Budget Books

No serious-minded journalist who from time to time writes about the federal budget, national debt, or related topics would fail to have a current copy of the Historical Tables.

R.E. Kelly

Everybody wants free porn. Okay, maybe that isn't completely true. It is nevertheless generally true that the purchasers of this book want, at little or no cost to themselves, to produce revenue-generating porn for profit. Will this book facilitate that objective? Maybe.

Here's the skinny: there is no such thing as free porn. Even in the early days of home-movie "stag" and "vacation" films, there were production costs that had to be paid before the first frame was shot.

Let's draw a rough corollary: I want to start a delivery service and the items I want to deliver require a van for their transportation.

If I don't already have a van, I've got to get one (an obvious financial cost to me); however, if I already own a van, I have to apportion its cost (what I paid for it, plus what it costs to operate it) into my delivery business.

Owning a van doesn't fulfill my obligations to the State, either: there are a host of compliance issues and legal hurdles to overcome before I haul the first piece of freight. That's the cost of doing business, and porn is in that regard no different.

Porn content distributed at no charge to the consumer is provided at a loss to the distributor; if the distributor and the producer are the same, that person suffers losses both as a distributor and as a producer.

"But there is free porn out there, and I know those people are making money, or they wouldn't be doing it." Well, like my first statement, that belief is not entirely true: there are philanthropists who finance worthy causes for ideological reasons regardless the financial loss.

However, the reader is generally correct in assuming money is involved, and the porn industry taken as a whole generates revenue somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 Billion dollars each year.

It is worth remembering however, that's the *entire* "adult entertainment" industry: it's the video sales, video rentals, phone sex numbers, exotic dancing, lingerie/toy parties, legalized prostitution (thanks, Nevada!) and everything else (there's lots more) all rolled together.

It is unlikely the purchasers of this book will have previously acquired all the equipment and skills essential to even small-scale porn production; however, this book will help the reader to organize his or her thoughts and resources concerning porn production.

Respecting the issue of pecuniary outlays, the author provides specific numbers for reference; however, these numbers will have to be adjusted for economic conditions. The GOP has guaranteed the financial ruin of the USA; prices encountered by a pornographer -- upstart or otherwise -- will reflect that.

Although the author did not specifically address recessions, economic meltdowns and depressions, stagflation or any of the other problems beyond the scope of his material, the person hoping to capitalize on the author's material will encounter the effects of those things.

Having so said, the provided numbers are in this reviewer's opinion more representative of today's costs than those provided in other books on this topic. The treatment of costs is reasonable, but this reviewer has yet to see a single book in which all the necessary costs are detailed.

The reader of this book will get a very general overview of the subjects he or she will need to consider before becoming a producer of porn -- from basic budgeting to legal compliance, it's all mentioned and covered to the extent a general primer on the biz ought to address such topics.

There will never credibly be a porn analog to "The Blair Witch Project" (July, 1999) -- $22,000 to produce on home video; $248,639,099 in revenue (as of January 20, 2008). That's over $2,437,638 per month for 102 months.

"Deep Throat" (summer, 1972), according to MSNBC, cost $25,000 to make and has since allegedly grossed $600 million. To its credit, MSNBC points to the specious nature of the $600 million claim and the fact that a proper accounting of "Deep Throat" revenue is impossible.

The FBI estimates "Deep Throat" revenue at "up to $100 million," a figure generally deemed "optimistic, but credible."

While it is safe to say that "Deep Throat" earned much, any dollar amount claimed is the result of mere speculation; nevertheless, assuming even the wildly optimistic ($600 million) figures are correct, "Deep Throat" averaged less than $1,376,147 for each of the past 436 months.

If the FBI's maximum estimate is to be believed, "Deep Throat" averaged less than $229,358 for each of the past 436 months.

No review of a book titled wholly or in part "How to be a Porno Producer" would be complete without some commentary regarding the socio-political environment in which the reader is likely to find himself or herself, assuming he or she has at least some interest towards becoming a porno producer.

Deep Throat's revenues derived largely from notoriety: it was banned in 23 states and several foreign countries, thus creating a stir that drove the curious to pay exorbitant prices and risk personal and professional ruin to view in underground theaters the film -- a nonviolent, farcical sex comedy -- their governments had prohibited them from seeing.

Despite rampant anti-God Puritanism and other forms of "personal holiness" blaspheming the Holy Spirit through attempts to regulate and/or ban consensual, nonviolent recreational sex and its depiction, "right-wing" religiosity has not completely overtaken US law.

While each victory for the First Amendment is to be celebrated, egregious and austere are the limits imposed against ordinary citizens, of whom some are pornographers by trade and some others are pornographers by desire.

