George R.R. Martin Furious at Amazon Germany for Selling Book Ahead of Release Date

Posted on July 5, 2011

Author George R.R. Martin is angry at Amazon Germany for temporarily releasing his book, A Dance with Dragons, well ahead of the sales date. Amazon Germany suddenly started shipping A Dance With Dragons at the end of June, which was weeks ahead of the official release date of July 12. Amazon Germany shipped 180 copies before realizing its error and halting shipping.

George R.R. Martin writes that he is ready to mount the head of the person responsible on a spike.

I am not happy about this. My publishers are furious.
If we find out who is responsible, we will mount his head on a spike.
Some other retailers are making noises about releasing their own stocks early, using the Amazon error as a justification. They are not supposed to do this. If you hear of anyone actually selling or shipping copies in advance of the publication date, please inform me ASAP.

It was certainly a major error by Amazon Germany involving a major book release. George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is red hot right now thanks to the HBO series, Game of Thrones. Regular readers of the series have also been eagerly awaiting the latest installment. Hopefully, the 180 lucky early readers will refrain from leaking essential plot details.