South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s recently released book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” has a limited supply of physical copies available in the state's largest city.
Most shelves turn up empty. However, residents do still have the option of ordering the book online through large retailers such as Target or Walmart . This is the second autobiography the state's top elected official has published, with the first being “Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland,” released in June 2022.
More: Who is Kristi Noem? Everything to know about the South Dakota governor
This latest publication focuses more on national and local politics and details her time as the state's first female governor, as well as her time in the South Dakota House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives. But the book has also brought controversy to the Governor as well, after she included a passage that describes her shooting her 14-month-old hunting dog Cricket , and at least two corrections needed to be issued tied to false statements inside.
Noem, who is in her second term, is also on former President Donald Trump's list for vice president in this year’s presidential election.
Where to find, and not find, Noem's book
One national retailer, Barnes & Noble does have the book available both online and in-store. Employees said an entire case was pre-ordered and sold out before the book’s actual release date. More copies have been ordered, and to date, are available to purchase in-store.
But for locally-owned bookstores, residents will find a mixed bag. The manager of Zandbrotz Variety, on Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls, said shoppers won't find it on their shelves .
“I’m not going to sell it…," store manager Jamie Scarborough said. "Because of the falsities that have been pointed out recently in it, I have no interest in selling it."
Instead, on Monday, Zandbroz posted new merchandise in stock on social media, depicting a R.I.P Cricket saint candle and anti-Noem stickers.
Full Circle Book Co-op , which describes itself as “a creative hub” downtown that sells new and used books and local art, has historically been opposed to the South Dakota governor.
Owner Sion Lidster said they will not be stocking Noem’s book, citing he knows they wouldn’t sell well given the type of client base they have.
“But on a more personal note, we wouldn't stock it simply because we have very different ideals to the ones Kristi Noem decides to portray and enact here in South Dakota," Lidster said. "Our base aims to be more open-minded and tolerant, and these are not traits that I have witnessed from Kristi Noem. The backlash she is facing from the book shows that she is not a fair representation of many of us here in South Dakota, and seemingly from the country at large. If this book leads to us electing a more fair governor, then Cricket's death will not have been in vain.”
Crossroads Book & Music , located on 41st Street, is a Christian storefront offering gifts, music, church supplies and books. Owner Russ Borchardt said they may have physical copies at some point, but not as of now.
“I haven’t looked at the book personally yet,” Borchardt said, relaying that the business will determine its plans to have physical books on hand after reviewing it. They have, however, placed a few special orders for the publication.
Crossroads carried Noem’s first book, “Not My First Rodeo” when it was released, and Borchardt commented it “did very well.”
Representatives for the west and east side Last Stop CD Shop locations said they don’t currently have it on hand, but they would sell it used if someone brought it in. Book availability can be searched on their website.
Another option Sioux Falls residents will have is Siouxland Libraries. Currently, only the eAudiobook is available but library staff said they have ordered six physical copies they hope to have soon. As of Tuesday, there are 38 holds on the book. The eAudiobook has 73 holds.
A few oversights
As the description of Noem’s book states, “This book is packed with surprising stories and practical lessons from the front lines of the battle." And there have indeed been a few narrative surprises, as well as battles with the media as of late.
More: Did Kristi Noem shoot her dog? 'No Going Back' and its various controversies, explained
Noem’s 272-page memoir was released May 7, but not without prior controversy when The Guardian reported a passage April 26 about Noem shooting Cricket, as well as a goat two decades ago. Since then, false anecdotes about Noem meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un and about Senator Mike Rounds calling for Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential election in 2016 , have also come to light. Questions have also risen about Noem's meeting with at least one other world leader mentioned in the book, like French President Emmanual Macron.
More: For Gov. Noem's political career, there's 'No Going Back' after dog story: Analysis
“It was brought to our attention that the upcoming book ‘No Going Back’ has two small errors,” Noem’s Chief of Communications Ian Fury said in an official statement after the controversy about Kim Jung-un. “This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor. Kim Jong-un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldn’t have been.”
