Finally, a way to understand how Amazon works !
928226
This is a great book with many insights into how Amazon came to be and how it is operated.  Bezos is an unusual individual and you get a feel for how his mind works.  It is a very worthwhile read.
2305452
In a word, WOW. Who knew there was so much involved in Amazon's Popularity and Sales lists and algorithms? Not I! However, after reading this book, I'm much more aware of the forces at work behind the scenes, and I have a better understanding of what it takes to move one's book up in Amazon sales. Interestingly, the Table of Contents is at the end of the book so you'll have to swipe to the end to look for specific topics.

In many ways, Let's Get Visible reads like a textbook, but don't let that deter you. The author has a treasure trove of useful information to share, and he does it in a clear, well-written manner. For me, there was a steep learning curve, but I got the major point: You can't just put your book out there and hope and pray that people will find it. You need a strategy. Suggestions include an Author Central page, a blog with links to email and Amazon, and some knowledge about advertising. I also learned about the top three reader sites and the variety of advertising options available on each:  Ereader News Today, Pixel of Ink, and BookBub.

I like the way the author ends with the reminder to "Keep Writing." Although the writing business can be "crazy making," Gaughran tells his readers that writers are lucky to have such powerful tools to help them publish their books and make them available to readers around the world. `Tis true. As much as I learned from Get Visible, I'm going to follow the author's advice to keep my focus on producing quality work and not let market intrude on writing time.

Is there an advantage to offering Kindle books free for a limited time? Read this concise, informative book and find out the answer to this and other questions.
1457663
If you plan on writing and publishing books on Amazon this book is well worth reading. This book will save you a lot of time and frustration as the author, Doug Dandridge is very open and forthright, it is like having a conversation with him about writing and publishing and he is very candid.

Could you figure this all out? Sure, but the time saved by using his book as a guide will save you a lot of time and frustration. The book may even make you money with his tips, he'll certainly save you time. He gets to the nitty gritty detail about pricing, tools, marketing approach, publishing choices, formatting, etc

If you are planning on writing and publishing a book on Amazon this is valuable. Even if you are curious about how writing and publishing on Amazon works  the book is very insightful
2439219
I enjoyed the actual steps included instead of just theories on how to make money on amazon. I feel like I'm ready to jump in!
501770
Amazonians

I have only bought a couple of books from Amazon

I have always been impressed with the expedient service of Amazon; because when you are thirsting for knowledge and frankly the brain craves for knowledge NOW !!

Yes; it was just like that, when I needed to know more of the enigma called 'wordpress'; I wanted it immediately

So that initial thirst has been quenched by "wordpress for dummies"; but now I must know more; my brother must know more; my friends must know more

We thirst for knowledge; thank you amazon of quenching our thirst

mikecharliemike
3091523
This book has a detailed explanation of every feature that Amazon Echo has to offer. It explains in quick and layman's terms how to use it for every feature. It explains all the services it provides, from controlling lighting in the house, to finding out what the traffic is like to your planned destination. It offers so many controls to one's home, it's amazing. Very well put together book.
1671282
'One Click' provides background on Amazon's early history; unfortunately, it is not nearly complete enough to qualify as a 'good history.'

Jeff Bezos was a good student in high school, and graduated from Princeton with majors in electrical engineering and computer science. When selecting a business to start he considered books ($19 billion wold in 1994, vs. only $7 billion in software, of which $2 billion was from Microsoft - a company that probably wouldn't allow much profits. Barnes and Nobles, and Borders held 25% of the book business - their stores held a maximum of 175,000 titles. Small bookstores held 21% of the market, and the rest were sold by supermarkets, etc. There are two major book distributors, each with warehouses holding about 400,000 titles.

Bezos liked the name 'Amazon' - is early in the alphabet, easy to spell, and represented a mighty river. He began with less than $200,000 - mostly funds from his relatives. He chose Oracle's database management system, along with free UNIX and AT&T's data-base-management software. His general strategy was to be conservative in estimating shipping dates so as to not disappoint. It took about a year to create a web site; Amazon launched 7/95, and started with about 6 orders/day. Fortunately, neither Barnes and Noble nor Borders had web sites at the time. By October, volume was up to 100 sales/day, and in less than a year, 100/hour. It's 1997 IPO was valued at $429 million. (It now is about $82 billion.)

Early Amazon customer service representatives were given options for 100 shares after three years. The best could answer 12 emails/minute, those dropping below 7 were often fired. Prior to this they took a three-week course to learn how everything worked. My guess is that very few, if any, lasted the three years. Another 'factoid' - in 1998, Amazon charged publishers $10,000 to feature books on its home page under headings such as 'New and Notable.' It's '1-Click Ordering' makes it easy for customers to buy (I've also found that it automatically selects an extra cost delivery option - one has to be wary.) Regardless, the '1-click' is patented, much to the chagrin of many who don't believe a process should be patentable.

Negative product reviews are allowed - they provide credibility for reviews in general. Other site features include 'Look Inside the Book,' and 'Search Inside the Book.'

Amazon spent $600 million on advertising in 2009. Book distributors have tried cutting Amazon (middleman) out, but failed because it already had strong presence in the market. The average bookstore has 2.7 inventory turns/year, vs. 24 for Amazon in 1998. (It fell to 2.9 in early 2000, and reportedly is now back to about 18X.) One of the book distributors tried buying Barnes and Noble - failed.

Bezos hired a number of WalMart distribution managers, and WalMart sued. Bezos defended his actions by citing book accounts of Sam Walton himself pirating employees much earlier. Bezos emphasized building market share instead of profits in its early years. Added CDs in 1998, and also went international. In 1999 lost $720 million, and another $1.4 billion in 2000. Layoffs. Kindle came in 2007. Now Amazon is pursuing cloud computing as a sideline business - renting out spare computer capacity.

