• E-Books to Join The New York Times Best-Seller List [NYTimes.com]: NYT spent two years coming up with system for separate e-bestseller list. "The lists will be compiled from weekly data from publishers, chain bookstores, independent booksellers and online retailers, among other sources."

• Why The Book Business May Soon Be The Most Digital Of All Media Industries [James McQuivey, paidContent]: Forrester forecast: "2010 will end with $966 million in e-books sold to consumers. By 2015, the industry will have nearly tripled to almost $3 billion, a point at which the industry will be forever altered." More from McQuivey at Forrester.

• Kindle 3: e-book readers come of age [Nate Anderson, Ars Technica]: "Now that standalone e-book readers like the Kindle have hit mass market prices (the new WiFi-only Kindle is a mere $139) and have turned into high-quality reading machines at last, the question is what's lost and what's found in the move to e-books? Or, to put it another way, does it really matter that I can no longer smell my books?"

• Color E Ink to Be Sold in Hanvon E-Reader [NYTimes.com]: "E Ink screens have two advantages over LCD — they use far less battery power and they are readable in the glare of direct sunlight. However, the new color E Ink display, while an important technological breakthrough, is not as sharp and colorful as LCD. Unlike an LCD screen, the colors are muted, as if one were looking at a faded color photograph. In addition, E Ink cannot handle full-motion video. At best, it can show simple animations."

• Linux e-readers are evolving into Android-tablets [Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Computerworld Blogs]: "I knew that dedicated e-readers would die off. What I didn't see happening was that the e-reader vendors would also see that happening and start transforming their Android Linux-powered e-reader devices into tablets."

• Will Your Local Library Lend E-Books? (Or Can They?) [Audrey Watters, Read Write Web]: "According to some publishers, if libraries start lending e-books, it could serve to 'undo the entire market for e-book sales.' "

• ISBNs and E-books: The Ongoing Dilemma [Erik Christopher, Publishing Perspectives]: "As more people venture into the e-book world, they inevitably come across a question they need to answer: Should I assign an ISBN to my e-book?"

• Why We Can’t Afford Not to Create a Well-Stocked National Digital Library System [David Rothman, The Atlantic]: "But there is one thing I currently cannot do with my Kindle despite all the sizzle in the commercials–read public library books. Local libraries do not use the Kindle format for their electronic collections, relying instead on rival standards used by Sony Readers and certain other devices…. Might the time have finally come for a well-stocked national digital library system (NDLS) for the United States?"

• Steal this book: The loan arranger [Glenn Fleishman, The Economist]: "Amazon.com says soon you will be allowed to lend out electronic books purchased from the Kindle Store. For a whole 14 days. Just once, ever, per title. If the publisher allows it. Not mentioned is the necessity to hop on one foot whilst reciting the Gettysburg Address in a falsetto."

• Ebook restrictions leave libraries facing virtual lockout [Guardian, The Long Good Read]: "Publishers have now threatened to prevent libraries from accessing ebooks. It’s a move described by one library boss as 'regressive' at a time when they are trying to innovate as they fight for survival. But the Publishers Association (PA) claims that 'untrammelled' remote lending of digital books could pose a 'serious threat' to publishers’ commercial activities. That is why it has just announced a clampdown, informing libraries they may have to stop allowing users to download ebooks remotely and instead require them to come to the library premises, just as they do to get traditional print books – arguably defeating the object of the e-reading concept."

• The Trouble with E-Readers [David Pogue, Scientific American]: “You won’t be giving a well-worn e-book to your children. But you won’t be giving one to your friend, either; you can’t resell or even give away an e-book. It doesn’t seem right. Why shouldn’t you be able to pass along an e-book just the way you’d pass on a physical one? You paid for it, haven’t you?”

• Stephen King: Why E-books Aren’t Scary [Jeffrey Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal]: “Q: How much time do you spend reading digitally? A: It's approaching half of what I read. I recently bought a print edition of Henning Mankell's ‘Faceless Killers’ and the type was too small. A paper book is an object with a nice cover. You can swat flies with it, you can put it on the shelf. Do you remember the days when people got up to manually turn the channels on their TVs? Nobody does that any more, and nobody would want to go back. This is just something that is going to happen.”

