Porn 
is an industry where retirement can come without warning.
Big-name performers sometimes choose to quit at the height of their fame, while others find the demand for their services has dwindled, as fickle fans move on to the next sensation. Many careers last less than three months, and those who stay in for more than five or six years are considered veterans.
Everybody has 
a first job – and it rarely has anything to do with how you end up making a living.
That’s especially true of the adult entertainment industry’s biggest names. But their first gigs aren’t what you might expect. Sure, some kicked off their resumes with stints in fast food joints, like many teenagers around the country. Several, though, worked in law firms. And one learned the hard way that domestic services were not for her.
We tracked down a number of industry superstars on the floor of the Adult Entertainment Expo to see how they got their start.
When the 
movie industry slapped adult films with an XXX rating, porn companies came to embrace the scarlet letters. But when the nonprofit corporation that oversees Internet addresses rolled out the .xxx domain, the reception was unequivocally unenthusiastic.
Manwin, one of the porn industry’s largest companies, is challenging Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in an antitrust suit over the new domains. And while most other porn companies haven’t rushed to join the legal fight, they’re watching closely.
Porn companies 
have always been interested in the girl next door, but now there’s a company that’s taking an interest in her parents.
Pleasure Dynasty is trying something new in the industry: opening the filmmaking process up to outside investors and letting them add the title of adult film producer to their resume (though don’t expect too many people to brag about it).
True 
superstardom in the adult entertainment industry is a tough thing to achieve. And this year’s Dirty Dozen certainly underscores that.
Just five of the actresses we listed among the industry’s most popular last year make return appearances in 2012, as new faces have come along — and some veteran performers made a comeback.
There’s 
something missing from this year’s CES: porn stars.
While TVs and tablets dominate the world’s largest tech confab, CES attendees often save some attention for the nearby Adult Entertainment Expo. This year, though, the two shows don’t coincide and it’s like the loss of a familiar, if slightly sketchy, cousin at a family dinner.
The pornography business is a
tech bellwether, often sensing the shift in consumer sentiment long before the mainstream world makes a move.
So as the adult entertainment industry’s stars and power brokers walked the red carpet at the recent AVN Awards in Las Vegas – the adult entertainment industry’s equivalent of the Oscars – we polled a few, asking them what they thought would be the next big trend to sweep the industry.
It’s hard to recall a worse time to jump into
the porn business.
Piracy continues to run rampant. Studios are folding at a pace similar to the implosion of the dot-com bubble. And even the future of the industry’s trade show and biggest annual awards show are in jeopardy—as insiders wonder whether the Adult Entertainment Expo and AVN awards will be held next year.
Popularity in the porn industry is often fleeting. 
Some performers experience a meteoric rise and fall in the course of a year. Others connect with the audience on a different level and manage a multi-year ride at the top.
Though there is no real formula for success in this industry, these 12 performers have proven to be more than just a flash in the pan, with tremendous staying power over the past few years. What’s more there are no signs their careers are in danger of waning anytime soon.
Women are the main attraction in the 
adult entertainment industry, but when it comes to the people behind the scenes, it’s very much a male-dominated field. While there are some cracks in the glass ceiling, men still hold most of the power positions in porn.
Some of the power players in porn are familiar names, but a significant number have very low public profiles. All of them, though, have significant influence and authority throughout the industry – and sometimes, that’s entirely by accident.
Chris Morris: Journalist 