Cedar Fort, Inc.

Cedar Fort, Inc. is a mid-sized publisher based in Utah. Founded in 1986 by Lyle Mortimer and Lee Nelson,^[1] Cedar Fort has evolved from a niche Latter-day Saints book publisher, to a national multimedia company, with offerings in film, audiobooks, art, and gifts alongside its book catalog. In 2015, Publishers Weekly named Cedar Fort one of its top ten fastest growing publishers.^[2]

Imprints

• Front Table Books - Cookbooks and outdoors. Notable titles include:
  • Artisan Caramels^[3]
  • A to Z Cookbook for Kids^[4]
• Bonneville Books - Latter-Day Saint themed fiction, including romance and YA fantasy. Notable titles include:
  • Mile 21^[5]
  • My Loving Vigil Keeping^[6]
• Sweetwater Books
  • Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand^[7]
• Hobble Creek Press - Outdoors, preparedness, and gardening.
• CFI - LDS doctrinal titles for youth and adults.
• Plain Sight Publishing - National nonfiction.
• Council Press - One of the oldest imprints of Cedar Fort. Primarily historical fiction, near death experiences, and the works of Lee Nelson.
• Pioneer Plus - Gifts and journals.
• Horizon Publishers - Titles from the acquisition of the former publishing house of the same name. Primarily LDS-themed imprint. Notable Titles:
  • Prophecy: Key to the Future

History

Founding

Cedar Fort, Inc was founded in May 1986 and initially produced LDS Books for other publishers. ^[1] The company's first book, Beyond the Veil by Lee Nelson (author of the Storm Testament Series), was published in September 1987. Beyond the Veil became an instant bestseller leading to an extended series which has sold more than 250,000 books. ^[1]

Merges/Acquisitions

Over the years, Cedar Fort has merged with companies and acquired others. Most notable of these are Lee Nelson's Council Press (1998), Horizon Publishers (2004), Pioneer Plus (2004), and Books & Things Catalog (2012). ^[1]

Pioneer Plus

Pioneer Plus created and sold LDS products for over 30 years before becoming a part of Cedar Fort, Inc. Cedar Fort continues to produce over 150 Pioneer Plus products every year.

Current operations

Cedar Fort began publishing for a national audience in 1998. The company currently produces and sells around 165 books, various CDs, DVDs, and ebooks every year.

In recent years, they have increased distribution with distributors and national chains such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Books a Million, Anderson, Costco, Barnes & Noble, Sam's Club, and Brodart.

Film distribution

The Saratov Approach

In 2014, Cedar Fort launched their LDS DVD & Blu-ray distribution with the film The Saratov Approach. The movie grossed more than $2.1 million at the box office. The DVD and Blu-ray distribution began March 11, 2015.^[8]

Wayward

Currently, the only other film project that Cedar Fort has taken on was the film Wayward, which re-tells the Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Bible set in modern times.

As of July 17, 2015, Wayward had a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but currently doesn't have a Tomatometer score. ^[9]

The film was released in theatres on November 7, 2015 and is currently being distributed on DVD. ^[10]

Controversy

Gay author biography dispute

In August 2013, Cedar Fort was involved in a dispute over the content of the author biography for the book Woven, a young adult fantasy novel. Author Michael Jensen wanted his biography to include the fact that he lived "in Salt Lake City with his boyfriend"—just as his coauthor's biography included reference to the coauthor's wife.^[11]

Cedar Fort acquisitions editor Angie Workman sent Jensen an email citing concerns that including the reference would harm Cedar Fort's relationship with LDS-owned bookstores,^[12] an assertion that Seagull Book officials said was "speculation."^[13] Jensen offered to change "boyfriend" to the non-gender-specific "partner," but Cedar Fort declined. When Jensen persisted with his biography request, Cedar Fort founder and publisher Lyle Mortimer refused and, according to Jensen, became belligerent and offensive, allegedly accusing Jensen of trying to destroy families and telling him that "God gave you a penis for a reason."^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]} In a media interview about the controversy, current Cedar Fort president Bryce Mortimer did not address Jensen's allegations about Lyle Mortimer's behavior, but did say that Jensen was merely using Cedar Fort "as a springboard for supporting [homosexuality]."^[13]

The ensuing media furor eventually resulted in Cedar Fort returning publishing rights to Jensen and his coauthor, who, thanks to the international attention, sold Woven at auction to Scholastic Press.^[17] The controversy also triggered a petition from Utah authors (including Carla Kelly and Jeffrey Scott Savage), most of them LDS and many signed by Cedar Fort, criticizing Mortimer for his alleged actions. Further confusing the issue, Cedar Fort had just published The Reluctant Blogger, which includes a sympathetic gay supporting character, leading several of the authors to complain about Cedar Fort's inconsistent approach to homosexuality.^[18]

Religious book

In 2014 Cedar Fort published The Lost Teachings of Jesus on the Sacred Place of Women by Brigham Young University Professor Alonzo L. Gaskill. The book is based on the findings of the late 19th century Russian scholar Nicholas Notovitch, which contain the purported "lost teachings of Jesus Christ" from an ancient manuscript housed at a Buddhist monastery in India. Both Notovitch's and Alonzo's works have been challenged over the veracity of the source material.^[19] "It's absolutely fraudulent," said University of Utah Professor Dr. David Bokovoy of the book's source.

References