eReader

Five years ago today, Amazon pushed reading into the digital age with the release of the Kindle. It certainly wasn't the first ereader to hit the market, but thanks to the online retailer's huge online book library, it became, arguably, the most popular.

As the Kindle moved from its e-ink basic edition to keyboard model to touchscreen, and then to an app and later HD color display tablet, it's become a ubiquitous accessory during a morning commute, amid airport travel, or even on a lazy Sunday morning. So what's happening on the screens of all those Kindles? In celebration of its fifth birthday, take a look at the bestselling Kindle books of all time.

5. Fifty Shades Darker
4. Mockingjay
3. Catching Fire
2. The Hunger Games

Think you know the top-selling Kindle book of all time? Follow the break to see the number-one Kindle book.

Rats, did you forget to charge your Kindle (again)? Don't fear: ereader-less bookworms don't have to miss a single spellbinding page of Game of Thrones with mobile apps that turn smartphones into the reading device of their choice. Most of the apps will sync the last-read page among any devices with the app too.

These free apps are also handy if there's a book that's available in the catalog for Nook and not Sony Reader. So, cast a transfiguration spell and convert a mobile device into an ereading machine with these apps for iOS and Android.

• Kindle — Amazon's ereader apps for iOS, Android, Mac, and PC let you shop the Kindle store, read the first chapter of every book before buying, and download local library ebooks to the app.
• Kobo — With apps for iOS, Android, Mac/PC, and BlackBerry, your Kobo library is synced across all devices. See what your friends are reading and keep track of your reading habits with the app's Reading Life feature, too.

More transforming reading apps after the break.

So far, my experience with the Kindle Fire has been positive, but one downside is that it does not read the popular (DRM-free) epub format. If you have amassed a collection of epub books over the years (whether you've downloaded them for free in the Google Library, or elsewhere) and want to take them on the go with your new Kindle Fire, fret not — there is a simple way to convert and upload these books to your device.

Called Calibre, this free software download helps you manage your ebook library, collect information on your books (meta data, titles, descriptions, ratings, and more), and most importantly, convert your books to a Kindle Fire-readable format. Getting started is simple — download Calibre, select your device, upload your books to the program, and drag and drop them into your ereader for proper conversion. Calibre supports a number of devices (from Kindles, Nooks, Sony Readers, smartphones, and others) and can get your ebook library organized fast. I don't want to say it's the iTunes of ebooks, but it kind of is. The software is free, so there's no reason not to try it.

Barnes & Noble finally announced the Nook Tablet yesterday. First impressions from the specs and capabilities seem to be that it will be a worthy competitor to the Kindle Fire when it's released next week, so take a tour through a few of these buying points to consider before you click "purchase."

• Affordable price — The Nook Tablet is priced at just $249, which is a fraction of the cost of other tablets on the market right now.
• It's slim but stocked — The Nook Tablet got a boost in the specs department — now with a 1Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of memory, bright seven-inch VividView touchscreen display, and up to 11 hours of reading time — but remains super light and portable weighing in at just 14.1 ounces.
• It's got content, baby — You'll be able to stream movies, TV shows, and music with preloaded apps from Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Pandora (all of which are offering free trails), but you can browse and download the over two million books in the Barnes & Noble online store.
• In-store service — Ripping a page from Apple's Genius Bar playbook, you can take your Nook Tablet to any one of the Barnes and Noble locations across the country to get service and support for free.
• It's a tablet, but not — The Nook Tablet runs a custom version of Android 2.3, but is lacking a few things that tablet owners might miss, including a 3G connection (the Nook Tablet is WiFi only) and there are no webcams for on the go video chatting.

Jeff Bezos revealed a new Kindle this morning at a press conference in NYC. The Kindle Touch looks to be about the same size as the previous generation, but it will come sans keyboard but with an infrared touch eInk display — the infrared layer will sit on top of your eInk display so it doesn't interfere with reading. Additionally, the Kindle Touch will include free cloud storage and come stocked with a new "X-ray" feature that will show relevant info on the page (like dictionary and Wiki entries). The Kindle Touch will also be lighter than previous models, and store up to 3,000 titles on its on-board 4GB of memory, but also comes with free backups with Amazon's cloud storage.

There will be a few price points to consider: the Kindle Touch will run at $99 with WiFi while the 3G version will be priced at $149. You can preorder now; shipping will start Nov. 21.

Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire tablet this morning in NYC. Said to be coming with a low price tag of $199, this seven-inch tablet will run a custom version of Android and come packed with WiFi connectivity, but will be released without a camera, microphone, or 3G access.

Additionally, the Kindle Fire will come stocked with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, the $79 membership that offers free two-day shipping and free movie and video streaming.

Update: Jeff Bezos has officially announced the Kindle Fire himself and has revealed more details:

• 14.6 ounces
• Dual-core processor
• Free Amazon Cloud storage
• Whispersync includes books, movies, TV shows, songs
• Gorilla Glass display
• New Silk browser that is split between running in the cloud and running on the device (more on this later)
• Amazon Prime members will get unlimited streaming access to music and videos through their membership
• 8GB of on-board storage, which will hold up to 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books, with unlimited backup in Amazon's cloud storage.
• Preorder now; available Nov. 15

Ebook bestsellers were recently added to the NYT Book Review, and sales are up in a big way. It just goes to show that if you've got an awesome manuscript, you don't have to wait for a publisher to pick it up — you can self publish! Find out how you can get your ebooks on Kindles, Nooks, iPads, and mobile devices all around the world with the outlets below.

• Barnes & Noble PubIt! — Easily publish your own books through the Barnes & Noble ebook store with PubIt! Just upload your files, and PubIt! converts it to an easy to read format that can be bought and downloaded to your Nook or other B&N apps, like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Royalty rates range from 40 percent (for any book priced under $2.98 or over $10) to 65 percent (for any book priced between $2.99 and $9.99).
• Amazon Kindle Store — Get your book sold in Amazon's Kindle store and nab royalty rates of 35 to 70 percent of sale prices. The Kindle Direct Publishing program accepts Word, zipped HTML, PDF's, ePub, and plain text files, and makes your book available on the Kindle, as well as other Amazon apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and Android devices.

But wait, there's more — see the rest of your options after the jump.