Note to publishers: Be afraid, very afraid. Because ebooks are allowing authors to self-publish their work and be very successful, without going the traditional publishing route.

No one personifies this more than Amanda Hocking. She publishes her ebooks on the Kindle platform and, by all accounts, is making millions. No agent. No large publishing houses. If her books were published the traditional way, she would probably be on the New York Times Bestseller List.

This article gives a great glimpse of how indie authors are cutting out the middleman and succeeding:

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I love my iPad! I love Amazon’s Kindle app!

Now that the Motorola Xoom has been released, reviews are popping up all over the web. From what I’ve read so far, the new tablet is receiving a warm reception.

I was watching the news this morning while checking my email and they did a quick story on the Xoom. One commentator said the device could be the first big competitor of Apple’s iPad. But I think it’s too premature to make those kind of predictions.

One review from Endgadget gives the Xoom a particularly good review:

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A lot of content providers have already weighed in on Apple’s new subscription rules, requiring that they allow for in-app content purchases

Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookseller, announced today in a press release that their ebook self-publishing platform Pubit has 11,000 indie publishers and authors.

In more interesting news, the bookseller also announced a new program that will bring Pubit! authors into their retail stores to talk about how they are using the platform to drive their digital sales:

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I’m currently reading Nantucket Nights (aff link) by Elin Hilderbrand (Yes, I’m a guy who likes Elin Hilderbrand. Don’t laugh.). Anyway, I’m reading the ebook version. While the story is great, the book itself is riddled with typos.

There are misspellings, punctuation in the wrong places and the like. This is not an isolated case either. Most ebooks I’ve read have an unusually high number of errors. My wife is currently reading Freedom (aff link) by Jonathan Franzen on her iPad’s Kindle app and she has observed the same thing.

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Emerging authors have more choices than ever. They can go the traditional route of finding an agent, getting a publisher to buy their work, and rely on that publisher and large book chains to sell their book.

Or they can self-publish their book as an ebook and sell it on their own websites and/or sites like Smashwords (aff link). This direct approach cuts out the middlemen (publishers/agents) and allows authors to deal directly with their readers. It also puts more money in their pocket.

What about print books? Should an author even bother self-publishing their books in print? With ebooks skyrocketing in popularity there appears to be almost no incentive to go the print route. What’s an author to do?

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Apple’s new subscription rules for content providers have drawn the ire of many. The rules require that apps, such as the Kindle, delete any button that links to their website. Furthermore, such apps must give users the option to buy content/subscriptions within the app, which will give Apple a 30% cut.

Now Apple’s controversial move has caught the attention of the US federal government. While no formal investigation has been launched, regulators are looking into whether any anti-trust laws have been violated. The European Union is also joining the inquiry.

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You don’t have to look to ebook sales to see how the digital revolution is taking root in mainstream society. E-Ink Holdings, the company behind the digital paper-like screens that make eReaders so easy to read has posted record earnings in 2010.

E-Ink Holdings is the company that makes the displays for the Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, Kobo eReader, Sony’s family of eReaders and more. They are a big fish in the ebook pond, to say the least.

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Today I began reading a new ebook on my iPad Kindle app. Like starting any new book, I had to flip through the usual pages to get to the story, you know: Copyright page, dedication page, a title page (just in case I forget what book I’m about to read), a picture of the cover, etc.

Yet the copyright page on this ebook still gave the standard disclaimer you find in paperback books:

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