Is Salacious Content Driving E-Book Sales?

narramissic writes "Having already abandoned ebooks once, Barnes & Noble is jumping back into ebooks with the purchase this week of ebook seller Fictionwise. Why is the format suddenly hot? Look no further than the top 10 Fictionwise bestsellers, says blogger Peter Smith. Once again it seems like 'porn is blazing a path to a new media format. Of the top 10 bestsellers under the 'Multiformat' category, nine are tagged 'erotica' and the last is 'dark fantasy.' Need more proof that folks (let's take a leap and call them women) who read 'bodice rippers' like the privacy of ebooks? Author Samantha Lucas (who writes for publishers like Cobblestone Press and Siren Publishing) tells Smith that she sells almost all of her novels in ebook format."

Comments

alt.stories.erotica

[Hatta]

I used to read alt.stories.erotica way back in the 9600 baud days. The only thing new here is that people are paying for it.

Re:alt.stories.erotica

[againjj]

My father taught FORTRAN in the 80's, and one of his assignments was to write a program that printed a (text) calender for any given year, bonus points for extra features. One student turned in a program that printed an ASCII graphic for each month -- they were to be looked at sideways on the old 132 character wide fanfold paper -- and the pictures were high-quality center-fold style girls. The student got his bonus points.

Hey, not just women

[Toonol]

Men read erotica, too!

Of course, it's Ghost in the Shell meets X-Files fanfic, but still, erotic.

Nothing New

[KermodeBear]

Pornography has always been at the forefront of technology. VHS, DVD, they were the first to really start using DRM on video content, too. A quick search on Google for 'porn technology' will give you lots of articles on the subject.

Selective memory

[93 Escort Wagon]

Not the "porn is what drives adoption of all new formats and technologies" explanation again... has everyone already forgotten that HD DVD was supposed to win over Blu-Ray because of its early adoption by the porn industry? There were only, oh, a few thousand posts to that effect right here on Slashdot - right up until HD DVD died.

Re:Selective memory

[meta-monkey]

You laugh, but it actually kind of has. The porn industry is hurting because of do-it-yourself porn sites like youporn.com. While some of the content is "professionally produced," most of it is homegrown stuff. People these days seem to be really getting off on releasing their homemade porn tapes on the interwebs.

So, yes, porn is open source, too. However, I would avoid open source porn that features open sores. That's just nasty.

Does it drive kindle sells?

[olddotter]

That would be interesting if the chance to read naughty lit in public drives the sales of a $350 e-book reader.

Re:Girls like porn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Men tend to be visually stimulated, while women tend to be intellectually stimulated. In other words, men look at pr0n, while women read pr0n. So this shouldn't be too surprising.

Re:Dear Moderators

[Anonymous Coward]

You should not have been modded down, but neither should you have been modded up in the first place. Women as net consumers? Because they bear children? Of all the things to criticize about women, you chose the fact that they bear children? That is the most fucking important job in our society, pun intended. You should rethink your priorities, man.

Why so angry? A corporation does not care WHY they are net consumers. It could be a good reason like the one you cite, or it could be a horrible reason, it makes no difference to e-book sales figures. "Net consumers" isn't an insult, or at least it was not intended to be. The differences between the sexes create business realities that successful businesses understand because they know their market and try to give their customers what they want. If I said that most porno sites that offer pictures and videos cater to men, would you get upset? No? Then what's wrong with what I said about women?

Other industries do this too. The real estate market and increasingly the automobile dealers are also beginning to cater to women because women are increasingly making the buying decisions for those two things. They don't do it because "women bear children" or because they are sexist, they do it because it results in better sales. I really think your venom is misplaced.