Laundry lists of authors are reeled off with little explanation of who they are.

ECONOMIST: Nobel prizes

Once upon a time, publishers had relatively small lists of new authors whose books they distributed to independent bookstores and small-format mall chains like Waldenbooks and B Dalton.

FORBES: Publishing Is Broken, We're Drowning In Indie Books - And That's A Good Thing

To concentrate resources behind marketable authors, publishers are cutting their lists of new titles.

ECONOMIST: Publishing

While many of the books on the best seller lists are international thrillers by authors such as John Grisham, there have been some recent home-grown successes.

BBC: Post-unification novel divides Germany

The Kindle Store offers the largest selection of the most popular books, including the most best sellers from the Globe and Mail and Le Devoir best seller lists, winners of the Giller prize, and a broad selection of works from leading Canadian publishers and authors, including Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Yann Martel.

ENGADGET: Amazon's new Kindles now available in Canada, Paperwhite starting at CAD $139