Bad book! Naughty book!
So now - nearly three years and untold number of copies since its initial release - Deseret Book finally noticed that Stephenie Meyer's vampire series Twilight might raise moral objections among the bookstore chain's devoted LDS audience.
Isn't that a bit like saying an apple is a bad apple only after you've squeezed out all the juice?
As the Tribune's Ben Fulton reported today, Deseret Book (which is owned by the business arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is pulling Twilight and its three sequels off the chain's shelves. The books will still be available through special order for pick-up or mail delivery.
"Like any retailer, our purpose is to offer products that are embraced and expected by our customers. When we find products that are met with mixed review, we typically move them to special order status," read a statement by Deseret Book spokeswoman Leigh Dethman.
The books have been popular with many LDS readers, because Meyer (pictured) - who is a Mormon herself - keeps the sexual tension between human Bella and vampire Edward strictly chaste before marriage.
Isn't that a bit like saying an apple is a bad apple only after you've squeezed out all the juice?
As the Tribune's Ben Fulton reported today, Deseret Book (which is owned by the business arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is pulling Twilight and its three sequels off the chain's shelves. The books will still be available through special order for pick-up or mail delivery.
"Like any retailer, our purpose is to offer products that are embraced and expected by our customers. When we find products that are met with mixed review, we typically move them to special order status," read a statement by Deseret Book spokeswoman Leigh Dethman.The books have been popular with many LDS readers, because Meyer (pictured) - who is a Mormon herself - keeps the sexual tension between human Bella and vampire Edward strictly chaste before marriage.
posted by Sean P. Means @ 9:57 AM |
2 Comments:
Sean, DB is shooting itself in the foot. Its throwing out books that have to be making a profit for their stores to satisfy who? a few disgruntled customers? Do those customers really have an option to go elsewhere, to a store that is even stricter in its standards than Deseret Book? [Name the store! I don't think anyone exists that is more strict than they are!!]
I understand being responsive to customers, but I can't see that the number of complaints is so large that it overwhelms the (probably) thousands of copies of Twilight books that Deseret Book has sold in the past 3 1/2 years! More likely, IMO, is that some complaints are going to Deseret Book's "Board of Directors."
The sad part is that these moves continue to alienate the more than 50% of active LDS Church members who don't shop at Deseret Book because they don't believe DB has the kind of books they will want.
When Deseret Book rejects works for such trivial reasons, is it any wonder that they think DB's selection isn't going to satisfy them?
What's next? Is Deseret Book going to reject a book that has one Angel drop kick another through a wall? (Oh, sorry, that's right, they already did that several years ago!)
Or perhaps, Deseret Book will reject books by Richard Paul Evans (Oh, right, they did that also).
This is positively pharasaic. Deseret Book is straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel.
Maybe Gayle Ruzicka finally got around to reading it.
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