iBookstore

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.

Although you can get free college-level classes through iTunes U online (which just coincidentally hit a big milestone — 300 million downloads!), if you are hitting the books at a physical school this year, you have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve with free downloads through the iBookstore.

Starting today through Aug. 30, Kaplan (the publisher of many leading study guides and aids) is giving away free downloads to over 90 of its most popular test prep guides and titles via the iBookstore. As you know, you can view the titles on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, so no matter how you roll digitally, you should be good to go for your entrance exams and finals. Want to browse the selection? Head to the iBookstore and search "Kaplan."

At today's WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs started with some impressive iPad stats (currently in 10 countries with two million sold) and then quickly launched into an iBooks update: in 65 days, there have been five million books downloaded.

Updates to Apple's ebooks app include the ability to highlight text and make notes, two functions noticeably missing from the initial version. Notes are displayed on the page in a fashion similar to the "Stickies" program on Apple computers, and bookmarks are displayed as small, red ribbon-style bookmarks on the top of the page. Notes and bookmarks for any book are also accessible on their own page. Additionally, the update will also include a PDF viewer.