Today's Headlines

E-Books a Boon to Some Authors
The Wall Street Journal
Vanity presses have been available for decades. But thanks to digital technology and particularly the emergence of e-books, the number of self-published titles exploded 160% to 133,036 in 2010 from 51,237 in 2006, estimates R. R. Bowker, which tracks the publishing business.

Yahoo! and Google Prepare News and Social Readers
AllThingsD
Watch out Flipboard.  Wednesday Yahoo! is rumored to unveil its digital newsstand Livestand.  And Google should follow on its heels.  According to ATD's Kara Swisher:  "All these apps are part of the drastically changing habits of media consumers, helping users better navigate numerous social and media feeds — such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as news sites and more — using handsome interfaces and touch technologies on tablet devices."

Biggest Advertiser on the Kindle?  Amazon
Advertising Age
Almost six months after the first Kindle with Special Offers arrived bearing on-screen ads for national brands such as Buick, Olay and Visa, the devices are more often than not serving up ads from Amazon itself, primarily in the form of Amazon Local daily deals.

Philadelphia Inquirer Tablet Initiative Finds Success Elusive
The Los Angeles Times
At the Sept. 12 tablet launch, the publisher predicted that the first batch of 5,000 units would sell out in a week. Six weeks later, only about half of the narrow black computers have moved, according to James Rainey of The Los Angeles Times.