CYBERSPACE — According to an investigative report by the NY Post, monolithic book sellers Amazon and Barnes & Noble proffer a wealth of erotic and pulp titles that would make even Christian Gray blush.
Leading as the book industry’s prime profit earner in fiction, romance and erotic novels raked in more than $1.4 billion in sales last year. Perhaps, the report suggests, the discreet ebook platform is giving readers agency to procure and read racy books with less anxiety of getting caught. After all, the cover of the Kindle never changes.
Following the publicization of an obscene work in 2010 (and the resulting uproar), Amazon began a crackdown on excessively lewd titles. And yet, NY Post reporter James Covert found that books like “9 Hot Taboo Family Sex Stories” and “Beastiality” are still readily available for purchase.
While the author suggested that healthy sales were keeping the books in e-print and resisting complete elimination, he noted that the companies used “under the rug” tactics to sweep overt awareness of their large bodies of hardcore erotica. In fact, as demand for such titles surged, fewer raunchy books found their way to the “best sellers” lists for both companies.
“They want all the income they can get that’s coming from erotica of all kinds, but they don’t want to be known for that,” said Amanda Young, an erotic fiction writer.
According to another author, Selena Kitt, her popular “Nolan Trilogy” about “wayward Catholic school girls in the 1950s” sold more than enough copies to break Barnes & Noble's Top 125 list; her book remained staunchly at rank number 126.
To read the original NY Post report, click here.
