Reviews are the lifeblood of book sales on Amazon. The more reviews your books have, the more this “social proof” will persuade potential readers to buy them. It’s a simple psychological fact: when lots of other people like something, you are more likely to consider it than if no-one has shown any interest.

But reviews are hard to get. You give out free books to people, and they somehow never get around to writing a review like they promised. You have free promotions on Amazon with hundreds of downloads... and no reviews. It’s frustrating. Read More...

Tags: kindle

If you’re not into Apple or investing, you may not have known this, but Apple shares fell in price recently, from an all-time high of over $700, to under $450, following the company’s quarterly earnings report. Another well-known company, Amazon, saw the opposite happen, when its shares rose following its earnings report.

So far, so boring, you say. Companies produce a bad earnings report, their shares go down. Or they do well, and their shares go up. This is news? Next you’ll be telling me the Pope is Catholic.

Here’s the thing, though. Apple’s earnings report wasn’t bad. Yet its shares went down. And Amazon’s earnings report wasn’t very good. But the shares went up. Read More...

Tags: AAPL