In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog, Michael Lieberman suggested some interesting ideas to use Skype to promote books, or what he calls "biblio opportunities."

Among his ideas:

*Libraries should be looking into developing Skype-enabled reading rooms.

*Prisons should set up Skype rooms so inmates can read to their children. "Remember, the kids are innocent." he notes.

*Authors could reach out via Skype to book clubs, schools or even conduct one-on-one conversations with readers.

*As to book clubs, he says, "If a book club is reading your book why not offer a 1/2 hour Q&A via Skype. Figure out how much you want for your time and if the book club can come up with it then you got a deal. They can pay via Paypal and away you go. It provides an additional revenue stream for the author while providing a peak experience for the reader."

*How about poets and authors doing readings on Skype--with links to buy the books. "For small groups author's can work with their local bookstore to provide personally inscribed copies of their work; similar to the LongPen strategy but without the robotics," Lieberman suggests.

*Poets or authors could do readings at birthday parties or weddings.

With ideas like these, and little tech like Skype, maybe the old Gutenberg analog tech, known as books, will survive.