Amazon plans to introduce this week a larger version of its Kindle wireless device tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks, according to Times sources, and other such e-reading devices are due out within the year from Hearst and Plastic Logic.

These devices from Amazon and other manufacturers would allow publishers to save millions on the cost of printing and distributing their publications, at precisely a time when their businesses are under historic levels of pressure.

Update: Amazon’s announcement is expected Wednesday, according to CNN and others.