The publishing industry is supposed to be on summer lull right now, but the blogs have been active as late summer conferences wind down, and Apple and Amazon launch salvos in the ebook access and pricing wars.

On Barbara Vey’s Beyond Her Book blog, guest blogger Maggie Mae Gallagher gives a rundown of reader-author event RomCon, recently held in Denver, CO. She was so impressed by the reader-focused interaction that she’s put the conference on her “must-go” schedule for next year.

Meanwhile, there is good news from the American Publishers and Book Industry Study Group, BookStats. As Publisher’s Weekly blogger Jim Melliot reported:

BookStats found that, contrary to widespread belief, the publishing industry grew in both 2009 and 2010, aided by $1.6 billion in sales from e-books. Total estimated revenue for all publishers rose 3.1% in 2010, to $27.9 billion, following a 2.5% increase in 2009.

As digital news outlet C-Net reported, reader access to ebooks on the iPad and other Apple devices took a small blow when Apple decided to disallow “buy” links from ebook reader apps such as Kindle and B&N’s Nook. However, Apple may have to rethink its strategy as Amazon responded with its new Kindle Cloud Reader web app that uses HTML5 to create a web app, more technical details from Wired here. Apple will also have to respond to a lawsuit accusing Apple and other “agency model” publishers of illegal ebook price fixing.

Also this month the discussion continued about literary agents offering additional services, namely ebook publishing, to their clients. The Knight Agency was named in this blog entry from the Shatzkin Files as one full service model to keep your eye on.

Jane Friedman interviews author Amy Stolls about how book marketing has changed in the past five years, and how Amy is marketing her novel, The Ninth Wife. And BookEnds literary agent, Jessica Faust, offers the advice to author-entrepreneurs to, “Give it five years.”

Stay cool, everyone. And happy writing!

In September, Simon & Schuster announced that they united the “editorial and publicity teams of its Pocket Books and Simon Spotlight Entertainment into a new imprint called Gallery Books.” I’m mentioning it because the Publishers Marketplace announcement for Michelle Diener said her two historicals, ILLUMINATIONS and BRILLIANCE, were sold to Micki Nuding at Gallery.

The Wall Street Journal reports the death of the slush pile. Yet the article names books found in slush piles in recent years. That sounds like a pulse to me.

Promotions at HarperCollins UK will affect women’s fiction. Lynne Drew is now publisher for fiction, including WF. Deputy publishing director Sarah Ritherdon will oversee commercial women’s fiction and will report into Drew. Ritherdon will work alongside Victoria Hughes.

Looking for new ways to sell your books? Stephen Elliott arranged book tours in people’s homes instead of bookstores. He said, “I sold about 1,100 books (not counting copies of my older books, which I was also selling) at 73 events. Seven hundred of those were books I purchased wholesale, a few hundred more were sold by local booksellers invited to the readings.”

Xerox is partnering with Espresso Books to produce On Demand Books in minutes for less than a penny a page. “This cutting-edge book solution, sold by On Demand Books, LLC, produces millions of copyrighted, public domain, out-of-print, or rare texts for consumers in a matter of minutes.”

Amazon launches a 70% Kindle Royalty Option.

This made me laugh. Barnes & Noble lied about Nook’s weight. One ounce less than claimed. I think the world will survive.

Another article on the return of the bonkbuster. Apparently sex, glitz and glamor are back in style. I’m wondering when sex was out of style.