• Tech Book: PW Talks to Kevin Kelly [Publishers Weekly]: "I’m thinking about what remains of a book when you take away paper. I’m pretty sure there’s something there—that the concept of a book exists outside of paper. The issue, though, is not how people are going to enjoy books. The issue is more about business models. For readers, this is the best time in history. There’s never been more selection, more media types, or quality books. There’s never been more backlist books available. This is a high point for readers. For publishers, though, it is a low point, as their businesses are in transition. But I’m very optimistic, because in my research, money follows attention. Wherever attention flows, money follows. So, I have no doubt that if it is screens that are getting attention, money will flow to screens."

• Better yet, DON’T write that novel [Laura Miller, Salon.com]: Laura shrinks in horror from National Novel Writing Month (“NaNoWriMo”). "Rather than squandering our applause on writers — who, let's face it, will keep on pounding the keyboards whether we support them or not — why not direct more attention, more pep talks, more nonprofit booster groups, more benefit galas and more huzzahs to readers? Why not celebrate them more heartily? They are the bedrock on which any literary culture must be built."

• A Genre Is Born [Ted Striphas, The Late Age of Print]: "Teen Paranormal Romance" category at B&N elicits end-of-civilization fears. "In fixating on a particular category of books — whatever its merits may be — the critics lose sight of the bigger picture: young people are developing a passion for reading, and of paper books, no less."

• Bookish Techy Week in Review – O’Reilly Radar: At O'Reilly Radar, Kat Meyer's weekly link roundup is a great resource. This week: links about the Internet Archive's Books in Browsers event and more.

• Carl Zimmer on “Brain Cuttings” and the Future of Books [Steve Silberman, NeuroTribes]: "I saw people eating up books with their Kindles and iPads. I looked at the numbers and realized that there’s a real ecosystem taking root. I saw other writers saying, 'If I don’t have to deal with paper and glue and binding, I’ll just write something and sell it.' There’s a lot of writing that we all do that could be read by more people.”

• Will physical books be gone in five years? [CNN.com]: Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop per Child, said the physical book's days are numbered. "It will be in five years," said Negroponte. "The physical medium cannot be distributed to enough people. When you go to Africa, half a million people want books … you can't send the physical thing."

• Barnes & Noble Updates Nook E-Reader [Wall Street Journal]: B&N's new $250 1-lb Nook uses Android, aims for niche between Kindle and iPad.

• Amazon to Introduce Lending for Kindle [Jason Boog, GalleyCat]: “Later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users.”

• Ebook Go-To Guide [Eric Griffith, PC Magazine]: Useful overview of state of commercial ebook world, late 2010.

• iPad Week: E-Books [Nicholas Jackson, The Atlantic]: "You can get a variety of e-book reader apps for your iPad, including Apple's iBooks, Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's eReader, and Lexcycle's Stanza. Here's the rub: Except for Stanza, each app is tied to one specific online bookstore."

• Part Two of My TOC Frankfurt "Ignite" Session [Joe Wikert]: "What if we could turn this model upside down and enable students to resell their textbooks for more than what they paid? How? By including all their notes in them as e-textbooks…. What I'm suggesting is a reseller model where the student can package all their notes together with their version of the ebook and sell it at whatever price they feel is appropriate. The key here is to include the publisher and author in the revenue stream; neither of them share in the proceeds of the used book market today but there's no reason they couldn't in the future.”

• E-Books: No Friends of Free Expression [Ted Striphas, The Late Age of Print] “I argue that however convenient a means Kindle may be for acquiring e-books and other types of digital content, the device nevertheless disposes reading to serve a host of inconvenient—indeed, illiberal—ends. Consequently, the technology underscores the growing importance of a new and fundamental right to counterbalance the illiberal tendencies that it embodies—a 'right to read,' which would complement the existing right to free expression."

• eBook Pricing Goes Outright Insane! [Mike Cane's xBlog]: "Pay more and get less! Tell me how that isn’t having contempt for all of us eBook buyers! Never in the history of American business has one industry done so much to guarantee its own failure."

• The iBookstore six months after launch: One big failure [David Winograd, TUAW]: "Unless Apple and Random House can make nice, there are a ton of books that won't be sold by Apple, and customer expectations of getting anything they want, when they want it, fade away."

• This Way To The eGress eBook eSuckers [Mike Cane, the Digital Reader]: "Going with pay-for services such as these are just a sucker’s game. You lose control of proper book formatting, you lose control of your ISBN and metadata ownership, and you’re forever giving someone else a cut of your money for work you could have done yourself."

