The World Is Full of Married Men time, Jacqueline Susann's similarly themed novel "Valley of the Dolls" (1966) had already become a huge bestseller and a hit film, and Collins' novel was accepted. Within a week of its publication, "The World Is Full of Married Men" made the best-seller list. The book was a hit in both the United Kingdom and the U.S., but was banned in Australia. Collins' publishers at the time, W.H. Allen, told her that unless she took the "four-letter words" out, the book would be banned in Australia. Collins proceeded in taking the four-letter words out and it was still banned in Australia.
Valley of the Dolls publication of her third novel, Susann said, "They can keep calling it that ["roman à clef"]. It'll only make my books sell. I don't care." Susann insisted that she began each book with a theme: "Then I start asking, what kind of a personality? And because I have a good ear, I unconsciously pick up certain people." Susann dedicated the book to her poodle Josephine, and to her husband Irving Mansfield. The book was published by Bernard Geis Associates on February 10, 1966, and "took off like a Cape Canaveral space shot." Although "Publishers Weekly", in an advance review, called