Indie Booksellers Incensed as Amazon Breaks 'Testament' Embargo - Publishers Weekly

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere today, when the Panzermobile was buffeted and shaken by crying and screaming and gnashing of teeth. Following all the noise took our brave kitty boy to the Publishers Weekly site. There he found a post about online book retailer Amazon's latest mess with bricks and mortar bookstores.

 According to Claire Kirch's post, Margaret Atwood's new novel The Testament, the sequel to The Handmaiden's Tale, is scheduled to go on sale September 10. Publisher Penguin Random House (PRH) required bookstores to sign an embargo contract agreeing not to sell the book before that date. It turns out, as soon as Amazon got the books delivered to their warehouse they began mailing copies to their customers who pre-ordered it. Bricks and mortar bookstores immediately complained to PRH. As soon as Amazon realized what had happened, the company stopped the book deliveries.

I bet somebody is looking for a new job.

Panzer says, "Umm ... Were they all sent from just one warehouse? ... If so ... Then ... Maybe it was a mistake."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon