Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, especially after I've been updating my Website at 3 a.m., and I wonder: "How the heck did all this happen?!!!"
Back in the summer of 1996, I started creating my own Internet site. It was barely two weeks after I'd gotten my first computer. I had seen all the other silly homepages out there, with pictures of people's vacations and their pets and stuff, all of which made me think: "I can do this!"
I was determined to make a site of my very own, so I stumbled around various online help sites and bought a couple books on HTML, trying to figure it all out. After much cursing and a lot of hair-pulling, I finally managed to put up two small, square pictures and a paragraph about myself on America Online. That was my first homepage. The pictures were just two boxcover images. I didn't even have a photo scanner at the time, so I'm not sure where I got those pics from - I must have swiped them off somebody else's site.
In my very early days, I taught myself Webmastering basics by pilfering HTML from other sites that I liked, and I'd keep futzing and tweaking their code until the page looked just the way I wanted it to. (I've never had much patience for being taught in a classroom; I've found that I learn much more quickly on my own - a pretty common trait amongst Webgeeks.) At times, it did get frustrating not having anyone I could ask for help, but in the long run I prefer the torturous "trial and error" method of learning. That way I actually understand what I'm doing, instead of just performing actions by rote like a trained seal.
Besides, there isn't much HTML to learn in order to make a decent Web page. It's only like 20 or 25 words and knowing where to stick your . So don't believe the hype - it's not that hard to learn.
The real key to making a great-looking site is not in the behind-the-scenes coding, but rather in what you do with your graphics. With this in mind, I then went and taught myself how to use Adobe Photoshop to create my own pictures, icons, and logos. Now THAT was a royal butt-pain, and to this day it pisses me off a lot more when people steal my handmade graphics than when they steal my boxcover photos. It's like, "Hey, I slaved on those graphics in Photoshop for hours, so don't be pilfering my pics without at least giving me credit!" It happens a lot - I've seen sites identical to mine, completely identical, right down to the purple rain background and my beating heart animations. They just rip off entire pages of mine and stick their own pictures in.
Oh well. What are ya gonna do? I tell myself "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," and that helps... a bit.
My Website came along pretty quickly. I moved it off the old AOL account and bought my own domain name, AsiaCarrera.com. I didn't even have to pay some other geek to buy my own name back. Luckily, the Internet name rush was just starting, so no one snagged my name before I did. (In hindsight, I should have bought misspellings and typos of "Carrera" too, but at $70 a pop, I didn't think it was worth it.)
Fans did spell my name correctly, as I've had more than 18 million visitors to my site. I can honestly say that I never thought it would ever get this big. My Web presence has opened up more doors and created more opportunities than anything else I've done in adult entertainment. For example, I started to play a video game, just for the enjoyment of kicking other peoples' butts. Little did I know that a buzz would be created in the video game world about a porn star who "frags like us." And I recently posted some of my Hawaiian scuba diving pics. Soon after, I discovered that there's a "scuba sex" fetish community that took notice of me.
Oftentimes people will stumble across my site completely by accident - like while doing a search on "Asia" for a geography class - so I have plenty of fans who come into my chatroom and admit that they've never seen any of my movies. I always laugh and tell them: "Hey, you're not missing anything - my Web page is better than most of my movies anyway." (Hehehe!)
My arsenal of geek hardware has grown to the point where hardcore Web nerds start drooling with envy. But I don't take any of it for granted - I just happen to dedicate my disposable income toward buying computer toys instead of silly fripperies like clothes and partying. I'm constantly upgrading, but right now my main computer is a 1.4 GHz Athlon with 512 MB RAM and 90 GB of disk space. I also have three other computers (my former buttkickers, now serving as dutiful backups) - two more Athlons (1.2 GHz and 1.1 GHz respectively) and an 800 MHz Intel Pentium III. For sunning on the deck or away from home I have two laptops, both IBM Thinkpads. My image scanners include a Nikon CoolScan Pro SF-200 (with an adapter for auto-scanning 50 slides simultaneously), a Hewlett-Packard Photosmart S20... Wait a second, I think I'm boring you guys. This is a porn magazine, right? (Uh, well, we do cover the "adult" industry, Asia, but I'm afraid pornophiles might be a tad disappointed. - Ed.)
Well, I could go on and on about my warez (just drop by my site for the utterly arousing list), but let's get back to business....
