HP7's Leaky Embargo Still Floats

By Karen Holt and Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 7/19/2007 8:00:00 AM

Though copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have already made it into some readers' and reviewers' hands and the Internet is filled with what may or may not be accurate descriptions of key plot points, HP7's publishers insist the embargo still holds and booksellers say they're committed to honoring it.

Bloomsbury Publishing, which publishes the Harry Potter series in the U.K., has released a statement saying that the July 21 sale date "is being enforced unflinchingly and without exception by the publishers. We confirm that all Bloomsbury's customers in 93 countries worldwide are robustly supporting this embargo time to ensure secrecy for the children and adult readers of Harry Potter." The statement echoes earlier sentiments from Scholastic, which urged the media and readers who obtain a copy of the book early to guard its secrecy.

At Barnes & Noble, Mary Ellen Keating said the retailer is keeping to the embargo despite indications that DeepDiscount.com shipped copies early to customers, perhaps as many as 1,200 of them, with at least some arriving as early as July 17. "We don't think the fact that the book has appeared online already will affect sales of the book. People want to read it for themselves," Keating said.

Independent booksellers also said the early release of some copies won't change their plans to wait and sell the book on July 21 during midnight celebrations. "We will still abide by the original contract," said Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Tex. "Our party will go on as planned... and hopefully readers of these [already sold] books will not spoil it for the rest of us."

Many independent booksellers expressed their disappointment in DeepDiscount.com's breaking of the embargo. Kris Kleindienst, co-owner of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Mo., said, "This is what happens when publishers cater to non-booksellers. Let the professional booksellers handle this and this kind of thing won't happen. It cheapens and diminishes the professionalism of our industry to sink down to the level of those great discount machines." Thea Kotroba, general manager of Chester County Book & Music Company in West Chester, Pa., agreed: "There's always a breach [with embargoes], and it's always a non-bookstore. They're not used to handling that kind of merchandise. If you walked into a Kmart or Wal-Mart and asked 20 people what an on-sale date was, none of them would have any idea."

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