Potter book under guard at secret U.S. warehouse
- From: Garondo Marondo <Classic.Mr.Hole@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:09:57 -0700
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070716/en_nm/arts_potter_security_dc;_ylt=Arsgc8mqPsj53TUNMXVXawFb.nQA
By Michelle Nichols
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The answer to whether Harry Potter lives or dies
lies in a stack of sealed boxes, shrouded as if hidden beneath an
invisibility cloak.
Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book retailer, has started taking
delivery of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and
final Harry Potter novel, at a warehouse somewhere in the northeastern
United States.
With its ending wrapped in secrecy and high security surrounding its
distribution, the book will go on sale around the world at midnight on
Friday.
Taking care not to break its contract with Potter's U.S. publisher
Scholastic Corp., Barnes & Noble gave reporters a tour of its
distribution center -- but asked them to keep the location secret.
"We have had security all around the building, 24 hours a day, seven
days a week," Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Steve Riggio told
Reuters.
In Britain, The Sunday Telegraph reported trucks carrying books from
warehouses to shops will be fitted with satellite tracking systems to
ensure they stick to assigned routes, while pallets of books have been
fitted with alarms in an operation estimated to cost $20 million.
British publisher Bloomsbury would not comment.
Barnes & Noble would not even say when it started taking delivery of
the books or when they would be sent to more than 700 stores across
America.
Hundreds of white boxes destined for retail stores were emblazoned in
red with the book's title and strict instructions "Do not open before
July 21, 2007."
Fans are desperate to know whether the teen-age wizard Potter lives or
dies after author J.K. Rowling revealed in June last year that she
would kill off at least two characters in book seven, and that a third
got a reprieve.
At the Barnes & Noble warehouse, copies reserved for customers who
ordered online sat temptingly on pallets during Monday's tour,
unwrapped and out of their boxes.
NO LEAKS EXPECTED
If anyone had dared sneak a peak at the much-anticipated ending, no
one was saying. "We're processing so many books there isn't time to
open the book," Riggio said "So we're very, very confident there will
be no leak."
Tens of millions of copies of the books are forecast to sell
worldwide. Riggio said Barnes & Noble expected to take nearly 1.5
million pre-orders by Friday. Rival bookseller Amazon had recorded
more than 1.3 million orders on Monday.
Retailers in the United States and Britain have had to sign a legal
embargo on the book with Scholastic and Bloomsbury which said it has
lawyers poised 24 hours a day to deal with any breaches.
At the Northeast warehouse, copies had about as much chance of
escaping as a prisoner at Azkaban. "We have done this before. We're
quite good at it and we expect that the book will remain under wraps
until midnight Friday night," Riggio said.
Two security guards patrolled the small enclosed area where the books
were being repacked, keeping a watchful eye on workers and checking
trolleys of rubbish for hidden copies.
Scholastic declined to comment on what security measures it has in
place in America.
"It's like a major logistics operation," Riggio said. "The amazing
thing we will see in our stores is that kids will buy the book and
they'll leave the cash register and they will open it immediately and
start reading it."
"So we expect word to get out quickly after midnight as to what's in
store for Harry," he said.
.
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