Recent Amazon earnings are minimal, and it trades at a 95X P/E ratio (78X estimated). Even at a 'normalized' profit of $1 billion/year, its profits are unimpressive - about 6% ROA. 'One-Click' provides no insights on why.
4504091
it's a great experience shopping with amazon, things are just much cheaper and they inform you every update during the shipment. it's cool book to read. interesting too. it's like chinese version of ten thousand questions of why. I have read something similar ten years ago. :)
3622199
Author Tom Edwards has perfectly summed up the pros and cons of Amazon Prime membership, as well as provided details about Kindle Unlimited. A must read for anyone considering purchasing their first Amazon Prime membership.
68947
Excellent book! Precise and well written!! I learned so much from this book! This book teaches the beginner and up about setting up your Amazon Sellers account step by step and how to begin sourcing with other tips and tricks.  I will be using this book as a reference time and time again! I definitely recommend this book!  5 Stars!
3771638
I mostly bought this book to help me decide whether or not I want/need an Amazon echo. After reading it, I've learned quite a bit about the functions and how to use the device. I'm also decided that this is definitely something I would like to purchase in the future. Even though I don't actually have the product, I thought the book was well written and easy to understand.
1694260
When you order an Amazon Fire, it is seriously lacking in instructions. This fits the bill to explain all the new fangled bells and whistles on the Fire to get the most out of it.
1280074
I have been an Amazon customer for more than ten years. I used to keep track of the money I spent here, but I stopped counting at something over $10,000. However, this is the first time I have ever written a review.

I thought about buying a Kindle for a long time. I hesitated because I don't read novels, and only about a third of the books I'm interested in reading are currently available in Kindle format. I finally decided to buy one after the iPad came out, because that product helped me identify what I wanted in an e-reader (light weight, dedicated single-purpose reading functionality) and what I didn't (distracting internet access, having to buy from iTunes, etc.).

I ordered and received my Kindle about 4 weeks ago. In many ways it is exactly what I wanted, and it does some things very, very well. It is indeed light-weight and comfortable in my hands. I'm not having trouble finding interesting content to buy and read. I love all those things about it!

There are two things I don't like about it, though -- and with today's news, I'm going to have to add another thing I don't like.

1. I would like to have "live" endnotes, so that I can click on a note number, go directly to that endnote to read it, and then use the back key to return to where I left off. Without this capability, the endnotes (which I always read in a "real" book) are unusable.

2. Although I understand that "page" numbers are meaningless when font size is adjustable, I would like to see the original book's page numbers included in some way. I was reading a book in which the author referred to something he'd said on page 178, but I had no way to go there to read what he'd said. If physical page numbers were included, that would also make it possible to cite a book that I read on my Kindle in a scholarly paper, in a way that is meaningful to other readers of that paper who have the cited book in hard copy format.

3. I was very unhappy to see today's $70 price reduction, and I sincerely hope Amazon will consider doing a rebate for customers who ordered their Kindle within the last 30 or 90 days or whatever seems reasonable. Please do this, so my faith in my Kindle and in Amazon itself will be somewhat restored.

6/22/10 UPDATE: I did call and ask about a rebate, and Amazon very kindly honored my request. Thanks Amazon! I'll go back to enjoying my Kindle now (but I still would like to see #1 and 2 addressed, so I could fully enjoy every book I read).
458781
Could help but laugh at the title, because not very many system administrators like being called a dummy. So kudos to the Dummies book for taking a gamble. :)

My familiarity with AWS was mostly with S3 and Cloudfront, but I wanted to learn more about the other services.

Amazon likes to create service after service and then give it a lot of intuitive names like S3, E2, beanstalks, etc.

The book goes beyond beginner level introductions into the services.

I particularly enjoyed the reference to security concerns with examples. You might think of Amazon being secure, but get the wrong configuration, and you could be in some serious trouble. Even with the right configuration, you're never 100% secure. Related to that, the book covers encryption types for storage and the risks with each type.

Just remember that if there's a breach in security, it won't be Amazon that'll be responsible, it'll be the owner of the data, so set your policies, use encryption and really determine what needs to be stored in the cloud.

The rest of the book talks about the various AWS offerings and how to get them started and considerations an admin needs to be aware of.

Just don't call us dummies. ;)
2477228
As someone who has not one, but two books that I'm working on writing, I was really excited to get my fingers on this book. Once my books are done, I intend to put them up as ebooks on Amazon and after reading through this book, I have a far better understanding on how to do this! I've heard that Amazon actually makes it quite easy for the novice, but this book is filled with tips and tricks that will make that process even simpler. While I was more interested in the first half of the book, the second half on how to get reviews is also handy for those who want to get the word out about their book. Honestly, if you have a book that you're intending to publish via Amazon, get your fingers on this book and use it!
1601789
Great information, especially for someone just starting out with Amazon FBA.  I have only been selling on FBA for 4 months, and his book gave me many ideas for product sourcing options that I had not previously thought about.  With this book, Chris continues to help educate readers about the many benefits of using Amazon's FBA program.  I would recommend it for anyone considering the program.
4871067
This book offers a wealth of information, and RECENT information, which is great for the ever-changing rules and regulations of Amazon... Mimi describes her exact launching plan in great detail, gives you step-by-step instructions and cheat sheets and all sorts of other downloadable goodies, and even access to her own respective affiliates/friends in the business. This is a great book for newbies releasing their first books, as well as hardened veterans looking for new ideas! Highly recommended :)