I got to wondering the other day how many of us take the time to stop and look around at the world that is outside our own little bubble. Do we pay attention to what others are doing in the gay adult marketplace? I would guess most would answer in the affirmative. How about the straight side of this industry? Do we explore what those companies are doing? Are we noticing the caliber of product and innovative approaches our counterparts are producing? I doubt it. More important, are we studying what mainstream commerce is doing? Are there innovations in mainstream sites that we are not tapping into? What are our consumers experiencing outside the red light district, and how does that effect their expectations with adult sites?

I worry that our industry gives little credence to the environment our consumers spend most of their time in. When it comes to sophisticated marketing and sales techniques, and innovative packaging of the consumers’ experience, mainstream is taking the lead. Are we content to fulfill the stereotype of the older, run down, side of town - a dark environment that reeks of stale beer and dried cum?

Several angry threads, concerning an AVN mailing, surfaced last week on gofuckyourself.com, the dominant adult industry webmaster forum. Apparently AVN, a prominent adult industry news publisher, sent a promotional for their new GAYVN magazine to everyone on their subscriber list. The promotional reportedly arrived at homes, businesses, and PO boxes without a “plain brown wrapper” commonly used by adult publishers. While a minority voiced no concerns with the lack of discretion used by AVN, most webmasters were outraged. The volley of comments thrown at AVN ranged from tactful to unrefined.

I’m certainly not opposed to the content (doh!), but I live among families with a gazillion kids who play outside even in zero degree weather, and my mailbox is small and magazines are *always* left hanging partway out.

Yeah I am in porn and I do want your magazines, hell I even want your promotionals, what I don’t want is for my mailman and my neighbors to see what I do and cast judgment on my family and friends, and to be honest if you can’t see that then you and AVN can take your magazine and business and shove it straight up your ass…

God Damned get some fucking common sense and keep that shit covered, some of us live in a world where the religious right would burn our houses down for peddling porn, let alone gay porn.

AVN sales rep, Chris Lebrun, chimed in with a lengthy defensive post that amounted to an “all or nothing” solution.

If you do not want to receive mail from AVN - send mail or e-mail to me and I will have you removed from the list. Realize that you will not receive any more mailings from AVN including AVN and AVN Online. We do not want to send anything to people who do not want it.

If you just want to complain - and not take the steps to stop future mailing please don’t complain again!

Lebrun’s cavalier remarks did not appease the angry group.

I think that’s a poor way to respond to legitimate complaints from your mailing database. How many porn mags (like Hustler, Playboy, etc) would send to their customers in a clear envelope? They all use brown envelopes for a reason: DISCRETION, a common courtesy that wouldn’t hurt AVN in any way (yes I know it’s a different target audience, but that doesn’t negate my point).

Later, Chris back peddled a bit by announcing, “AVN is listening and we will make changes.” The first issue of GAYVN Magazine is scheduled to debut in January 2006.

Don’t get me wrong; I have the utmost respect for Joan Irvine. I applaud her dedication to both ASACP and the FSC. However, her decision to sit on the FSC Board is a bit short sighted, in my opinion.

The FSC is fighting laws, both state and federal, that directly cause harm to our industry, yet are allegedly in place to protect children. The FSC is also engaged in lobbyist activities intended to thwart any future legislation that would harm our industry. Most recent legislation attempts have ridden on the “protect our children” bandwagon.

The ASACP produces empirical data that disputes allegations our industry is the purveyor of CP. This information can be used advantageously by the FSC in litigation, lobbying efforts, and public relations. But how much credibility does that information have when the director of the ASACP sets on the Board of the FSC?

As a Board member, Joan Irvine is a decision maker for the FSC. She holds an influential leadership position that sets the tone, pace, and direction of the FSC. It is the FSC Board of Directors that decides what battles the organization chooses to fight. By wearing a hat in both camps, Joan Irvine is diluting the credibility of the data her organization (ASACP) brings to the table. There is enormous power in supporting data generated by an independent, third party, nonprofit organization - assuming no perception of bias exists.

On the flip side, how can the DOJ take ASACP seriously when its director is also in a leadership position at the FSC? The ASACP has worked hard to position itself as a credible support organization for the DOJ’s fight against CP. This is a far cry from the relationship DOJ has with the FSC.

While I fully believe Joan Irvine’s intentions are honorable, its time for her to step back and look at the big picture. Her leadership position at the FSC is doing more harm than good - for both organizations.

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Also, be sure to read the comments generated from last week’s article on the FSC’s 2006 Board of Directors election.

This is one of many articles I’ll post for those of you interested in producing your own content. My focus will be more on working with the models and equipment, than dealing with the legal (2257) stuff.

When shooting stills or video, don’t forget the promotional stuff. A short video of the model saying, “hi I’m Johnny Hotstuff and you can see me jack off on domainname.com,” is worth its weight in gold on a site tour. When shooting stills, it’s important to get those shots useful in a site tour or for banners. If you don’t think about this in advance, it will be a lot harder to come up with good tour and promotional photos.

