Happy Halloween! Have a fun and exciting holiday weekend. Before you head out, here is a roundup of our top stories in eBooks this week:

Barnes & Noble launched Nook Kids and announced the Nook Color eReader.

Amazon got caught selling US titles in the Kindle UK store.

James Patterson sold a million Kindle books and got an iPhone app.

Scholastic launched a social network.

We created the best eReader Twitter feeds list.

iPads hit Verizon and AT&T stores.

Kobo updated its app to include newspapers.

We rounded up our favorite literary-horror films that are streamable on Netflix.

Borders dropped the price on select eReaders.

Amazon launched a shopping app for the iPad.

Halloween is this weekend, and it’s a great time to catch up on horror movies. If you are looking for something a little more literary than SAW 3D, we recommend using Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” section to give yourself chills and thrills.

Here are our ten favorite Horror Movies Based on Literature from the “Watch Instantly” section of Netflix. Add your favorites horror movies based on books in the comments section below.

The Exorcist: Author William Peter Blatty adapted his novel to a screenplay for this classic creeper about possession that is sure to make you jump

Carrie: Brian DePalma’s sadistic teen adaptation of Stephen King’s first novel brings to life the terrors of high school

Jaws: Steven Spielberg worked closely with author Peter Benchley to bring the world’s scariest shark to the screen and forever make swimmers look over their shoulder in the ocean

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Today’s Free eBook of the Day is The Last Rose of Summer by David Jeffery, a new horror title out from Smashwords.

This horror novel is our final pick in our October series of spooky tales to get you in the mood for Halloween. The book’s description tells more: “Rose Delaware is as unlucky as she is beautiful. She has attracted the attention of a person who wants to give her the kind of love that kills. He’s done it before. Many women, many Roses. Now as the Fall approaches, is Miss Delaware fated become The Last Rose of Summer?”

Smashwords lets you set your own price, so today we’ll pick free. (But feel free to contribute something if you like the title).

For more free eBooks including a number of haunting classics, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

Do you like the idea of having a free eBook that is brought to you by Clorox? Get used to it, because ads in eBooks might be just around the corner. Online publishing community site WOWIO announced approval today for a patent that will let them serve ads in eBooks.

The press release explains more: “The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for a broad patent application covering a variety of methods that allow for the delivery of ads in eBooks, including contextual ads based on the personal information or demographic criteria of the reader.” The patent gives WOWIO the rights to 32 specific technology claims for the next 20 years.

Ads in books are not an entirely new concept. For years trade paperbacks have included ads for other books within them. But the idea of ads popping up in front of content can be a bit annoying when you are trying to escape into a story. But then again, like the Internet or television, ads in eBooks are a great way to support free content. What do you think that ads?

Publishers and authors looking to turn their print books into eBooks don’t just have to worry about the digital formatting, they also have to keep rights management in mind.

Just because you have the print rights to use an image doesn’t mean that you have the digital book rights. Your contract must stipulate that you have digital rights to use the image, or you have to go back to the copyright owner and extend the contract. “The first place to look is the contract between publisher and the photographer,” said Christopher Kenneally, Director of Business Development at Copyright Clearance.

Once you are clear that you have the right to use an image in a digital form, you may need to add in an extra stipulation if you want to enhance that image for an enhanced eBook. “If you are confused you are beginning to understand the problem,” said Christopher Kenneally, Director of Business Development at Copyright Clearance. “It is a confusing area.”

Publishers and authors signing contracts these days should keep digital rights in mind. While you may not have plans for an eBook version of a print title, eBooks are growing in popularity and it is best to get the digital rights ahead of time, so that you don’t have to go digging or trying to recreate images.

“Dealing with images opens up a can of worms,” said Kenneally. “I may be able to reshoot all of the images for a travel guide if I want to put out an eBook edition, because the sites are very common and everyone has taken a photo of them. But if I wanted to try to reshoot a special photographer’s style, then I might be infringing.”

For more information on copyright and publishing, the Copyright Clearance Center gives workshops on specific issues. Follow this link to find out more.

Former president George W. Bush has a memoir coming out on November 9th, and the publicity machine is already warming up. In a recent interview, former First Lady Laura Bush revealed her husband’s iPad addiction.

Here’s more from CNN: “[Laura Bush] told Yahoo news it’s hard to break her husband away from the popular Apple gadget …  “Scrabble is the one that George now seems to be playing constantly,” she said. “Like, I’m trying to get his attention; ‘I’m still here.’”

Drudge Report also wrote about a leaked copy of the former President’s memoir yesterday, our first peek at Decision Points. Read more about the upcoming book here. (iPad link via Gizmodo)

Barnes & Noble has launched the B&N Kids’ Club, a free loyalty and rewards program.  The club gives members exclusive benefits, as well as savings and discounts on Barnes & Noble’s children’s books and toys and games.

This news comes as B&N is beefing up its kids’ book collection with a new digital collection called Nook Kids. The new Nook Color eReader, which was announced earlier this week, will now allow users to read color eBook titles. B&N is targeting parents with this new device, pushing children’s storytelling as one of the features.

Customers will get a 30% off coupon for joining and will also receive a $5 coupon for every $100 they spend on children’s books and toys up to four times per year. Children in the club will get a free cupcake or cookie on their birthday, as well as a free digital book that they create on Tikatok.com, an interactive website where kids can create their own books.

Follow this link to find out more.

The Hachette Book Group has a new iPhone/iPad app dedicated to author James Patterson.

The free app includes news, reviews, exclusive author interviews, fan previews and contests. There are links within the app to sign up for Patterson’s Facebook and Twitter pages, as well. Readers can also use the app to shop for Patterson books.

Users can also use the to participate in Patterson’s philanthropic ventures, including his latest Book Dollars For Scholars program, a charity to help students pay for books in college.

James Patterson had this statement: “Whether on paper, on a screen, or through an app like this one, it’s good to see that technology can actually enhance a reader’s interest in books, rather than diminish it. I think the app will provide new and interesting ways to experience my stories and allow readers instant access to a whole new e-universe of entertainment.”

As a kick off MediaBistro’s upcoming eBook Summit, next week we will host our first ever Book Pitch Party in New York City.

After reading through a large stack of book proposals, we are happy to announce the eBook Summit Pitch Party Finalists.

These writers will each deliver a short book pitch to a crowd of supportive readers, writers, and publishing professionals–three writers will win a free ticket to Mediabistro’s eBook Summit. The party will take place on November 3, 2010 in New York City at Underbar (W New York – Union Square). Follow this link to RSVP for the party.

At the party, we will showcase the work of these 10 talented writers, share practical book proposal advice for all writers, and help aspiring writers network with publishing professionals (including our distinguished judges). The winners will be featured at our eBook Summit on December 15th.
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