When Sony releases their next generation eReader, it will come with a little bit of magic bundled with it. The newest Sony Reader will come loaded with the entire “Harry Potter” series on it; the first time the wizard hero will appear in digital print.

Initially it was reported by The Register that the new Sony Reader would be the only device through which Potter fans could purchase the digital version of the Harry Potter books. The report also states that the launch of the new eReader will coincide with the launch of the new “Pottermore” online experience.

JK Rowling, the creator of the Potter series, confirmed through her people that the digital version of the books will not be exclusive to any platform. Rather, the digital version will be available on all platforms with the launch of the Pottermore website.

Check out this video of software developer Mike Matas demonstrating the first full-length interactive book for the iPad — “with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with”. The book is “Our Choice,” Al Gore’s sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth.”

(Source: TED)

While free eBook websites seem to be popping up regularly, they don’t always provide a good experience for those trying to read on smaller mobile devices that weren’t intended to be ereaders. eBook.TaggedZi.com launched last week and is specifically designed with those devices in mind. From the site:

“I have discovered there is little or no support of what I call “alternative” book readers. These are devices that were not “intended” to read books, but could be adapted to do so. This site serves up books in “small” pages that can be viewed on devices with little to no memory, limited cpu, and/or limited bandwidth. Most of the sites out there that I have seen are very “media” rich services, and MOST of them require that you download the entire text in order to view it. Which eliminates a lot of devices. This site intends to be different, by offering a no “frills” basic experience that can be offered across almost any web capable device. (Yes this includes the more capable devices too)”

As of March 21, the site offers 602 free e-books, all of them from the public domain, and the site owner posts that more–possibly even newer books if the legal issues can be dealt with–will be added.

eBook.Tagged.Zi.com is cloud-based and the device you’re trying to read on must have an internet connection and be able to read XHTML. You can’t download books: the site is purely for reading purposes. Support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is optional, but will give a better reading experience.

There’s not much I like better than reading the work of a new author, hoping s/he is the next Margaret Atwood or J. K. Rowling, but ebooks aren’t necessarily cheap, and I’m not always willing to take the chance. Fortunately, the new site Bibliotastic launched last month addressing just that issue.

Aiming to become the e-book version of YouTube, Bibliotastic publishes works of aspiring authors as ebooks and allows readers to download the ebooks for free and then review the work and comment on it. Bibliotastic ranks authors’ ebooks based on reader opinion and that of Bibliotastic’s in-house reviewing team, providing useful data for site visitors and equally valuable data for writers, who can use their Bibliotastic scores to support submissions to agents and publishers.

Bibliotastic co-founder James Crawshaw said in a statement, “The appetite for content is undiminished and whilst headlines focus on the demise of the conventional bookshop the trade in ebooks is growing rapidly. Breaking out of the publishers’ slush piles has always been difficult, except for the lucky few, and we think that testing a writer’s work on the open market is a very effective way of getting a real sense of what the public want and what the commercial prospects really are. We hope that the site will create a better bridge between writers and publishers.”

Supported formats include PDF, Epub, and Mobi., and there is no DRM on the ebooks.

Publisher HarperCollins made more than a few librarians angry when they announced a significant revision to lending terms for ebook circulation. According to LibraryJournal.com, the publisher announced that new titles licensed from library ebook vendors will be able to circulate only 26 times before the license expires.

Mention of the new terms was first made in a letter from OverDrive CEO Steve Potash to customers:

“[W]e have been required to accept and accommodate new terms for eBook lending as established by certain publishers. Next week, OverDrive will communicate a licensing change from a publisher that, while still operating under the one-copy/one-user model, will include a checkout limit for each eBook licensed. Under this publisher’s requirement, for every new eBook licensed, the library (and the OverDrive platform) will make the eBook available to one customer at a time until the total number of permitted checkouts is reached.”

The publisher also issued a short statement:

“HarperCollins is committed to the library channel. We believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our authors and ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come.”

Josh Marwell, President, Sales for HarperCollins, reportedly said that the 26 circulation limit was arrived at after considering a number of factors, including the average lifespan of a print book, and wear and tear on circulating copies. This means that if a lending period is two weeks, that will equal roughly one year of use for a popular title and for a three-week lending period, that stretches to a year and a half. These sorts of license restrictions seem to come at a particularly bad time for librarians, given how strained budgets are nationwide.

HarperCollins may be the first major publisher to amend the terms of loan for its titles, but two other members of the publishing “big six”-Macmillan and Simon & Schuster- still do not allow ebooks to be circulated in libraries at all.

