Posted on 08/19/2008 8:15:23 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Barnes & Noble has substantially reduced its 10,000-copy order of “Obama’s Challenge,” by Robert Kuttner, after Chelsea Green, the book’s publisher, announced it would initially be sold exclusively on Amazon.com.
Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble, said in a statement on Monday evening that the initial order “was based on the book being available to all booksellers simultaneously — an even playing field — which is common practice in book publishing.”
She declined to say how many copies the retailer ordered.
Katharine Walton, a spokeswoman for Chelsea Green, said Barnes & Noble was angry at being excluded and threatened on Monday afternoon not to stock the book.
Chelsea Green, a small Vermont-based company, decided to sell “Obama’s Challenge,” an admiring portrait of Mr. Obama, through Amazon’s print-on-demand service so that it could be available to attendees of the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week.
The publisher plans to distribute coupons to 15,000 convention-goers for an early discount on Amazon.com.
“This election is too important to wait around for traditional publishing lead times,” Margo Baldwin, the president and publisher, said in a statement Friday.
But the decision angered other retailers, including Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores, many of whom vowed to boycott Chelsea Green in response.
On Monday, Ms. Baldwin, an Obama supporter, tried to calm the furor by issuing an open letter to booksellers. “If all of you cancel your orders it will mean that a really good and important book on Obama will be effectively boycotted,” she wrote in a letter posted on the Chelsea Green Web site.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oops! *\;-)
“Obama’s Challenge” — shades of “Mein Kampf”!
HA HA HA HA HA........
Kuttner is a vapid socialist who has written what can be expected to be a snivelling official-promo from the Obambi campaign. Wow, what an important masterpiece it will be.
Oh, goodie. Cancel those orders, bookstores; don't let Amazon get away with this!
“Kampf” is usually translated as “Struggle”...
Not at all. The book will still be available from the publisher who got the sweetheart deal. Their competitors are understandably objecting to being stiffed on the release AND ending up with a money-losing refugee from a remainder rack. "Important" in this context means "it's really important you clowns pony up for the Obama campaign."
Do booksellers buy the books they stock, or are they held on a form of consignment?
To your question - it depends. Most large publishers take returns, some don't. Smaller ones generally don't, but some do.
I just bought my copy of Obama Nation today. I hear it’s still #1 on the best seller lists.
“or how I learned to speak without a teleprompter.”
Except that would be yet another lie - because he HASN’T.
Would that "challenge" be inhaling or snorting? Why is no one making an issue of his drug use during his teen years when his brain was still developing?
"Jihad" also fits with Kampf and struggle.
Makes more sense after his performance at the Saddleback Church and his latest comment threatening Senator McCain.
Many muslims define jihad as "struggle" also. Not a coincidence.
Cheers
I love it when the best laid plans of mice and Rats fizzle out!
Margo Baldwin is a political hack.
btt
“”””On Monday, Ms. Baldwin, an Obama supporter, tried to calm the furor by issuing an open letter to booksellers. “If all of you cancel your orders it will mean that a really good and important book on Obama will be effectively boycotted,” she wrote in a letter posted on the Chelsea Green Web site.(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...”””””
I smell major doubletalk here. It is simply amazing the level the NY Times will go to in supporting Obama. I would be pretty sure the real truth to this story is that sales of this book have been an absolute disaster. Barnes and Noble cancelled a 10,000 book order and now the publisher is stuck with their entire first printing.
It would be nice to have a mole at the publishing company who could give us the real story.
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