Digital publishing company YUDU Media (www.yudupro.com) has published a new report summarizing key research, facts and figures on the e-book market, which continues to grow at a blistering pace. The report, titled, “Rise of the e-book: e-book stats and trends,” discusses some of the key components of the industry in its current form, aiming to provide analysis and insight into some of its most recent developments.

A sampling of the research included in this report:

1. E-book sales now outpace print book sales, as sales of e-books nearly tripled in the US from 2009 to 2010.
2. Tablets such as the iPad appear to be overtaking e-reader devices such as the Kindle as the platform of choice for reading e-books; Forrester predicts that by 2015, there will be twice as many owners of tablet PCs than there are of dedicated e-readers.
3. Apple’s iBookstore is gaining rapidly on Amazon.com as the highest volume sales platform for e-Books.
4. E-books have helped fuel success for self-published authors, who are no longer beholden to large, traditional publishing houses to get their works into the hands of readers.

“The e-book market shake-up is likely to become more pronounced over the course of the year, with a growing number of publishers and consumers alike choosing a tablet as their hardware of choice,” said Richard Stephenson, CEO of YUDU Media.

One of these things is not like the other… I’m guessing at least some of you know what follows that line from the famous Sesame Street song. For those of you who aren’t familiar, the gist of it is that one of four items is not like any of the others displayed together.

New imprint, Seventh Millennium, a division of Nordskog Publishing, Inc. is now in full production.

Authors know that the competition for the few available publishing spots is fierce; meaning that some particularly promising manuscripts will not see publication or will be delayed.

Media and publishing market forecast firm Simba Information, publisher of the “Book Publishing Report” newsletter, has estimated about 35% of iPad owners haven’t used the devices to read e-books. The estimate is based on the preliminary findings from a nationwide survey of over 1,800 respondents, who were selected on a nationally representative basis.

“The fact that over a million iPad buyers haven’t used the gadget for e-books shows that not all new gadgets equate to a new e-reader,” says Michael Norris, senior trade book analyst at Simba Information.

Ebook licensing deals are now available for publishers, self-publishers and authors via Amber Communications Group, Inc. (ACGI). The company, found online at www.AmberBooks.com, has been in the book publishing business for twelve years, and has sold and licensed over one million books worldwide.

As the first African American book publisher to have an imprint/co-publishing contract with John Wiley & Sons, Inc, they are also the first to do television commercials, the first to have a literary television show (“Literary Living” on the Black Family Channel), and the first to use television commercials to promote ebooks for downloading.

Authors and publishers who have entertainment books (biographies about major music & film celebrities) that they wish to license as ebook downloads can contact Amber Communications and their book(s) can be made available for purchase and promoted on television internationally. All titles will be distributed with over 100 major international download stores and advances are available.

In other ACGI news, Carol Mackey, best selling author of Sistergirl Devotions – Keeping Jesus in the Mix & on the Job and Editor-In-Chief of Black Expressions Book Club, has recently acquired and licensed book club rights for the following Amber Books titles: Tom Joyner Presents How To Prepare For College and The African American Family’s Guide to Tracing Our Roots – Healing, Understanding & Restoring Our Families.