Release
The book was published on October 21, 1992, generating international publicity. Several organizations tried to boycott the sale of the book, while many book stores refused to carry it. There were many negative essays by critics that considered Sex to be a calculated controversy timed to boost sales of Madonna's new album.
In spite of the controversy and negative reviews, Sex sold 150,000 copies on the day of its release in the USA alone. Three days later all 1.5 million copies of the first edition were sold out worldwide, making Sex the most successful coffee table book ever released. The bookstore chain Waldenbooks sold 22,000 copies of the book on the day of its release, and commented to MTV that they had never once seen a book sell out so quickly.
The day after the release of the book MTV aired a special called The Day In Madonna hosted by Kurt Loder (the title of this special was a pun of the title of the channel's daily show The Day In Rock), which profiled the release of Madonna's Sex and her new album Erotica, even taking the book to the streets to allow people, including a sex therapist and group of real-life New York City dominatrices, to view it. MTV also interviewed many people who had viewed the book on the day of its release at the HMV music store in New York City. In celebration of the release of the book, the store held a Madonna look-alike contest and set up a booth where people could view the book for $1.00 a minute, with all of the proceeds going to Lifebeat, the music industry organization founded to help fund AIDS research.
Since all of the first edition copies of the book sold out so quickly, there was a huge demand for additional copies, with Warner Books deciding to print a second edition of the book.
The Japanese version of the book was released on December 1, 1992, and after a week of being for sale in Japan the book was banned, leaving many book and music chains that purchased copies of the book unable to sell them.
Now long out of print, Sex is very valuable—prices for a brand-new unopened first edition can start at $150USD on Amazon.com or eBay.com. As a result of the Japanese version of the book only being printed in 1,000,000 copies and being banned shortly after its release, an unopened edition can start at prices as high as $120USD. But in Brazil, for example, these prices can be higher. The book was not sold in Brazil and the only version that can be found in rare bookstores is the American one and it can cost from $250USD to $400USD.
Madonna later responded to the negative publicity and controversy with her 1994 song "Human Nature", which was included on her album Bedtime Stories'(Cite references)
According to the BookFinder.com, Sex was the most requested out of circulation publication.
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Famous quotes containing the word release:
“An inquiry about the attitude towards the release of so-called political prisoners. I should be very sorry to see the United States holding anyone in confinement on account of any opinion that that person might hold. It is a fundamental tenet of our institutions that people have a right to believe what they want to believe and hold such opinions as they want to hold without having to answer to anyone for their private opinion.”
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“The near touch of death may be a release into life; if only it will break the egoistic will, and release that other flow.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)