If an an attempted ban doesn't succeed, can it really hurt the book/author?
YES.
To talk about why a challenge can be detrimental, I'm taking a page from Jennifer Hubbard, who has an amazing post on this topic.
Neil Gaiman, my hero (swoon), also weighed in on the same topic yesterday.
Mainly it's about fear and the market. Books are a risky business in the first place and the people in charge of acquiring them (particularly librarians) have ever dwindling resources with which to buy books. If a book seems like it might cause a big kerfuffle then it might run the risk of not being acquired, shelved, or sold in the first place. The question thus becomes not "should I pull this book," but "do I dare even acquire this book in the first place?"
Also hooray for Yvonne at The Organic Writer for another great Banned Books Week post and challenge! How many banned books have you read?
