Image via Uncrate

Perhaps tablets will rescue the ailing publishing industry after all. MarketWatch reports that Barnes & Noble‘s sales, “rose 9.7% for the nine-week holiday selling period…buoyed by the popularity of its Nook e-reader.” The company announced that the Nook color e-reader was its “biggest bestseller ever.” As we blogged about in November, the Nook color can be seen as an affordable alternative to the iPad, with a digital newsstand that includes glossy magazines in addition to books.

CEO William Lynch said “The success of NOOKcolor, along with our unique ability to market NOOK devices to readers in our stores and through our strong channel partnerships with Best Buy, Walmart and Books-a-Million, resulted in the continued explosive growth of our Digital Content business and our NOOK line, our most successful products ever.”

Meanwhile, competitor Borders is struggling. The chain has admitted to suspending payments to publishers, who are, in turn, suspending shipments of books. Barnes & Noble’s sales rose 9.7% during the last quarter of 2010 while Borders’ fell 12.6%.