Toadstool Bookshops owner Willard Williams recently found out what more than 400 of his customers think about e-books and e-readers.

Williams received more than 400 responses to an online survey sent to customers of his three New Hampshire bookstores. Among the key findings: Ten percent of the survey respondents own e-readers. In addition to asking customers whether they own e-readers, the survey also asked questions about e-books, the store's e-commerce site, and the physical bookstores.

When Follett Higher Education Group announced a new textbook rental program open to independent bookstores, "we instantly had people signing up," said senior vice president of intellectual properties Gary Shapiro.

Daniyal Mueenuddin Wins The Story Prize

The winner of the sixth annual Story Prize was announced on March 3 at an awards ceremony in Manhattan. Debut writer Daniyal Mueenuddin accepted the prize for his collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (Norton), a book of eight connected stories set in southern Pakistan and centering around the estate of a feudal landowner.The other two finalists were Victoria Patterson (Drift, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Wells Tower (Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, FSG).

Daniel Clancy, director of Google Books, offered a keynote presentation at the Winter Institute's Technology Day that provided booksellers with insights into plans for Google Editions, launching later this year, as well as a deeper understanding of the challenges of the e-book marketplace.

While booksellers were at the Winter Institute a lot was shaking in the e-book world. With something as elemental as what constitutes a book being debated, it's not surprising that distribution models are also in flux. Amazon.com and Macmillan had their very public negotiations over e-book pricing (which saw Amazon suspend sales of Macmillan titles for a time), and Hachette also announced that they, like Macmillan, would base pricing of e-books on an agency model. Here's a quick recap.

Apple Debuts iPad

Apple's iPad, which debuted yesterday, looks like a large iPhone, is a half-inch thick, 1.5 pounds, and has a 9.7-inch multi-touch screen. The most basic model is $499 and has a Wi-Fi wireless connection. More expensive models will be offered with more memory and with 3G wireless access from ATT. The iPad has the same operating system as the iPhone and access to its 140,000 applications, including the iBook app, which will link to the iBookstore.

Daniel Clancy, director of Google Books, will be the keynote lunch speaker at the Winter Institute's Technology Day, on Wednesday, February 3. Clancy, who has given tech talks at a variety of venues, including South by Southwest and Stanford University, will discuss the soon-to-be-launched Google Editions and diversity in the e-book marketplace.

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) last week published the results of the first of three surveys that examine when, why, how, and where consumers purchase and use e-books and e-readers.

Input for the first survey, "Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading Survey," was gathered from hundreds of book buyers -- including teens -- who also identify themselves as e-book readers.

Among the BISG survey's key findings:

Four major U.S. publishers announced plans last week to delay, or consider delaying, the release of e-book editions until weeks or even months after the publication of hardcover titles, as the industry attempts to adapt to the accelerating growth in the sales of digital editions and the widespread sub-$10 pricing of bestsellers in digital format.