I've enjoyed amassing all this high-tech gear to enhance my little slice of cyberspace. I'm sad to say the party may be nearing an end, however, because the adult Internet arena today has gotten grossly oversaturated. Way too many crappy, cookie-cutter, commercial porn sites are being churned out, and the proverbial "profit pie" keeps getting cut into smaller and smaller pieces. And I don't see the situation improving anytime soon; when people find that their sites aren't earning much income, they stop putting time and effort into updating their content, and so the quality of porn sites continues its downward spiral.
I've lost count of all the porn starlets who got their Website up and running, but then never touched it again because it just wasn't worth their effort. But for me, it's a personal thing. My site isn't just a vehicle to make money or a way to promote myself - my site is my baby, a reflection of myself, which motivates me to keep up with those 2 a.m. updates, even after a grueling day on the set.
For more than five years, I've maintained a bulletin page on my site that tells people everything I've been up to, porn-related or not. (I used to keep a real diary that I wrote in faithfully every day for years, but I finally kicked that habit - my online bulletins serve as diary entries for me now!) I practically live out my entire life on the Internet, so the whole world can follow along vicariously. My goal from the start has been to show people that there is a regular person behind that larger-than-life "Asia Carrera" fantasy figure, and the public is always pleasantly surprised to learn about the real 3D person behind all those 2D centerfolds.
People are so into "reality" television these days, but I've been using the Internet to broadcast my own reality for ages now. Some people like to use the Internet to pretend to be somebody else, masquerading as a member of the opposite sex in chatrooms (you 19-year-old college coeds know who you are!), or even impersonating a celebrity. But for me, the Internet is a place where I can just be me, combat boots and all, or even a completely anonymous Joe Shmoe if I want. (I can't tell you how refreshing it is to chat with the general public as, say, "Bob," because nobody ever asks, "So Bob, what's your favorite position?" Hehe!) Ironically, while I'm out there pretending to be "Joe Public," I'll often stumble across wiseguys impersonating me, but attempting to unmask them usually results in a bizarre battle of "I'm the real Asia!" "No, I'm the real Asia!" Only in cyberspace can I find myself shouting, "I swear, I'm ME!!" and nobody believes me!
Many people didn't want to take me seriously when I first got on the Internet. They said I was a joke and that my claims of doing my own site were baloney. I took a lot of abuse. Nobody wanted to give me credit. Nobody wanted to believe a porn star could figure out how to use a computer, let alone build a Website. It took me a long time to finally convince most of the public that yes, it is indeed me slaving away alone at my computer, and yes, it is possible for a porn star to have a decent head on her shoulders, with other interests apart from sex! It was therapeutic for me to show people that porn stars can and do have other marketable skills besides fellating on film. Although it's been an uphill battle, I get satisfaction from all of my co-stars and the new starlets who thank me. They say they look up to me for getting out in the public eye and generating such positive P.R. for all porn stars, and the industry as a whole.
I think I've been pretty successful over the years at convincing people to have respect for adult film actresses. I find that people are at least willing to give us the benefit of the doubt now, before just writing us off as inflatable sex dolls with a pulse.
One of the biggest rewards that has come from establishing my Internet presence has been the opportunity to interact in real time with fans from around the world. Over the years, many of these people have become like an extended family to me. I enjoy a much closer bond with my fans now, because they find themselves thinking of me as a friend, instead of some untouchable icon. When I sign autographs, I stand the whole time - in those friggin' platform shoes too! - which is almost unheard of. Most girls will sign sitting on a stool, but I prefer standing. When asked why, I explain it's because I want to feel like I'm on the same level with my fans, and not like they're coming to worship me at my throne. (I do wish I'd been sitting down one time, though - this guy waited in line over an hour to get my autograph and then gushed about what an honor it was to finally meet Kobe Tai in person. D'oh! )
I'm also really proud of my chat room. Hundreds of people a day drop by, according to my traffic stats, and there are scores of "regs" who visit on a daily basis. The banner on my chat page proudly says "GeekChat," and with good reason. Unlike most of the other porn star chat rooms, if you want to talk about sex in there, everyone gets annoyed and yells, "Hey perv, take it private!" (Hehe!) Believe it or not, there's actually a rather wholesome and pleasant atmosphere in my chat room. Everybody tries to be courteous, which is why many of the regulars are actually bona fide females! It's like a Cheers bar in cyberspace - people can stop by any time and after a couple visits, the regulars will greet you warmly by name and with {{cyberhugs}} whenever you pop in. It's really become its own little Internet community. We talk about current events, computer stuff, or answer Asia inquiries from the newbies. GeekChat has inspired about 10 or 15 other sites dedicated to AsiaChatters, where you can find pictures, mini-bios, and links to homepages of all the regulars.
