The Kindle is becoming increasingly common as a reading tool. The iPhone is getting high marks as well. We’re seeing a migration from a print-bound world to an (excuse the plug) unbound one, in terms of how we access the published world. Like the record  labels in the past decade, the book publishing industry is resisting the inevitable and overlooking the opportunities for reaching markets in new ways.

Have you ever pre-ordered a new book on Amazon? They’ll charge your card and ship it to you as soon as it’s ready. If you didn’t have that option, you might forget to make the purchase or change your mind. With e-readers, you’d think that access to a new book would be instantaneous. Technically, yes. But publishers are so set in their traditional business model that they’re actually trying to push back the release dates for e-books to give the paper versions a chance to hit the market. Read this article to learn the details.

Slate.com argues that publishing is going to get Napstered as a result. We think they’re just missing a huge chance to fulfill an actual need. Instead of selling more books to people who want them, they’re telling customers to buy them in ways that fit their century-old business model. Way to go guys.