Porn is about creativity; unfortunately, that creativity is stifled by current law. Therefore, legal porn films are uninspired and boring, which greatly reduces their commercial appeal, which disincentivizes porn production by making pornographers into starving artists.

The porno underground disappeared when porn went digital: there are no $25-a-ticket smut theaters in the dirty bowels of big cities. Even VHS gave way to CD, then to DVD and now to Blu-Ray.

Production costs have skyrocketed while revenue streams have diminished. The porn producer is akin to a salmon, who once swam in the sea unfettered by prudish constraints and legal machinations, who now struggles against the current in a restrictive channel.

As the producer advances towards his or her goal, even though the number of streams increases, the channel of water in those streams becomes narrower and shallower, and predators become more abundant.

Religious freaks don't have to oppose legal porn: economic reality is killing it. And, to borrow a Bushism, "It don't take a rocket surgeon to see what we've got in the Supreme Court."

Translation: even the combined resources of the Five Families wouldn't be enough to liberalize the law to the extent it should be.

Without the zealous advertising by Churchianity against a product (bad publicity is still publicity), there is no notoriety for anyone other than the people duped into feeling shame for the divine urges inculcated into them by their Creator.

Although such people are ubiquitous throughout the parts of the world contaminated by religiosity ("Christian" and "Islamic" religions are by far the worst offenders, but others abound),

Those people so affected who will contribute to the pornographer's support make for a very tiny crowd whose patronage is unreliable and who, if pressed, will usually stab their friendly porn provider in the back.

Moreover, that crowd's members seldom have much in the way of discretionary funds: they gave all to bail out Enron or AIG (or any of the other GOP-contributors having bought unmerited and unlimited favor under the Bush regimes),

Or they spent their money supporting through "church" missions the corruption of foreign people, or they otherwise supported a political party or candidate feeding their sadistic and masochistic fetishes.

Probably because a very cheap (lowest budget) porn flick costs today as much to produce as a house in a decent neighborhood costs to buy outright, porn shot today does good to break even.

Having looted the rest of us, the GOP and its supporters are the only folks left in the USA with any significant money responsibly budgetable for entertainment:

Unfortunately, "adult entertainers" apparently only get money from GOP men if they're a $10,000-a-trick NYC call girl or a 16-year-old boy -- neither of which is legal, but the law apparently doesn't apply to Republicans in government.

Easily among the best I've seen on this topic, this book gives its reader a dispassionate, unbiased view towards the demands placed on the porn producer and provides valuable insight regarding how some of those demands may be met.

If you are a motorcycle enthusiast, a gear head, have an active bike building project or just thinking about one this is a great book to have as part of your collection. The book is geared, no pun intended, to the beginner but regardless of your level of experience it has some great tips to think of when doing a project, especially, as the book is focused on when you are on a budget.

ms. finkel is an expert when it comes to communication and words and her book is a great step forward for her. i've been a fan of her columns for years and it is great to know she has compiled something for small business folks like me.

This book focuses on getting mileage out of every advertising dollar, which I found to be a very fresh viewpoint in the spectrum of marketing books. You can get immediate use out of this book for any business activity, and it is filled with sensible ideas that do work. This book will give you useful tools to expand your enterprise. Inside you will find good tips on advertising, marketing, sales promotion and public relations to expand your business. All in all a great reference.

This book inspired me to get a government loan for my new house, so I could fix it up. Mr. Phillips explains in terrific detail exactly what you are supposed to do and where to go, I give him two thumbs up, way to go Wayne Phillips, You are a true american hero!!!!!

This book is by far one of the best common sense travel books I have ever read. My husband and I chose to splurge on one of the more expensive honeymoons staying on a resort in the Poconos. This book helped us to afford this extravagance and offered many additional suggestions about other places to visit along the way. Tips on booking affordable flights, eating inexpensively, and securing nice but affordable lodging was included. This book goes state by state, so you will find a perfect, romantic honeymoon even in your home state. We have re-used this book to plan other vacations, and I loan it out to many of my friends and family members when they are choosing family vacations. This book is a must have.

This is excellent advice and reading for the single lonely man. It straight forward and down to earth.

For the wedding, the usual gift was selected from the registery but we felt advice was also in order. This book was a stand out for financial advice relevant to a couple. I glanced through and found it difficult to put down. Even after 10 years of marraige, so much seemed relevant and brought back plenty of memories. A great tool for anyone bringing two incomes under one roof.

Information provided is straight to the point with key notes on cheap accommodations and ways to travel. Loads of colorful maps and information on food, annual events, and must-see spots. A great guide for backpackers and travelers who are planning to visit several European countries. This book made me realize that affordable travel to Europe CAN happen and helped me decide which places interest me and are worth my time and money to visit.