There's even an annual "GeekChatters Tour" that takes place once a year in a different part of the U.S., and it kicks off at the local Hooters restaurant. All the loyal AsiaChatters get a chance to meet face-to-face for fun and frolicking (and no, it's not a giant orgy - guys actually bring their wives and everyone just enjoys meeting up in the real world for a change). Last year, the event was held in New Orleans, and I was bummed - I couldn't go because I had a shoot booked at the time. But the AsiaChatters had a blast without me - *sob!* - during their three days in New Orleans. They even had prime spots for the Mardi Gras, flying lessons from an AsiaChat pilot, and more.
I love that I provided the seeds for this little Internet community to grow and thrive, and that I helped many loyal fans make new friends from around the world. My little brother even met his girly there some three years ago. We've watched countless couples meet and fall in love in my chatroom, and some of them have even gotten married. That blows my mind. Wow, I added this little chatroom to my site, and people have gotten married because of it. How cool is that??!!!
My main site is and always will be free. I feel I owe that to my fans. I don't even plaster it with banners or pop-ups because the last thing I want my site to be is annoying. A few years ago, I added a separate pay site at www.lildictator.com. I gave it the irresistible name "Asia Carrera's Really Boring Pay Section." It's a place where I put prime wanking material from my various photo layouts and video clips. I also include extras like online games, computer wallpapers, and links to my orphaned free-site content. People naturally like to ask, how lucrative is the pay site? Let's just say I make enough to pay the bills and I'm staying off welfare.
Truth be told, my income from the site has been pretty solid and steady - thanks to the miracle of recurring billing. One caveat - building up a membership roster big enough to earn a living from is hard work, especially when you're competing with thousands of other sites for the same surfers' eyeballs and wallets. But once you've established that loyal fan base, it's like money in the bank! :)
However, like nearly all other adult sites, I've had my share of problems with those dreaded "chargebacks." I lost my merchant account two years ago, when my bank dropped me two weeks before Christmas. That sucked royally, because that's my biggest time for merchandise sales all year. I scrambled to get myself a new account quickly, but you must have impeccable credit to have your own merchant account, so once you've been dropped by one merchant bank, the others want nothing to do with you. What's worse is that I didn't even do anything wrong. (I'm not trying to cheat anyone. Much of the time, a guy just wants a freebie, so he signs up with his credit card, looks around the pay site, and then files a complaint saying his number was stolen. The credit card companies always side with the customer, and I end up looking bad.)
After trying fruitlessly to secure a new bank on my own, I put up a desperate plea on my Website. Thankfully, a fan came forward and offered to help. This fan happened to be a successful businessman with a number of companies under his control on the east coast, and he simply added me as one more sub-account to his empire. My Website's sales are miniscule compared to the tremendous volume of his companies' daily transactions, so my chargebacks are barely an issue at all now. As a bonus, I'm getting a better rate from this new merchant account than I had before, so in the end, losing my old account turned out to be quite a blessing in disguise.
I'm told there are other girls in porn who do their own sites, but honestly, I don't know of any girls in the business that I can sit and talk geek with. Many girls have some creative input and get involved with their sites by doing live chats or live Webcam shows, but I don't know of anyone who actually sits at the computer typing out HTML like I do. I think the No. 1 reason other girls don't make their own sites is simply because it's such a time-consuming endeavor. Who wants to come home to Website updates and email duties at 2 a.m., completely exhausted after spending 18 hours on a set, performing outrageous sex stunts for the cameras all day? It takes a lot of dedication and discipline to voluntarily maintain a routine that demanding week after week, month after month.
This lifestyle happens to suit me because I've always preferred being a workaholic over partying or doing drugs. I don't go dancing on the road or make as many public appearances as most of the other girls, so I'm able to put in several hours a day, every day, on maintaining my site. I've dedicated my whole life to doing this, because it is a full-time job, and there's nobody else to run things if I'm not around. I do reward myself with one or two Hawaiian vacations each year, but I still take my laptop with me so I can keep an eye on things. And my fans wait patiently for my return - they know I always come back with tons of new pictures to share on the site!
The very first time I took a vacation to Hawaii, I didn't yet own a laptop, and I was miserable, suffering from the most awful computer withdrawal. I remember begging the concierge to help me find a computer I could use for a while, which didn't go over well with my boyfriend Clarke at all. Clarke said, "You told me you were going to spend time with me away from the computer! C'mon, I want to go to the spa for a massage, let's go to the spa!"
