The company said Thursday that a "technical mistake" had led some customers to receive copies of the latest novel by the famous author, "The Testaments," this week, a few days before the publication date of 10 September.
Atwood is an award-winning Canadian writer whose works include "Cat's Eye," "Alias Grace" and "The Handmaid's Tale," the latest of which is now a television series about Hulu. "The Testaments" is a sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale", published in 1985.
"Due to a technical error, a small number of customers were inadvertently sent to Margaret Atwood's" The Testaments, "an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement sent to CNN Business. "We apologize for this mistake, we value our relationships with authors, agents and publishers and we regret the difficulties that this has caused them, as well as our fellow librarians."
Publishers Weekly reported the incident Wednesday, citing booksellers who contacted the publisher about it. The publisher of the book also issued a statement on this subject, without naming Amazon as the culprit.
"A very small number of copies of Margaret Atwood's" The Wills "were distributed early due to a retailer's error that was corrected," said Todd Doughty, executive director of Doubleday, a division from Penguin Random House, in a statement. "We appreciate that readers and booksellers are waiting patiently for the long-awaited sequel to the bestseller" The Tale of the Maid "."
The publisher added that the global release date remains unchanged.
None of these two statements revealed the exact number of orders shipped by mistake. The Guardian announced that about 800 copies were released early, only for US customers.
Hulu and MGM announced Wednesday their intention to develop the new novel for television. Hulu has renewed the series "The Handmaid's Tale" for a fourth season.
