Blue is a blogger who wrote a weekly sex column for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her podcast is Open Source Sex, in which she reads erotica and talks about topics such as fetishes and oral sex. San Francisco Bay Guardian Arts and Entertainment She also has a video blog. Blue wrote a feature about porn for women which was published in the July 2007 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. She lectures at San Francisco Sex Information on the topics of oral sex and fetish. Blue is the author of several books on sex and has edited several volumes of erotica anthologies. Her first book was an erotic anthology she edited titled Sweet Life: Erotic Fantasies for Couples was published in December 2001 by Cleis Press.
Blue's web presence is not limited strictly to sex writing:
She writes news and technology blog Techyum.
She is a contributor to Metroblogging San Francisco.
In addition to her own video blog, she is a correspondent for Geek Entertainment Television.
In January 2007, Forbes named her one of The Web Celeb 25.
She was a crew member of industrial machine performance art group Survival Research Labs from 1996 to May 2007.
In October 2007, Violet Blue launched the DRM-free publishing venture Digita Publications, releasing audiobooks and ebooks in several open formats on a variety of sex-related subjects.
In October 2007, Blue filed a lawsuit against adult actress Ada Mae Johnson, who had performed under the name since 2000, alleging that Johnson had adopted Blue's persona, and her recently-trademarked name, "Violet Blue". The lawsuit alleges trademark violation and dilution, as well as unfair business practices. With the lawsuit pending, Johnson, the bulk of whose income "just a few hundred dollars per month" was derived from her self-named web site, changed her stage name to Violetta Blue, and then to Noname Jane pursuant to a preliminary injunction and court order to cease using "names, trademarks and Internet domains confusingly similar to, or identical to, Plaintiff's trademark VIOLET BLUE," which was filed in 2007, and Johnson announced that her web site's name would also change in the near future. The lawsuit was settled inOctober 2008
In July 2008, Blue sought restraining orders against online critics David Burch (aka Ben Burch) and Nina Alter to prohibit them from e-mailing her, editing her Wikipedia page, or writing unkindly about her online. Both motions were denied.
Around June 2008, there was controversy in the blogosphere after Violet Blue posted on her blog claiming that the blog Boing Boing had removed all posts referring to the author (estimated by a Los Angeles Times blogger to number at least 70) from the site. A heated debate ensued after a brief statement on the Boing Boing site regarding this action stated: "Violet behaved in a way that made us reconsider whether we wanted to lend her any credibility or associate with her. It's our blog and so we made an editorial decision, like we do every single day". Boing Boing editor Xeni Jardin said that she hoped she would not have to make the reasons public.
