How This Book Is Organized

To become an Amazon power user, you'll have to learn about all the core features and how they relate to one another. The hacks are loosely organized by topic within each chapter, and the book itself is divided into several chapters by core feature:

Chapter 1

The ability to find a product among the millions available is a fundamental feature of Amazon. The search box on Amazon's home page is only one way to navigate the catalog. This chapter starts simple, by showing you how to find any product's Amazon Standard Item Number (ASIN); moves on to ways of fine-tuning search results and browsing categories; and ends with integrating Amazon searches into your web browser.

Chapter 2

From the moment you sign into your Amazon account to the moment you close your browser window, Amazon is collecting information to personalize your experience with the site. This chapter's hacks show ways to access, control, and fine-tune that information.

Chapter 3

By allowing customers to communicate directly with each other, Amazon has become one of the largest community sites on the Web. This chapter describes ways to participate in the Amazon community, shows how you can integrate Amazon community features into your own web site, and demonstrates some ways to work with those features programmatically.

Chapter 4

Amazon has opened its billing, inventory, and marketing infrastructure to anyone who wants to sell through their site. They've gone from a single-vendor commerce site to a space where entrepreneurs can build businesses. This chapter focuses on how you can make money by efficiently using the sales systems Amazon has in place.

Chapter 5

You can earn money by linking to Amazon from your web site. Amazon's affiliate program has spawned a cottage industry of niche sales sites, and has become a way for independent web site owners to earn some money for their efforts. The hacks in this chapter focus on the ways you can integrate an existing web site with Amazon, and maximize your referral fees in the process.

Chapter 6

Amazon is extending its presence from a commerce platform to an information and technology platform. Answering developers' calls for programmatic access to its data, Amazon has released a programming interface that allows other applications to integrate with Amazon. The hacks in this chapter range from tips and code snippets to get you started with the API to more developed examples of application integration.