E-readers have faced and overcome a number of issues in the past decade to get as far as they have:

• Technical limitations with the devices (creating the e-ink screens, getting size and weight down, engineering battery life)
• E-book format standardization (co-operation among publishers, much less tech companies, is rare)
• The perceived danger of lowering the price of books and thus their profitability
• A sense of tradition about “paper” books from publishers and readers
• A fear of piracy and bootlegging of books

The one issue that’s becoming more prominent by the day is the battle for market share among the various e-reader producers. Recent price wars have lowered e-reader technology prices by 75%. A first-generation Kindle would have set you back $450. Today, you can get a better version with more features for just $139. In order to stay competitive and maintain its price point of $149, the Kobo had to add wireless capability.

There are currently dozens of different e-readers on the market. This will change dramatically in the next year as price wars continue and the e-readers with fewer features or higher prices get muscled out. Already there have been casualties, such as the plasticLogic Que reader, which folded before it even launched. Expect to see many more e-reader brands die off.

Although the market for e-readers is growing at an astonishing rate (192% year-to-date and a record 172.4% in August over July of this year), it’s still a relatively small market worldwide with many competitors battling to add features while keeping prices low enough for the purchasing cycle to continue. There will be winners and there will be losers.

The overall war will be won by the companies that provide the best access to content AND the most flexibility to use that content. The Amazon Kindle has an early market lead and the clout to keep going. It just added a lending feature to compete with the Nook. More important, it recently launched — just in time for the Christmas buying season — a feature that allows people to give e-books as gifts, an e-reader functionality matched only by Kobo. If the Kobo can continue to grow, it has a good chance of being the number 2 e-reader, surpassing the Nook (see why here).

This year’s holiday season will be an important test. Come January, we should have a pretty good idea of how the e-reader market will shake out.

One of the challenges publishers and authors face with e-books is that no one knows what anyone’s reading. Without eye-catching book jackets displaying the author’s name prominently, the potential for word-of-mouth marketing is virtually lost.

GelaSkins, a company that makes covers for every imaginable mobile device and all the major e-readers, could offer a solution to the branding dilemma of e-books. You can currently buy ready-made GelaSkins for devices, or custom design something unique; the options for design are endless.

An author could create a GelaSkins cover of her latest book and offer it as a giveaway to readers. Or publishers could host a contest, like an iPad draw, and cover the prize with a custom-designed book skin. Authors could also sell skins alongside their books to generate extra revenue. With any of these scenarios, the consumer gets a visual cue as well as protection for their e-reader, and the author and publisher get their names displayed for the world to see.

At about $20 per skin this isn’t exactly an inexpensive option, particularly since e-books still come in below that price. But if e-reading continues to grow like it has, authors and publishers will be looking for creative ways to brand their books. GelaSkins might be a product to do it.

Give us your take: Would you pay $20 for a skin that looks like your favourite book cover?

Image credit: Bookshelf design for Kindle 2 by Colin Thompson

Amazon today unveiled a new addition to its Kindle line of e-reading devices, the Kindle DX. The most notable feature of the DX is its larger screen size — nearly 10″ on the diagonal versus the Kindle’s 6″ screen.

Amazon is touting the device as a comfortable reader for newspapers and text books, as well as e-books. Three major US newspapers — the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post — have signed on to offer subscriptions at reduced prices.

The Kindle DX is priced at $489, $130 more than the Kindle. And yet, apart from the larger screen size, there’s not much more to love. It’s still a black-and-white display. There’s still no ePub or WiFi support.

Early reactions to the release of the DX has been lukewarm at best. Here’s at peek at some of the commentary from the publishing world circulating on Twitter this morning:

SmartBitches: Dear Amazon: please, keep it coming. I’m enjoying this way too much. I can has moar fail plz? Kthxbye!” #dud #amazonfail

paperhaus: Wondering why Amazon bothered with Kindle 2 at all. It’s not like they cooked up a 8.5×11 screen in 2 months.

ljndawson: $489 Kindle with 16 shades of grey and no discounts on subscriptions if you’re in the paper’s area = lead balloon. #dud

wmacphail: The Kindle needs to be WAY cheaper. Apple is going to kick this thing’s ass.

sarahw: Not getting over the $489 price tag. In a recession. Two months after Kindle 2 unveiled. Like reissuing bare-bones DVD w/ one or 2 extras.

kirkbiglione: No ePub, no WiFi. Kindle closed system continues and it won’t hurt Amazon one bit.

Only time will tell whether consumers agree and bypass the DX, or whether the large screen size will prove an enticement.