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Do buyers from chain bookstores and big-box stores (Costco, Wal-Mart) ever ask publishers to change the content of a book? Word is that they do this just enough to scare authors and editors to death, but evidence of the practice has been nearly impossible to find.
Now comes news that Wal-Mart - or more specifically, Anderson Merchandising, the distributor whose sole client is Wal-Mart - has asked a publisher of romance novels, Dorchester Publishing Co., to change the content of a book to make it more "appropriate."
It appears that a buyer at Anderson took one look at advance excerpts from Susan Grant's fourth book, "Contact," a lead romance novel from Dorchester's imprint, LoveSpell, and decided that the airplane hijacking theme of the story was "inappropriate" a year after 9/11.
Changes in "editorial content" were requested by Anderson/Wal-Mart, but Dorchester refused, bless 'em. As as a result, "Contact" was declined by Anderson and is not sold in Wal-Mart stores. (Interestingly, it's available through Wal-Mart online, but that seems to be another story.)
(Interestingly, it's available through Wal-Mart online, but that seems to be another story.)
Which sort of implies that it's Anderson and not Wal-Mart that's the problem.
See above. Anderson's sole client is Wal-Mart. We can safely assume that their decisions are not unpalatable to Wal-Mart.
If anybody wants to read my story, it should be here:
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Sorry, the html is a bit funky, but I think it can mostly be understood.
Trying to read it, Ali, but I keep getting interrupted. I'll get to it tonight if nothing else.
No problem, Connie. Thank you!
In the it's all about me news:
Ok, I'd really appreciate it if anyone who was planning on reading my story did not critique anything, since I've just spent about $20 making 23 copies of it, and I'm not going to change it and print new versions, so if someone makes a brilliant critique, it is only likely to make me upset because I can't implement any changes. So, um, yeah. Feel free to read it, or not, whatever you want, but the critiquing window has closed. If that means I should take down the link, I can do that too. Thanks!
Oh, yeah, right, I knew there was something important I meant to do.
t hangs head
I'm a bad beta. But, really, such a brilliant person as Alibelle would not have produced dreck.
I read the story and enjoyed it, Alibelle.
