In fact, the porn industry grosses about 4 billion dollars a year! http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html)
I have had a few opportunities lately to find out that the porn/erotica industry was doing well.
Shelfari.com is the home of the greatest imaginable variety of books-- and owners.
Many people there have had the experience I've had of a male reader apparently wanting to discuss reading, and when you look at his shelves, there are rows and rows of erotica (one had "Gone with the wind" as well, to be fair).
Also the other day it seemed that amazon.fr had sent me a present.
This also turned out to be erotica, and on closer inspection it was a birthday present for the man who lives on the ground floor in my building, from a male lover of his!
And now it was my job to repackage it and return it discreetely to its owner-- it would not fit back into the letter box.
I mentioned this to a friend of mine, and she said to try the following test:
she says that while she orders a book at amzon.fr she often clicks on a box they have (I've never tried) which offers the possibility of seeing what other amazon.fr customers are ordering at the very moment.
During the day they buy bona fide books, but very late at night they all seem to be buying erotica, says my friend!
So the question is: Do buyers on the internet buy different things according to the time of day? I'd say that's unlikely.
So, does cunning amazon filter orders, so as to show cookery books during the day and erotica at night?