Publisher is Civilian Casualty in Proxy War Between Barnes & Noble and Amazon

Barnes & Noble has canceled a 10,000 copy order to punish a publisher for giving Amazon.com a short exclusive window on a soon-to-be-published book about Barack Obama.

According to Associated Press's Hillel Italie, Chelsea Green, a small Vermont publisher, gave Amazon and its wholly owned on-demand print division BookSurge, an exclusive window to distribute Robert Kuttner's "Obama's Challenge" at the Democratic Convention next week in Denver. Chelsea Green's action put B&N's nose so far out of joint that it canceled a very big order. Smaller bookstores were reported to be equally ticked off, but none has the clout to hurt a small press the way B&N does, and B&N wielded its battle ax with a will.

This is just the latest skirmish in the escalating warfare between bookstores - in particular the behemoth B&N chain - and Amazon, and this time the publisher couldn't - or wouldn't - get out of the line of fire.

Chelsea Green President Margo Baldwin was defiant about Barnes & Noble's action: "They are not going to bully us and the book will be a huge success in spite of their boycott."

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- Richard Curtis