Another thing I like to do is shoot the model holding various sizes, and colors, of stiff poster board. Later I take them into Photoshop and ad text over the poster. Things like, “You can see me naked at…” or, “come see my videos.” This sort of thing ads huge credibility for your site when claiming it has exclusives. Photos like this validate your claim of exclusivity. HM Boys was a pioneer in this strategy.

With a popular model it might be a good idea to schedule a shoot for the sole purpose of producing promotional materials. You can also bring in several models for some censored group shots. Keeping it censored allows you to pay each model less. You might make it a social gathering (party) so the models don’t feel like its work.

Most amateur producers don’t think to do these things, and it’s a huge mistake.

Premiumbeat.com, a new provider of high quality royalty-free music, announced today that their online service is now in full operation. Premiumbeat.com offers music for new media and traditional productions. All music files are downloadable instantly. The new site targets web designers, Flash animation developers, and video production companies looking for royalty-free music.

The Direct Marketing Association has issued a report this month on the results of a 2005 consumer trust survey. The report states that of the 78 percent of American Internet users that plan to conduct some on-line shopping this year, 69 percent will limit those purchases because of fears associated with misuse of personal information. The report also revealed that, due to privacy concerns, 40 percent would steer clear of smaller on-line retailers. One observation voiced in the report was that consumers are uncomfortable with sites that do not clearly show privacy as a priority.

According to an article in Marketing VOX, an S.G. Cowen study, released last week, found that Google is the engine of choice for U.S. searchers, with 52 percent of respondents considering it their primary engine for general searches. Yahoo was second with 22 percent; MSN and AOL tied for third with 9 percent. Ask Jeeves accounted for 5 percent.

Those who prefer Google’s search engine tend to be richer and have more Internet experience than others, according to the study. Their average household income is above $60,000, Marketing VOX writes.

One might extrapolate from this data that if your site gets a lot of Google traffic, you are dealing with a lot of streetwise consumers. These consumers have cash to spend, but won’t be impressed with a site that plays silly games.

This is part of a continuing series on how I, as a sole proprietor, manage my accounting. It is intended as a guide, and should not replace the advice you get from your accountant.

In this post I’ll be talking about Receipt Management

It’s no secret that keeping copies of all receipts is very important. I’ve found the expanding folders with twelve pockets for each month the best way to organize my receipts. I prefer the type that has a cover flap and elastic band. Filing your receipts by month makes it a lot easier to find something, so I strongly recommend it over the old fashioned shoe box method. Each year I buy two of these folders, one for business and one for personal. I write on the outside what each is for and the year. These folders archive nicely in a file cabinet or file box. They are popular items, so start looking for them, at your office supply store, in November.

I’d like to say I’m diligent about posting to my expense ledger each month, but I’m not. Instead I post everything once or twice a year. If you procrastinate like I do, it’s important to make notes on some receipts. Otherwise you won’t remember what they were for when you finally get around to posting them to the ledger.

In preparation for data entry into the expense ledger, I pull out each month of receipts and sort them by date. On most receipts I highlight the items I’m going to be entering, so the data entry will go faster. Then I paper clip each month together and place them in a stack for data entry. After I complete entering each month of receipts, I place them back in the folder they came out of. By prepping first you avoid errors, such as a receipt filed in the wrong month, and it makes the entire process go much faster. From start to finish, I can get it all entered in a few days, only spending a couple of hours each day. I typically spend the first day getting everything ready for data entry, and the next two days getting it all entered.

While the process is agonizing, it’s mandatory in preparing for tax time. The better organized you make it, the less painful it will be.

In my next post I’ll discuss electronic banking

CitiBoyz Video is poised to announce a new European line for 2006. Popular for their long running series of boy next door videos, the US based production company is expected to ship the first Euro title in mid-April. According to CitiBoyz, the new European offering will not publish under the established all-American CitiBoyz brand. As of this writing, the brand name for the new Euro line has not been finalized.

The veteran production company has been actively upgrading in 2005. An updated citiboyz.com was unveiled in November, earning a nomination for “Best Video Company Website” in Cybersocket’s Web Awards. Makeovers of CitiBoyzBucks, and plug-in video site Citiboyz Theatre, have just completed. While their revamped content site is expected to debut shortly. “The idea was as much to give the sites a needed makeover as to establish continuity between our web presence and print presence”, said Steve of CitiBoyz. This is the third total makeover of their six year web presence.

CitiBoyz is also expected to greatly expand their presence in Europe, but the studio has not yet released any details.

A new entry into the emerging mobile content delivery business, BCS Mobile plans an early 2006 launch of their all gay adult video clips site for mobile consumers. In preparation for the launch, BCS Mobile is looking for additional relationships with video production studios. High priority candidates are the typically smaller independent studios in need of branding.

“We are the only service that edits and re-purposes the scenes for mobile use to include the studio’s name, the film title, and the studio website at both the opening and close of each clip. Our reciprocal partner agreement uniquely includes a linked promotional tile space on our site as well as revenue share for each studio to complete the branded delivery experience”, said BCS Mobile VP Steve Jack.