Amazon.com Offers Customers a Sneak Peek At John Grisham's Anticipated New Legal Thriller, the Summons.

Entertainment Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2002

All Customers Who Order The Summons Prior to Its February 5 Release

Receive a Free, Instant Digital Download of

the Book's First Two Chapters

Starting today, Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) is making the first two chapters of John Grisham's highly anticipated new novel, The Summons, available as a free, instant digital download to all customers who order the book before its Feb. 5 national on-sale date.

Customers who pre-order The Summons at Amazon.com (www.amazon.com), including those who have already pre-ordered their copy, can access the chapters within minutes and begin reading the book that marks Grisham's heralded return to legal thrillers.

Grisham fans can go directly to www.amazon.com/summons to pre-order the book and quickly and easily download the first two chapters. The Summons download is in Adobe portable document format (PDF) and can be read on and printed from any computer or PDA.

Though not scheduled for release until Feb. 5, The Summons is already topping Amazon.com's sales charts. The book has been among Amazon.com's 10 top-selling titles since November based solely on pre-orders.

"John Grisham is a perennial Amazon.com customer favorite, and we're thrilled to be offering customers an early look at his new legal thriller," said Steve Kessel, general manager of Amazon.com's Books, Music, Video and DVD business. "We've had tremendous success offering advance digital downloads for new CD releases, and extending that experience to books is a huge win for both customers and publishers."

Amazon.com has recently offered free streaming music content to customers who have placed pre-orders for new releases from such artists as Jewel, Elton John, Alanis Morissette and others.

Customers looking to build their digital library can access Amazon.com's e-Books & Documents Store through Amazon.com's bookstore (www.amazon.com/books) or by going directly to www.amazon.com/ebooks. To learn more about Amazon.com's free music downloads, visit www.amazon.com/music or www.amazon.com/music-downloads.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon.com and sellers list millions of unique new and used items in categories such as electronics, computers, kitchen and housewares, books, music, DVDs, videos, camera and photo items, toys, baby and baby registry, software, computer and video games, cell phones and service, tools and hardware, travel services, magazine subscriptions and outdoor living products. Through Amazon Marketplace, zShops and Auctions, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's millions of customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, sellers can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments. Amazon.com also offers the Amazon Credit Account, the online equivalent of a department store credit card, which provides shoppers the opportunity to buy now and pay later when shopping at Amazon.com.

Amazon.com operates four international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr and www.amazon.co.jp. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 300,000 movies and entertainment titles and 1 million cast and crew members dating from the birth of film.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's anticipated losses, significant amount of indebtedness, competition, strategic alliances, strategic partnerships and business combinations, seasonality, potential fluctuations in operating results and rate of growth, management of potential growth, risks of system interruption, international expansion, consumer trends, risk of fulfillment center optimization, inventory risks, limited operating history, risks related to fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and risks of new business areas. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000, and all subsequent filings, including Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.