Around the Kindlesphere, Nov. 8, 2010: Kindle Nation Citizens Quietly Flex Muscle, 007 on Kindle, Let the Best Books List Begin, National Digital Library System

By Kindle Nation's Intern Staff

Kindle Nation Readers Shake Rattle and Roll! We're serious readers here, not the types to oil up on the beach and flex our muscles. But just in case you were wondering how much influence you and other Kindle Nation citizens have, and how much independent authors and publishers depend upon us to clear the sand away and support distinguished work by emerging authors, we have a few tidbits to report as of 4 pm EST Sunday 11.7.2010:

• Today's Kindle Nation Daily sponsor, J.M. Zambrano's The Trophy Hunter , has climbed from #35,798 to #308 in the Kindle Store in the past 24 hours. This debut novel, still available for 89 cents with this link, is currently #2 on the US Kindle Store Movers and Shakers list, #4 in Horror, and #18 in Women Sleuths.
• Right behind Zambrano at #5 on the Movers and Shakers list (it was #2 earlier today) is the book that was featured this weekend in our Free Kindle Nation Shorts excerpting program, Scott Nicholson's hilariously frightening As I Die Lying (A Richard Coldiron Book) , currently up from #3,526 to #318 in the past 24 hours.
• This is not new territory, of course, for Nicholson. Last weekend his KND sponsorship helped launch his new novel Disintegration , and since then the book has soared from #2,093 to #41 in the Kindle Store. Smart authors like Nicholson do plenty of other things to help get the word out about their books, of course, but it's nice to know that those of us who just flat out love to read can play a role in making a book into a success.
• Other books that have had a nice ride lately with a little help from the citizens of Kindle Nation include Daniel Silver's Cop - A Novel , Normala's Living from the Heart , J.A. Konrath's Shaken (Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Mysteries) , L.J. Sellers' The Sex Club (Detective Jackson Mysteries) , and many, many more.

007 on Kindle. Ian Fleming's James Bond spy novels may never be taught in literature classes at Eton or Oxford, but they are, at the very least, guilty pleasures for thousands of Kindle Nation citizens.

Ian Fleming Publications, the company that has managed publishing rights for the late James Bond creator's estate since his death, announced this week that it will make the Bond novels available digitally in the U.K. without an intermediary role for agency model publisher Penguin, Fleming's longtime print publisher. 

Penguin may be shaken by the news, but readers are certainly stirred in a positive way by the prospect that the ebook versions, which will be available from the UK Kindle Store as well as other ebook retailers, are likely to be priced more fairly than would be the case if Penguin were allowed to set the prices.

The Bond novels have been available in the US Kindle Store since the 2008 centenary of Fleming's birth. Click here for a full listing of all Ian Fleming titles in the UK Kindle Store. 

Let the Best Books Lists Rock Your Kindle. Kindle Nation citizens, get your holiday shopping carts ready for the best books of the year! 

There will be many such lists, and Amazon book editors just announced their picks for the 100 best books of the year, as well as the top 100 customer favorites. This annual ranking includes the Editors' Picks for the Top 100 Books of the Year, the Top 100 Customer Favorites and Top 10 lists in nearly two-dozen categories.

According to Amazon, the Best Book of the Year was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

National Digital Library System Would Increase Literacy. In an article for the Atlantic, old friend David Rothman makes a strong case for the need for a national digital library system—something that would make Kindle Nation citizens, lovers of reading, and advocates of literacy proud.

“E-book gadgets have finally cracked the mass market here in the United States or at least have come a long way,” writes Rothman. “But there is one thing I currently cannot do with my Kindle despite all the sizzle in the commercials -- read public library books.”

In many newspaper and journal articles, Rothman has advocated for the adoption of such a system (1992 in Computerworld, a 1996 MIT Press information science collection, the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, the Huffington Post, and elsewhere, including his national information stimulus plan here in the Fallows blog). 

“A library plan and related initiatives should include the actual collections, not just for traditional education and research but also for job training; tight integration with schools, libraries, and other institutions; encouragement of the spread of the right hardware and connections; and the cost-justification described in the stimulus proposal.”

While Rothman concedes that multimedia is “essential,” he argues that without basic literacy and analytical skills, “young people will not be fit for many demanding blue-collar jobs, much less for Ph.D.-level work, and economic growth will suffer.”

We reported last month on Scholastic’s survey that indicated a majority of young people prefers reading digital to print materials. Jibing with this research, Rothman believes that e-book technology will expand young people’s reading interests “through such wrinkles as Kindle-style dictionaries and encyclopedia links to help students better understand the words in front of them.” 

Finally, Rothman calls on the Obama administration to emphasize the need for expanded literacy as well as increased broadband accessibility.