 Although praised by critics, when the Holy Wood album was finally released it was met with disappointing sales in comparison to Manson's previous albums, taking almost a year to reach gold certification in the US.Talk of the aforementioned film and novel slowly died down in the press.In spring 2002 Manson began again to mention the novel in various online journal posts; a release date had been set and that the delay was allegedly due to a certain religion's "way".