Sales are rising of erotic ebooks due to the constant proliferation of e-readers. At any given time there are numerous erotica books in the best seller list on Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
British Columbia owned eXtasy Books recently told the CBC that “Customers are starting to discover them and finding that they can read certain books that they do not want other people to see and in privacy.” The e-publisher notes that sales took off in early 2010 and doubled last year. She expects them to triple in 2012 with a majority of downloaders being female. Xtasy has more than 1,000 titles in its “store” including ones such as the paranormal Dragon’s Pearl, the hybrid fantasy/Victorian Lady Mechatronic and the Steampunk Pirates and the Western-tinged Dead Man’s Diamond.
Privacy and being anonymous are two reasons why digital erotic books are becoming so popular. Being able to read them in public on an e-reader is a safe way to avoid the scrutiny of others. When you have a hard copy and are on public transit or commuting people can’t help themselves peaking over your shoulder to see what book you are reading. Cover art tends to give the books away and in the past this created friction. e-Readers only display text and many women are finding they can satiate their thirst.
Erotica and Romance have always been more popular with women and we want to know if you are reading more books out in public now with an e-reader then you did with the paperback?
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.