Overdrive Inc.

So publishing's 'Beatles moment' has finally arrived. All seven of J K Rowling's phenomenally successful Harry Potter books can finally be bought in e-book format, the first three priced at £4.99, the second four at £6.99. Chief technology officer Julian Thomas described it to me as "one of the biggest e-book retailing events in history".

The launch is slightly ahead of what was expected after the roll-out was originally delayed from last October. So what do we know?

Overdrive, the publisher that will work with the website Pottermore to provide schools and libraries with Harry Potter audiobooks and e-books, announced on its website Monday that pre-sales for the books have been suspended.

“This is only a postponement, and libraries will soon be able to resume pre-ordering the titles in preparation for launch in April,” Overdrive social media and public relations specialist Michael Lovett wrote on the e-book distributor’s website.

The blog post said that the postponement was needed to plan the launch of the books with Pottermore, but that pre-sales would be available again soon.

If you build it, they will come. Not just words of wisdom from a Kevin Costner movie anymore, but the experience of libraries across America. They’ve seen a triple-digit jump in the amount of digital lending during the last year due, in part, to the increased use of tablet devices such as the iPad, Kindle, and Nook.

News of the jump came from OverDrive, one of the leading global distributors of eBooks and audiobooks, which powers “virtual branch” sites for libraries and schools.

It's been a wild ride in publishing these past five years. The rise of e‑books and e‑audio, changing business models and the role of social media in marketing are just a few things we've taken in stride. Those on the inside of this $1 billion industry know audio is no doubt headed for further evolution, and we must keep tabs on our consumers to know how to best serve their needs and reflect their behaviors.

One of the country’s largest publishers, Penguin Group (USA), is temporarily restoring libraries’ ability to loan their e-books for Amazon.com’s Kindle — but only through the end of the year. Penguin says it, Amazon and its partner OverDrive are all working together to “address Penguin’s concerns” by the end of 2011. Amazon declined to comment.

Like many of you, we’re wondering about what caused today’s OverDrive/Penguin news:

"OverDrive Suspends Access to New Penguin eBook Titles, 'Get For Kindle' Access Also Shut Down"

Only time will tell  why Penguin decided to change their policy with OverDrive (and libraries) but we’re wondering if a February letter by OverDrive CEO Steve Potash might provide clues...

From the OverDrive Digital Library Blog: Last week Penguin sent notice to OverDrive that it is reviewing terms for library lending of their eBooks. In the interim, OverDrive was instructed to suspend availability of new Penguin eBook titles from our library catalog and disable “Get for Kindle” functionality for all Penguin eBooks [our emphasis]. We [...]

This week at the Frankfurt Book Fair, OverDrive will be meeting with independent booksellers and publishers about its new WIN (Want It Now) Catalog, which will offer long-tail offerings from publishers' catalogs at libraries.

Quietly, the Austin Public Library system began offering e-books for download last month. It's part of a nationwide trend, as online retailer Amazon rolled out library-borrowing capabilities for its Kindle device in September. And while some libraries have been lending e-books for some time, the Kindle's entrance promises to open them up to an even wider audience.

Book Business asked several industry executives who have hiked the mobile mountain successfully to share their insights on how to develop a successful mobile strategy.