Former escort and author of "Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl" Tracy Quan gives us the skinny on the future of sex work online.

Craigslist, accused of being an online sex trafficker by crafty zealots, has closed down its U.S. Adult Services section, perhaps for good.

For johns, Craigslist had a reputation as an Internet souk for the sexually deprived, where they could shop for a GFE, unload their gently used furniture and find a GRE tutor. And for the sex workers themselves, Craigslist was the perfect place for amateurs and independents, a virtual stroll where anyone with an overdue rent bill could set up shop.

Craigslist didn't charge for adult classifieds until 2008, when they were trying to appease a ravenous pack of attorneys general. Getting the site to charge a fee for adult ads -- ostensibly, so the advertisers could be tracked and monitored -- turned out to be something of a setup. It wasn't long before Craigslist was (surprise!) under attack for making money off the sex trade.

But Craigslist was never the only -- or even the best -- option.

Of course, some escorts will try to meet new clients IRL -- in hotel bars and, if they're really resourceful, department stores. Those who feel exiled from Craigslist may even discover hidden benefits in print advertising.

"You get a more discreet kind of customer," one escort told me. "Men who don't want their activity to show up on the computer at work."

But many in the sex industry will stay online. An upscale New York madam of a certain age mentioned Eros Guide (tagline: "the ultimate guide to escorts and erotic entertainment"), equating it with the adult ads on public access cable TV in the '80s. "Craigslist?" she sniffed. "That's like working from the back pages of Screw magazine."

In fact, an Eros Guide escort told me she always considered Craigslist a magnet for undercover cops and time wasters -- not that she has any experience advertising there.

Backpage.com is a stripped-down, Craigslist-style site with an "adult" section that includes such sub-categories as "escorts," "body rubs" and "dom & fetish." Even a seemingly wholesome site like Citysearch has listings for adult services -- just type in "escort services" in your area to browse an array of ads. Advertisers on these sites are sure to see some increased business in the wake of the Craigslist escorting moratorium.

In New York, one beneficiary of Craigslist's new policy is the Village Voice's online classifieds. In 2007, when the National Organization for Women put pressure on New York's print media to pull their escort ads, The Village Voice was the only major weekly that stood up to the scare tactics. Maybe they deserve the extra business.

But, of course, even Craigslist isn't really done. Some escorts will certainly migrate to "Casual Encounters" or "Personals," posing as civilians. Key words like "generous" will help you sort out the pros from the rest. Happy surfing!