‘Sinner’ in Sin City

By Levi Chronister

Friday, Jan. 8, 2010 | 7:40 a.m.

Tera Patrick has had a lot of titles over the years, both in the adult industry and mainstream work — actor, producer, publisher, co-host, lingerie creator and fundraiser, among others.

After the launch of her book, Sinner Takes All, this week, she's hoping for one more line on the biography: — New York Times bestseller.

Given the crowds that showed up at recent signings, she may want to go ahead and consider that resumé padded.

"There has been an amazing reaction [to the book]," she said. "We've been very successful in our sales, which is what we hoped for.

"We had a signing at a Borders in New York, and New York can be a tough crowd — they can be a bit snobby, I guess — but we had a great turnout. And we did a signing at Book Soup, an independent store in Los Angeles, and had a very, very good turnout."

A surprisingly happy byproduct of writing the book was a split with husband Evan Seinfeld, a rocker-turned-porn-actor. Patrick recently told SuicideGirls.com that she realized while working on the book that she no longer wanted to be married to someone in the porn industry and wanted to move her life in a different direction.

"It was a very liberating split for me," she told the Weekly. "I'm very happy. I'm in a good place. I'm surrounded by good people. I'm a very lucky woman who's accomplished a lot, seen a lot, grown a lot. And I'm happy about all that.

"If one can take away anything from writing a book, it's that it's a very cathartic experience, and it was that for me. I'm just going to keep growing and keep learning."

Part of that growing looks like it will be as part of an upcoming Vegas show. After three years of talks with local casinos to bring her own burlesque production to town, Patrick said she should be signing a contract for such a show in a couple weeks and hopes it will open later this year.

Her move to Vegas last year certainly will make such a production easier, but that's not the only reason she relocated.

"I've been coming to Vegas for a long time — ever since i was a kid — and I've always liked it," she said. "It has become my favorite place on the planet. I love living here. I love being a local. The people are really nice. I have a really nice house off the strip, and I love it. I even love the 118-degree summers."

Patrick pretty much has moved away from performing on front of the camera for the past couple years, but she has continued her career without the loss of fans who started following her when she was disrobing on film on a regular basis.

"My fans have been supportive and excited," she said. "They'll follow me wherever I go. It's not like all the content on the Internet or DVD is going to go away. You can still see me naked. You're just going to see me evolve into other things."

One of those things is a mainstream star, appearing in music videos, video games and TV shows. One of the first adult actresses to make such a crossover — she was the first porn star to be featured on the cover of the American edition of FHM — Patrick is happy to see other adult stars getting roles in non-adult productions.

"I think it's high time," she said. "There is some great talent in the adult industry. There are some really pretty girls, and I think the mainstream should take advantage of that. We're not dirty. We just love sex and get paid for it. That doesn't mean we don't have talent and can't cross over and do other things."