Mormon Stories Podcast depends entirely upon the voluntary contributions of you, its listeners.

To keep Mormon Stories alive, please consider donating today at MormonStories.org.

To make a donation to Mormon Stories, just click on the Make a Donation button at the top right of the Mormon Stories.org website.

Thank you for listening.

On December 28, 2006, Desireg Book, which is owned by the LDS Church, announced the acquisition of two of its top competitors, Siegel Book and Tape and its sister company Covenant Communications.

Based in American fork, Utah, Covenant Communications is one of the largest publishers of LDS themed books and games.

Siegel Book and Tape is an LDS-oriented discount book chain with 26 stores throughout Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and California.

According to Sherry Dew, President and CEO of Desireg Book Company, quote,

After lengthy analysis and discussions spanning many months, we reached the conclusion that this acquisition could benefit both Siegel and Desireg Book customers, as well as authors working with both Covenant Communications and Desireg Book Publishing.

We feel the Desireg Book as a full service book retailer and Siegel as a well-established discount book retailer, not only both enjoy tremendous brand loyalty, but between them service the LDS market well.

Our strategy is to continue to build both brands.

Mr. Covert, the founder and owner of both Siegel and Covenant adds, quote,

This is the perfect transition for Covenant and Siegel. Desireg Book was an ideal choice to make this acquisition and I fully expect the companies to complement each other going forward.

But many members of the broader LDS literary and publishing communities, as voiced on blogs such as MotleyVision.org, are concerned.

Does this concentrate too much power in the hands of Desireg Book? Could this mean higher prices and less choice for consumers? How will this affect Mormon authors?

Finally, how might this impact both the LDS Church and Mormon culture overall? On today's Mormon Stories podcast, we will learn a bit about the history of the Mormon publishing industry and will discuss this acquisition and how it might be good and bad for Mormons everywhere.

Your story today on Mormon Stories podcast.

As first in our series on the Desireg Book acquisition of Siegel books and tapes, we're pleased to have with this Kent Larson. Kent, thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

Kent, as I understand it, you're the president of a small company called Mormon Arts and Letters. Is that right?

That's right. We're an LDS publisher based here in New York City, something unusual by itself. And we're hoping to provide something new and a little bit different to the LDS market than what you traditionally find through companies like Desireg Book and Covenant and Cedar Fort.

We're trying to promote the high end of LDS literature.

...