Workman Gives Away Kindles, Lands Book in Amazon's Top Spot
By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 3/24/2009

Monday, Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, and the book’s publisher, Workman Publishing, gave away one Kindle every hour to readers who purchased the book from any online retailer. As the author announced the winners through his live streaming video chat, which lasted all day, the book steadily climbed Amazon’s bestseller list and hit the number one spot around 2:00 p.m. EST.

Beginning at 8:00 AM Pacific, Sethi began announcing winners through his live streaming video chat at http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/ and through his Twitter account.

Within a few hours, the book reached #33 on Amazon’s bestseller list; by afternoon it was at number one, both in physical books and on the Kindle platform. Sethi hosted a video chat all day, at one point attracting more than 1,000 visitors. He left his computer only intermittently (once to answer the doorbell when Workman sent a bottle of champagne to congratulate his book reaching number one). Workman has ordered another reprint.

Sethi’s book, a $13.95 paperback, offers young people a six-week plan for building financial security. The author (pic left) is the founder and writer of IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com, which hosts over 200,000 readers every month, and is a recent Stanford University grad.