Letters Magazine Goes Digital at LettersForPlay.com

NEW YORK—In the age of the internet and Fifty Shades of Grey, it is easy to forget some of the iconic companies that helped propel the sexual revolution and bring sex out of the bedrooms and into mainstream. In 1979, the former CEO of a major magazine distribution company sought to not only explore other people's fantasies, but also to put them into a magazine that would change the publishing world forever. Letters Magazine was the first digest-sized periodical devoted solely to publishing erotic fantasy letters and original artwork submitted by its readers. Moving into the early 1980's, the company office became flooded with letters from all over the world describing every type of sexual fantasy. From threesomes on airplanes to the next-door-neighbor love slave, a new type of erotica was born. Within 10 years, the company was publishing over 10 different titles per month and the magazines were selling over 250,000 copies every month via newsstand and subscription sales. More recently, a new company run by the next generation of the family, has spent the last two years digitizing over 30 years of letters and artwork to create a comprehensive website where every letter is tagged meticulously with metadata enabling users to "Find Their Fantasy" with a few clicks of the mouse. Jon Rosen, son of Letters Magazine founder Louis Rosen, last month unveiled the new company's site, LettersForPlay.com. "We have spent years going through file cabinets and old magazines unearthing tens of thousands of letters that were submitted to our magazine over a 30 year span," explained Rosen. "We have digitized them and tagged them with metadata so users can come onto our site and find exactly what they are looking for. Fifty Shades of Grey was obviously the catalyst that brought this type of writing into the mainstream view over the last few years, but long before these books came out everyday people were writing their own fantasies and sending them to our magazine. Today, we are extremely proud of how we brought such an iconic magazine back to life and into the digital age, reaching a whole new generation of readers. Things change over time, but sex and fantasy are a constant." The site was built in such a way that users are no longer confined to accessing the site on their home computer, but it can also be delivered to any mobile phone, tablet or computer. In fact, more than half of the site's users currently experience the content on their mobile devices via a user-friendly interface. To "Find Your Fantasy" or "Share Your Fantasy," as the new site encourages submissions of personal fantasies from the new digital audience, visit LettersForPlay.com. Letters For Play can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook.