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Success begets more success, and fate loves a winner. That's what publicists and PR pros must be telling themselves as they watch more fortune fall effortlessly on E.L. James' novel Fifty Shades of Grey, a worldwide sensation about a student who embarks on a "passionately physical" affair with a young entrepreneur.
After Florida Today reported that all 19 copies of Fifty Shades of Grey were pulled from the Brevard County Public Libraries System ("We don't collect porn," library services director Cathy Schweinsberg told Florida Today), awareness of the book peaked as the story ricocheted around the Web—just in time for those last-minute Mother's Day gifts.
The library itself is hopelessly trapped in a media spotlight for which it was undoubtedly unprepared. Further explanations from the library are sure to come, as is a decision to put the books back on the shelves. On May 8 Florida Today reported that a local resident has launched a petition to reinstate the book, and a similar petition was launched on Change.org.
But for publisher Vintage and author James, it's a fantasy scenario.
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