This Just In: Sex Sells

August 24th, 2004 · No Comments
by Booksquare

We once heard an editor say that the publishing industry moves deliberately toward trends. Maybe it’s because it takes a while to write a book, we don’t know, but suddenly you can’t turn around without running into books on sex. We’re sorry — we weren’t clear. There have always been books about sexual activity; now they’re mainstream. It’s like publishing has finally figured out that all those people who rent dirty movies can read. Clearly they have disposable income they’re willing to spend.

“I don’t publish pornography,” said Judith Regan, president and publisher of ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins. “I publish smart books about sex. A lot of people try to imitate what I do but they don’t do it well.””

There are times when it’s tough to resist a snarky comment, but we’re making a valiant effort.

We are a bit amused by the fact that Wal-Mart won’t carry these racier titles. While we are (admittedly) not big on analysis, sheer numbers alone tell us that the Wal-Mart customers view porn. Some of them probably engage in interesting sexual activities. We can understand catering to public mores and all that, but we can also get behind the fact that Jenna Jameson’s book is a bestseller without an assist from the world’s largest retailer.

File Under: Books/Mags/Blogs