Independent Booksellers ‘Disheartened’ with Chelsea Green
Publishers Weekly.

Many independent booksellers are outraged with Chelsea Green’s decision to sell Robert Kuttner’s new book, Obama’s Challenge, by offering a discount coupon at the Democratic National Convention redeemable exclusively on Amazon.com via POD until the regular print run is available for national distribution.

And now B&N have cancelled their order
Oh the drama:

Barnes & Noble has cancelled its 10,000-copy order of Obama’s Challenge, a book by Robert Kuttner that Chelsea Green is making available early exclusively through Amazon.com. Chelsea Green president and publisher Margo Baldwin said the chain will make the book available on BN.com and will special order it, but that it will not stock it in its stores.

Oh and the Obama e-book
From The Guardian a little bit ago:
Aides say the book, Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama’s Plan to Renew America’s Promise, is meant as a political souvenir, and envisage an initial print run of 300,000. It is scheduled for release on September 9. An ebook version will be released a day earlier.