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In a change for the book industry Hyperink generally does not select from books that are submitted by authors. Instead, the company finds topics that are in demand through analysis of things like Google search trends. Then it seeks out authors for those topics. “It’s the reverse of the traditional book publishing industry, which is supply-driven, where you get manuscripts and pick from them,” Gao says. Does that sound like blog writing, where a bunch of similar stories all target certain hot keywords? In some ways, Gao says, but Hyperink’s books are structured, organized and written by experts in their fields. Instead of spending one or two years to publish a physical book and trying for big mega-hits, Hyperink is going the opposite direction. It focuses on fast publishing–it can churn out a book in a month at one-tenth the cost of physical books, Gao says. It’s also going after the “long tail” with topics such as “Getting Corporate Law Jobs,” “Dating For Singles Over 40,” and “Marketing Your Android App.”

Barnes & Noble's CFO resigned amid the bookseller's shift to digital technologies, naming Controller Allen Lindstrom as interim CFO.

Harry Potter fans will have to wait a bit longer to buy the magic tales in electronic form. The creators of the online Potter portal said Friday that the launch of an e-book store has been pushed back to next year. The seven Harry Potter books had been due to go on sale in October, exclusively through the "Pottermore" website.

This week's e-reading list features labor struggles, the ethics of superheroes, and dead dwarves.

Stephen King is back in the e-book game. The horror master is releasing a short story in digital format only. Scribner announced Thursday that "Mile 81," a "chilling story" set at a rest stop on the Maine Turnpike, will go on sale Sept. 1 at a suggested price of $2.99. The new book will also include an excerpt from King's upcoming novel, "11/22/63."

In the midst of an essay on teaching long-form reading that’s well worth your time, Alan Jacobs sticks in a little tidbit about how the Kindle saved him from losing the ability to read books.

Facebook announced Tuesday that it was acquiring Push Pop Press, an interactive digital e-book publisher, although Facebook said it did not plan to enter the book industry.

In a pair of moves that suggest Apple is enforcing rules for selling content on its devices, Kobo, the Canadian e-book retailer, and The Wall Street Journal said they will no longer sell content directly to customers.

What happens when a pioneer like Borders goes out of business? Depends on who you ask. A day after the bankrupt Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain said it would seek court approval to sell off its assets and shutter its remaining 399 stores, everyone from publishers to consumers is assessing what it would mean if the company that started the big-box bookseller concept vanished. The move could have a wide ranging - and different -- impact on everyone from authors to consumers to competitors at a time when the industry is desperately trying to adapt to a new generation of readers who'd rather browse on an electronic book or tablet computer than turn the page of a paperback.

FOR decades, even after it was renamed and relocated from its original home at Radcliffe, the Columbia Publishing Course seemed unchanging, a genteel summer tradition in the book business, a white-glove six-week course in which ambitious college graduates were educated in the time-honored basics of book editing, sales, cover design and publicity. Not this summer.