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Harry Potter IV: 'Goblet of Fire' Sparks Controversy
Shannon Maughan &Jim Milliot -- 7/3/00
The title of J.K. Rowling's fourth book about Harry Potter, will be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as confirmed in a statement released by Scholastic on June 27.
But it is not the release of the name that has infuriated independent booksellers, but rather the announcement by Amazon.com that it will ship Harry Potter IV overnight to 250,000 customers for arrival on July 8 (an offer that has since been extended). Many retailers believe that Amazon's shipping arrangement flies in the face of the on-sale affidavits signed by bricks-and-mortar retailers ensuring they will not sell the book before the July 8 laydown date.

In a letter to Scholastic executives, ABA president Neal Coonerty and CEO Avin Mark Domnitz charged that Scholastic was not requiring Amazon to abide by the same rules that all other bookstores are required to abide by. The ABA contends that in order to ship books to customers that will arrive on July 8, Amazon needed to violate certain parts of the laydown agreement, including a clause that prohibits stores from allowing the Potter title to leave a secure place.

According to Michael Jacobs, senior v-p, trade books at Scholastic, "There has absolutely been no special treatment for Amazon. From the very beginning, our stipulations for the laydown date were based on main- taining complete par- ity with the U.K. When we found out from Bloomsbury that they were allowing non-walk-in, presold copies of the book to be shipped on July 7 for delivery on July 8, we decided we could allow our accounts the same opportunity."

Jacobs said that Scholastic notified booksellers of this shipping possibility "as soon as they made the decision" via a mailing dated June 19. Booksellers wishing to ship books on July 7 must provide Scholastic with proof of a "secure plan," which includes an agreement for confidentiality to be upheld by retailers, distributors and shipping companies.

In its letter, the ABA asked that Scholastic implement several steps to help its members who want to ship orders to arrive on July 8 to be able to do so. Jacobs said he has agreed to the request, although he did not agree to allow ABA members to begin holding readings at 11 p.m. on July 7. At press time Jacobs told PW that Scholastic had approved 80 requests from ABA members to ship books on Friday.

"The playing field is completely level, and has always been level," Jacobs insisted.
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