CNN did an unscientific poll Sunday of more than 200,000 people who visited their website and answered the question: Which do you prefer: E-books or paperbacks?

Given this was an online poll; I would have thought e-books would run away with it.

However, paperbacks won by an 80-20 margin!

I have no clue. Most sales reports show that e-book sales are skyrocketing.

In fact, CNN ran a story on the same day saying that e-book sales topped paperbacks for the first time!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all other formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week.
E-book sales totaled $90.3 million in February, up 202% compared to the same month a year earlier, according to a study from the Association of American Publishers. That put e-books at No. 1 “among all categories of trade publishing” that month — the first time e-books have beaten out traditional publishing formats.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/15/technology/ebooks_beat_paperbacks/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

I prefer to hold a hardcover book or a paperback – especially in the tub! But I can see why people like an e-book to read on a plane or an exercycle, especially since you can make the fonts larger.

Why do you think that is?

If you’re interested in writing a book on Kindle, listen to my free webinar with Daniel Hall, which we recorded a few weeks ago. Here’s the link:
http://realfastbook.com/danjkindle.html

Everything you need to know to publish an e-book is in this webinar. Seriously.

John Kremer knows more than 1001 tips which he has documented in his must-read book, “1001  Ways to market Your Books For Authors and Publishers.” Here are four tips he shared at the 21st Century Book Marketing Conference in San Diego this past weekend.

1. Speak. “80 percent of books are bought by word of mouth.” Start locally. Get comfortable and then move on to larger groups. Every book that became a best-seller (regardless of genre: business, spirituality, children’s, even poetry). If you write a children’s book, speak in schools. If you write poetry, speak at bookstores. People love buying books from the author.
2. Present as much content and inspiration as you can. The worst thing you can do is hold back info.
3. The essence of book marketing is creating relationships. Find good people to partner with.
4. Get on TV, especially national TV. TV sells books. Everyone knows about Oprah, but many people don’t realize that the Daily Show and The Colbert Report can help move a lot of books.
John is a legend in the book industry. I highly recommend his book and his ezine and his teleseminar series called “People You Should Know. Read more at http://www.bookmarket.com/tips.htm

If an article is printed in a newspaper or blog and no one reads it, does it make any noise?

Yes, that is a hypothetical question based on the age-old line of “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it…” but there is a lot of similarity between the two ideas.

Many people get articles written about themselves via PR LEADS and ProfNet or their own pitching to reporters but they fail to do anything with it. In effect, the publicity has created one ripple in the pond, but that ripple hasn’t spread. It is up to you to make noise. It is up to you to create a tidal wave from the ripple.

You might be leaving a lot of opportunities go by the wayside.

Here are 10 ways to promote your publicity:
1. Tweet a link to the article. I do this for my clients, when they tell me about their publicity via PR LEADS. I use a provocative title to get attention. Here’s an example: Need writing tips for a job application? @prleads client Diane L Samuels gets publicity on Monster.com http://ow.ly/2tGcI Notice how I use the keyword “publicity” so anyone looking for “publicity” on Twitter will see this. Use your own keywords as well so more people will find your links.
2. Post the link on your Linked In profile.
3. Post the link to relevant groups on Linked In. Heavy emphasis on “relevant.” Don’t post it in places where people wouldn’t care. You’d be hurting yourself if you did that. Also, don’t say “I’m quoted here” and post the link. Tell people what they can learn by reading the article. Your focus should be on sharing information and not appearing self-promotional.
4. Send the link and article to your prospects, clients and followers via email.
5. Post the link and the article to your blog.
6. Frame the article and hang it in your waiting room. Consider highlighting your quotes and name in yellow so it stands out from the rest of the article. The highlighting will focus a reader’s attention directly on your quote.
7. Copy the article and print it in your sales or marketing kit. The media give you a form of credibility that is unmatched. Use it.
8. Include the article in your book proposal. Book acquisition editors want to know that you can create publicity for the book. Show them here and you’re more likely to get a contract and more likely to get a larger advance.
9. Create a list of headlines of articles in which you were quoted and post that to your website. Include live links to the articles. Reporters and prospects will be impressed that you have so many media hits.
10. Use the front page of your website to let the world know you have been quoted. Too many clients get PR and hide it! Let the first impression people have of you be from the media.

Please respect all copyrights when you post articles or reproduce articles. Contact the media to find out their policies for reprints of their materials in print and on websites and in emails or in other formats.

When you do these tasks, you’ll be letting your world know you are the thought leader and expert they seek to hire for their consulting, speaking and other new business opportunities.

If you don’t do these tasks, your publicity will be yesterday’s news and will line the proverbial birdcage. You must let the world know that you have gotten publicity. You must beat your own drum.

Do you want your press release picked up in major media? Read my special report “How to Get Your Press Release Printed on Top Tier Media Sites – Guaranteed,” by visiting http://www.prleadsplus.com/results/ Publicity thought leader Dan Janal is Founder and President of PR LEADS PLUS which offers a variety of do-it-yourself tools to help small businesses get publicity, including media lists, press release writing and targeted article marketing services and press release distribution. For information on coaching and consulting services, go to http://www.prleadsplus.com

This article can be re-printed on your website, blog or ezine.

No self-respecting publisher today will talk to an author who doesn’t have a large “platform” of followers who will by a book and a marketing plan that shows how the author will sell the book.

So how did Stieg Larsson become a best-selling author, years after he died without publishing a book in his life?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, his best-selling “The Girl Who…” series is a best seller in the US and from what I can tell from my visit to Madrid, all over Europe as well.

I don’t have the answers. Do you? Why would a publisher take on an unknown author, who is dead, and promote the heck out of his books when it seems like most publishers won’t lift a finger to promote a book from an unknown (living) author?

Any ideas?

Hundred of reporters are now using Twitter to find news and new sources.

Here are two ways to find reporters:

1. go to Twitter

2. Click on "Find people"

3. Click on "Find on Twitter"

4. Type the person’s name

Yes, it is that simple!

Here’s another way.

There’s a compiled list of journalists and media at this site:

http://sn.im/journalist  [twitteringjournalists_pbwiki_com]

It’s very useful!

Good luck — and follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/prleads or @prleads

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