Beginning in early 2011, The New York Times will publish e-book best seller lists in fiction and nonfiction, alongside its existing 14 lists for hardcovers, paperbacks, children’s books, and graphic books.

“We’ve had our eye on e-book sales since e-books began,” said Janet Elder, the editor of news surveys and election analysis for The Times. “It was clear that e-books were taking a greater and greater share of total sales, and we wanted to be able to tell our readers which titles were selling and how they fit together with print sales.”

As little as three years ago e-books were still viewed as “experimental” and only acknowledged as being in the realm of self-published authors, which therefore made them beneath the notice of “reputable” publishers and reviewers. Now, with the explosion in popularity of e-readers and the convenience of carrying hundreds of books with you in a space the size of a small notebook, e-books have taken another large step toward legitimacy with The Times announcement.