• How Writers Can Turn Their Archives into eBooks [Carl Zimmer, The Atlantic]: "if you're an author with an ill-fitting piece of writing you think is good — good enough that people might want to buy it — you can just publish it yourself and put your hunch to the test. No warehouse required."

• Authors and ebook problems: expanding the net of responisbility [Rich Adin, TeleRead]: "Too many ebooks are being released that are poorly formatted and rife with errors that could easily be corrected just by proofreading the converted version before releasing the ebook on the unsuspecting public. This should be of primary importance to authors."

• Kindle Singles: A new potential home for in-depth news? [Josh Benton, Nieman Lab]: "Not many people are willing to read 15,000 words on a laptop screen, and it’s not surprising that many great newspaper series don’t get great traffic online. But shift that narrative to a Kindle or an iPad, and maybe more people are willing to invest the time. Maybe even the money, too."

• Kindle Singles Will Bring Novellas, Chapbooks and Pamphlets to E-Readers [Tim Carmody, Wired]: "Individual writers may benefit the most from the program, as it makes it easier for them to self-publish works that precisely for reasons of length can’t find support from traditional publishers."

• Amazon Introduces The Digital Pamphlet With ‘Kindle Singles’ [TechCrunch]: "A perfect, natural length to lay out a single killer idea, well researched, well argued and well illustrated."

• From Frankfurt: OR Books Preaches Elegant, Direct Model [Publishing Perspectives]: Their model: Direct sales, low advances/high royalties, big marketing push, and licensing to trad publishers.

• Will technology kill book publishing? Not even close [Harold McGraw III and Philip Ruppel, USAToday]: "Why is there such a gap between the perception of a dying industry and the reality of a rapidly adapting one?" Five myths.

• Random House sees e-book sales jumping: CEO [Reuters]: "Random House…expects electronic books to contribute more than 10 percent of its U.S. revenue next year."

• Publishers’ crazy e-book prices [Dan Gillmor, Salon]: "Having taken control of pricing from Amazon, publishers are foolishly pushing down demand."

• Trying to borrow library e-books a frustrating exercise [Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun]: "I've recently borrowed a Kobo e-reader, and for the past two weeks I've been trying (in vain) to borrow an e-book."

UPDATE: See Alan de Smet’s comment on the “Will technology kill book publishing?” piece: “. Traditional publishers will find themselves increasingly marginalized. To the extent that publishers continue to dominate, they will do so as highly streamlined companies that serve authors, not bookstores or even readers.”

As I mentioned, I’m beginning to explore the e-book universe. One thing I’m going to do is post links here as I find them. Hope that’s useful. I’ll be posting soon with a compilation of all the suggestions I received for sources and authorities in this field. Thanks for those!

• What Are Books Good For? [William Germano, The Chronicle of Higher Education]: "Is the book the physical, printed text in its protective case, or is it the knowledge that the hidden text is always prepared to reveal? The answer, of course, is that the book is both. And because the book is and is not the form in which it is presented, it can do its work between boards of calf, or morocco, or Kivar, or from the booklike window of an iPad or a Nook." [via publishingoptimism.tumblr.com]

• Books and Bytes: Probing the rocky relationship between technology and literature [Harvard Crimson]

• Aggregating Deep Discount Readers of eBooks [Eric Hellman]: How libraries and individuals could pool resources to acquire rights to e-books: " If a hundred thousand people offered a dollar to Clay Shirky (and Penguin, his publisher) for Cognitive Surplus to be released as a creative commons licensed ebook, certainly at some point they would examine their prospects for future sales and figure out how to say yes."

• Walter Benjamin’s Aura: Open Bookmarks and the future eBook [booktwo.org]: How do we make books "ours" as they move from objects to bits? "The aura model of art got broken 80 years ago, but we just might be figuring out how to fix it." Great stuff from James Bridle.

• Portable Book Club: Stephen Elliott Builds The Adderall Diaries App [GalleyCat]: iPhone, iPad version of book has a discussion board and other extras.

• An example of where Amazon excels: Kindle for the Web [Rex Hammock]: "a classic 'content' win-win: The user gets some extremely helpful content to add to a blog post and Amazon gets a wider distribution of potential transactions."

• Kindle Version of Follett’s ‘Fall of Giants’ Priced Above Hardcover [NYTimes.com]: Will customers rebel over publishers' push to boost ebook prices? Unclear right now.