Sarah Houghton-Jan, Assistant Director for the San Rafael Public Library, CA, and a blogger who has long voiced dissatisfaction with the ebook status quo, responded to the news:

“Consumer market eBook vendors like Barnes & Noble and Amazon don’t let publishers get away with the amount of nonsense that we get stuck with through library eBook vendors. I fault the publishers for not realizing what a huge mistake they are making by not realizing that new formats are opportunities–not threats to be quashed. I fault the library eBook vendors for not standing firm and saying “no” to asinine demands. And I fault the library profession for, to date, not standing up for the rights of our users. Our job is to fight for the user, and we have done a poor job of doing that during the digital content surge.”

After the announcement, Galleycat.com reported that angry library patrons and librarians launched a simple website that urged readers to boycott HarperCollins over its new eBook lending policy for libraries.

The boycott site explains:

“Until this policy is revoked, join us by not buying any new books or ebooks published by HarperCollins or any of its imprints . In addition, support your local library if it chooses to participate in the boycott and write a letter to HarperCollins explaining your actions. The boycott will end as soon as HarperCollins agrees not to limit the number of times a library can loan each ebook.”

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Amazon previously announced that Kindle books were outselling hardcovers, so that means the ebook is the most popular format on Amazon.com. But it’s only barely beating the paperback. Amazon won’t release exact figures, but they do say that for every 100 paperbacks sold in 2010, they sold 115 Kindle books. During that same time, they sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcovers. These figures do NOT include free ebooks.

Fueling these Kindle book sales is the popularity of Amazon latest Kindle device. Amazon says “millions of third-generation Kindle devices” were sold in 2010, but won’t give an exact number. They add that the “third-generation Kindle eclipsed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the bestselling product in Amazon’s history.” Of course, Kindle books can be read on other devices too, such as iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices.

Personally, I’m not surprised by this news. Since I got my Kindle, I’m buying a lot more books because it’s just so convenient to be able purchase books from my home. When I hear about a great book, it’s nice to be able to download it right away.

So what do you think of this news? Do you buy more regular books or ebooks? What does this mean for bookstores?

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Consumers of the world, brace yourselves because your last advertising free realm could soon be invaded by pesky ads. In a world in which we are bombarded by ads in magazines, newspapers, on television, and along our nation’s highways; only one bastion of freedom remains in the media world, eBooks.

Now the ad-free realm of eBooks may soon be torn down and sullied with annoying ads as well. Given the meteoric rise of eBooks, marketers are now looking at ways to advertise to consumers while they read their eBooks. Varying formats are under consideration, including ones that place ads on the fringe of each page or are interspersed within the text.

A battle does lie ahead though for marketers anxious to tap into a new market. Writers often scoff at the idea of ads going in their books, and many authors have contracts that strictly forbid such measures. Time will tell if marketers get their way.

If the e-reader is the digital equivalent of the brown-paper wrapper, the romance reader is a little like the Asian carp: insatiable and unstoppable. Together, it turns out, they are a perfect couple. Romance is now the fastest-growing segment of the e-reading market, ahead of general fiction, mystery and science fiction, according to data from Bowker, a research organization for the publishing industry.

The article also quotes Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books who says she’s not always comfortable reading romance novels in public, with their covers featuring “mullets and the man chests.”

I can totally relate since I occasionally read paranormal romances, which almost always have a bare chested man on the cover. I’d much rather read these books on my Kindle.

For a male perspective, I asked Jose what books he’s embarrassed to be seen reading. He says he wouldn’t be caught dead reading Twilight in public (I think most guys feel this way, LOL). He also mentioned being uncomfortable reading political books because people might make snap judgments based on their own political leanings.

So what books are you embarrassed to read in public? Romance? YA? Self help? Let me know in the comments.

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“For the first time ever, NOOKbooks en español enables Spanish speakers in the U.S., and those interested in learning and reading in Spanish, to get Spanish-language new releases, bestsellers, and classics in a digital format,” said Patricia Arancibia, International Content Manager, Digital Products at Barnes & Noble.

The ebooks can be read on Barnes & Noble’s Nook ereader devices or via the Nook app (which is available for Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Android, BlackBerry, PC, and Mac).

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The two new lists will rank bestselling fiction and non-fiction ebooks. The Times says the move is “an acknowledgment of the growing sales and influence of digital publishing.”

The data used to compile the lists will come from “publishers, chain bookstores, independent booksellers, and online retailers.” They will also work with RoyaltyShare, a company that tracks sales data for publishers.

According to Times editor Janet Elder, they’ve spent two years working on a system to track ebooks sales. “We’ve had our eye on e-book sales since e-books began,” Ms. Elder said. “It was clear that e-books were taking a greater and greater share of total sales, and we wanted to be able to tell our readers which titles were selling and how they fit together with print sales.”

The NY Times currently publishes 14 bestseller lists, including fiction, non-fiction, advice, children’s books, graphic novels/comic books, and business.

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