red and use the words "insanely hot" all the time.
2. Now start building your site. Visit the forums, ask questions and get some feedback on your site. Make adjustments you think make sense, but remember this is your business, make it your own!
3. Once you have your site the way you like it, start researching how to market it properly. Paid advertising, tgp submitting, link building, blog writing, etc... There are countless ways, some more effective than others depending on your site and content. For example, my dating site does well on a blog, but horrible in tgp. My milf does well in tgp, but horrible on the blog. You may have opposite results and kick ass with milf on a blog.
Once you've made an educated guess as to the best way to market your site, start building your site specifically for the way you want to market it. For example, if you decide to go with tgp submits, visit sites that accept tgp galleries and look at listings on that site. Then find the link on that site that will lead you to it's submit page. This page will have the rules about what you can submit. Compare those rules to sites already listed.
Really take baby steps here. Market your site slowly at first, keeping track of traffic, clicks, conversions, everything. Don't blast your site all over the place. Try to build a little history with a few sites or advertising mediums. If you're making mistakes, you can make corrections before getting blacklisted or banned. Once you are comfortably marketing your site and getting results, try to expanding on it. Create your own "formula" for success.
Trying to copy someone else's success is a waste of time. I can tell you that I had a very successful affiliate marketing formula about 3 years ago. I shared everything I knew about it with my sister. She did everything I did but never could make it work for her. She gave up.
Like I said, you've already answered your own question. If you work hard you'll come up with your own formula. Everyone will have lots of answers that worked for them, but will not neccesarily work for you.
Hope that helps some. I've only scratched the surface and take everything I wrote here with a grain of salt. I am far from making boat loads of money. But I am working hard as I can and making some extra cash starting virtually from scratch. Just search for my name in this forum and you'll see the questions I asked and who helped me up to this point over the last couple of months.
There is money to be made, it's up to you to make it.
Wishing you all the success you deserve.
