Today we’re launching a daily (except when not) roundup of important stories from around the Web that will have an impact on authors, books, and how information will be consumed and marketed in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.

Here’s the round up for May 16th, 2011…

Libraries Are Hipper than Publishers

Duh. It’s no secret that most publishers haven’t exactly been on the cutting edge when it comes to embracing new technologies — technologies that smaller, more agile publishers and individual authors are using to sell a ton of books and other products.

So it’s no wonder that libraries, not exactly the model of modernity themselves, are moving to bypass the publishing industry to build their own lending catalog of e-books. From the article on PaidContent.org:

A new partnership aims to help libraries build their romance e-book collections by giving greater exposure to more titles from smaller, ebook-only publishers. Starting today, Library Journal, which has long helped librarians decide which books to purchase, will begin reviewing romance e-book originals. The advance review copies will come through NetGalley, which provides digital galleys to “professional readers” (critics, bloggers, booksellers, librarians and teachers).

Here’s the full story

Magazine Article Becomes a Betselling “Book”

The Author’s Edge philosophy is that authors should constantly be looking for new ways to take what they know (aka your expertise) and share it with the world in a format that actually compensates you accordingly.

So what does it say when a magazine article that gets repurposed as a Kindle e-book winds up on the Amazon bestseller list? Give you any ideas.

Here’s a blurb from the PaidContent article:

Among the usual suspects like Michael Connelly and James Patterson on the top 10 list of paid Kindle bestsellers this week was something of a surprise: Inside Apple—From Steve Jobs Down to the Janitor: How America’s Most Successful – and Most Secretive – Big Company Really Works by Adam Lashinsky. If you’re thinking that title sounds a little magazine-y, you’re right: it’s the same piece that ran in Fortune on May 9.

Pay attention to this kind of thing, guys. It’s uber-important.

Here’s the full article

Until next time…