Fury also said all future editions of Noem's book will be corrected and that she canceled a few national interviews after the controversies made headlines, citing bad weather in the state, before seemingly continuing her tour in Florida last week to share the book with Trump supporters.
More: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks before Trump supporters in Florida book event
The Argus Leader has reached out to Fury multiple times within the last two weeks to ask a variety of questions about the book's inaccuracies, and for an interview to offer her a chance to speak directly to South Dakotans through a local avenue. The requests, with the last as recent as Monday, have been ignored.
The controversies may have even affected the price of Noem’s book, with the original price dropping from $30 to about $21.53 at Walmart, $21.99 at Target and $21.53 on Amazon, with Amazon's price changing more than 20% in the four or five days after The Guardian's report.
A ghostwriter describes the process
The reason for the price adjustment could be the result of a large number of sales or possibly to encourage more sales, according to renowned ghostwriter Joshua Lisec .
Lisec, No. 1 international and Wall Street Journal bestselling ghostwriter of 88 books, provided a little more background and perspective on the ghostwriting process.
“So, most people believe that a ghostwriter writes a book, the author puts your name on it and that's that," Lisec said. "Unfortunately, that is exactly how it is most of the time with public figures."
He stated because of their busy schedules, public figures have very limited time to meet with their ghostwriter. This, Lisec said, could lead to errors or invalid information in the book.
“Memoirs are the anti-tabloid…A tabloid is negative, mostly fake news about a person," Lisec said. "A public figure’s autobiography, this celebrity memoir, is mostly fake but positive news stories, anecdotes, claims and sensationalism about the individual."
The intent, Lisec said, of these memoirs is “not to be accurate but to create rapport with the general public reading.” It's a novelization of their life story, as he put it.
Noem’s memoir is no different, according to Lisec. He said it’s likely Noem’s ghostwriter only had a few hours with Noem, which could be the reason for the inaccuracies and surprising story about her dog Cricket.
Lisec said what’s even more interesting is that when Noem was questioned about the authenticity of meeting with Kim Jung-Un in a May 6 interview with CBS News , she opened with an unnecessary adverb saying, “I specifically have worked on policy for over 30 years.”
That, Lisec said, is a “tell for deceit or exaggeration.”
Lisec is even skeptical that the Cricket story is “a wild exaggeration of what actually happened,” if it occurred at all.
In total, he estimated at least an alleged five people would have seen Noem’s book before it went to print “and Gov. Noem was not one of them,” Lisec said. This would have been the ghostwriter, editor, proofreader, occasionally a second proofreader and a typesetter.
There’s also evidence that Noem recorded the audiobook, so, Lisec asks, “Why would she be surprised by these inaccuracies and why would she not have issued a correction?”
He said he thinks Noem was presented with two choices, to reframe and control the narrative by going along with it or admit her ghostwriter invented several stories in her book. The former seems to be the chosen path, Lisec said.
The Argus Leader reached out multiple times to Noem's publisher as well as her literary agent to ask more questions, but neither responded to the requests as of press time.
Why retailers may be delaying stocking shelves
When it comes to obtaining a physical copy of the book, Lisec said the delay could simply be that bookstores and distributors are awaiting confirmation of reprinted books from the publisher. Or retailers could be waiting on how this whole narrative plays out in the end.
Media spokespeople for Target and Walmart would not say when or whether the book would be available on store shelves.
“It would be easy to dispel any and all speculation with some transparency, right? Are we getting any transparency?” Lisec said. “Those of us who have experience in relationships and in this industry and working on high-level, high-pressure timelines, we know what it's like, but it's a bit of a black box. The actual scenario, it seems like they prefer it that way, which tells me it might be even worse than I'm speculating. Maybe even so much worse.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: A ghostwriter explains why Kristi Noem’s new memoir might be hard to find in Sioux Falls
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