Fifty Shades Author’s Mother’s Day Gift: A Banning in Florida

by Steve Goldstein | 05/08/2012

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.

Follow Steve Goldstein: @SGoldsteinAI



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About Steve Goldstein

Steve Goldstein is editorial director of events for Access Intelligence’s PR News brand, which encompasses premium, how-to content, data and competitive intelligence for public relations professionals; PR News Online; PR News conferences, webinars and awards programs; and PR News guidebooks. Previously at AI Steve was editorial director of min, min ’s b2b and minonline as well as managing editor of CableFAX: The Magazine and CableWorld. Before joining Access Intelligence, he was executive editor of World Screen News, and editor of Film/Tape World, which covered film, television and commercial production in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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