Of course, I wound up paying $250 an hour - sending Clarkey off to the spa for massages, while I snuck off for a computer fix in the back offices of the hotel. (The nice concierge arranged for me to have the use of a hotel computer any time I liked, and I rewarded his kindness with a couple of autographed Asia movies.) But as soon as I arrived home, I immediately bought a laptop so I'd never be stuck in that position again.
Whenever I have to go out of town, I always have this nagging fear in the back of my mind. "What if my site goes down and I don't know because I'm not home, and then all my pay section members cancel and start threatening to sue?" That made it hard for me to sleep at night, especially during events like CES, when I'm just too darned tuckered out to even put my laptop online, sometimes for as many as two to three days in a row.
I finally got peace of mind when I lucked out and found my loyal Assistant Dictator, a.k.a. "me2." He is the only person in the world whom I would trust with the sacred duty of watching over my site when I just can't be there, because he's the geekiest, most loyal, responsible, trustworthy person I know. And even though he lives in the Midwest, and we've only met a handful of times in person, we're both at our computers all day long, and only a mouse click away from each other at any given time. He's been my right-hand geek for almost five years now, and he's a godsend - every Webmaster should have a me2 of their own.
Now when I go to Hawaii I can truly enjoy the entire vacation without worrying. If my Web server happens to stall, me2 will know and he'll contact the right geeks to get the machine back up and running. He can also console the customers who have questions about their orders. (Meanwhile, I'm sipping pina coladas on a beach in Oahu!)
I don't know what I'd do without him. If he ever gets a girlfriend, I'll be devastated. (I know he doesn't have one because he plays online games like Unreal Tournament with me every night, and he even sleeps with his laptop by his bed on full volume. He's always on call for me if I happen to ICQ him in the middle of the night with a sudden emergency!)
He's available to me virtually 24 hours a day, and get this - it's all completely voluntary. He's amazing! He got his job as my "assistant dictator" back in August of 1997, just before I started shooting my film Appassionata. He was already a longtime regular in my chatroom and he'd asked once if he could have administrative powers to help boot out troublemakers when I wasn't in chat. At the time I said no, because I just couldn't trust anybody with controlling stuff like that but me.
Then he impressed my socks off - by snail-mailing me a formal resume for the position. I was completely blown away by his professional geekiness! Finally, when it was time to start on Appassionata, I knew I'd be away from my computer for eight days, so I agreed to give him admin powers in the chat room. He never, ever abused the power, and he continued to impress me further with how he handled everything from obnoxious chatters, to curious fans, to prospective job offers for me. And so my trust in him just kinda grew from there. He even has his own Web page now, a collection of my interviews and mainstream appearances for new fans to download.
As the years passed, I granted him the power to go into my merchant account to help pay site members who have forgotten their password, or to issue credits. I'd trust him with my life, and I repay him in various ways, from flying him out to my shoots and appearances, sending him an identical computer setup to mine, and buying him mutual fund shares for special occasions. (Note: As irreplaceable as me2 is, let me just clarify that he watches over the chatroom and is a great sounding board for my new ideas. He is NOT responsible for creating or maintaining any of the actual content on my site.)
Well, as you can probably tell, I'm pretty content with my place in the Internet universe. However, I have no plans on becoming a future Danni Ashe (although I do admire her immensely). By that, I mean I'm not interested in evolving my site into a major commercial enterprise and employing a bunch of people. I want to keep my site a cute, cuddly little baby, untouched by anyone but me. Besides, I'm too much of a control freak to hire any help - after all, that's why I'm the Li'l Dictator! :)
For the past year and a half, I've slowly been building a site for my husband, director/producer Bud Lee (which will eventually go live at www.budleehardcore.com and www.budlee.com, but it's not nearly ready yet). We're considering going the all-commercial route when we launch it in about six months or so. Then I can see how his stats compare to my own site's stats (in terms of profits, signups, traffic, etc.) and it should be an interesting experiment to see how much better (or worse) my friendly, personal homepage fares when pitted against a blatantly commercial no-holds-barred porn site - both of my own creation!
So that's my next project. (Yep, I'm gonna sell out and go commercial - just not with my own site! Hehe!) At the very least, I know I'll have something to do when I move away from the porno camera's eye. Just one more step on this Li'l Dictator's path to world domination. Maybe I'll be the next Bill Gates - but with better hair. :)
